We’d all like to have more energy. Energy helps us get through our days much easier, and for those of us who exercise, we’d enjoy more productive workouts.
Aside from proper eating; which is the base for all health and performance attributes, there are an array of supplements available through The Life Extension Foundation which contributes to stamina and endurance. Before I get to explaining some of these products, let me back up a bit and discuss the food issue.
I’m sure by now you’re aware that improper eating habits burdens the body in so negative many ways. Digestion is sluggish. And assimilation is even worse, because what are you assimilating? Junky substances, right? And when our digestive systems our subjected to overloads, extra energy is needed for the adequate break down and assimilation of food rather than be available for daily chores and exercise.
After foods are broken down, they journey into the body awaiting a reassembling process. After permeating into the body they go to work on making new body tissues, repair damaged cells, and provides us with energy. Food moves through our intestinal tract with a process know as peristalsis. During peristalsis food particles permeate the surrounding intestinal linings and enter the bloodstream. It is in the intervascular spaces were food particles are transported to the various cites of the body to enact their roles of growth, maintenance and repair.
When burdensome foods are eaten, one will feel weak and sluggish. Internal energy is needed for the process of cleaning up after that junky meal instead of having the zest needed to play several matches on the tennis court, go running down the beach side, or just having the energy to play with your kids when you get home from work. Eating right contributes to the energy we all wish to attain. And it is those who have the most energy who are those who eat the best. Case in point.
As important as eating the correct foods is to providing abundant supplies of energy, eating at the correct time is just as important, especially if you’re a true performance seeker.
Contrary to what many may believe, the so-called pre-workout drink or meal is not the most effective way to fuel your muscles for performance. Sure, energy can be extracted from foods [or drinks] eaten close to a workout, but this energy is in the form of glucose which is a faster burning fuel than the fuel you can obtain when proper meal timing is conducted. If you are to rely on the so-called sports drinks to fuel your workouts with energy, as long as these drinks are consumed during regular intervals throughout your workout periods, blood sugar levels will remain consistent avoiding any crashes in energy and performance.
The body preferentially chooses to burn the most immediate fuel it has access to; most often, its glucose from meals or drinks consumed shortly before the activity. When glucose is not used as fuel, the body has the ability to convert it into a longer fuel source called glycogen which is shuttled out of the bloodstream and stored in the muscles and the liver were it awaits burning.
Most often, nonconverted glucose will turn to fat. This is why extremely high carbohydrate diets aren’t making us any leaner. But when glucose is consumed immediately after a workout; when fuel sources are depleted from the training session, the body shifts to a repletion mode and converts a much higher percentage of the carbohydrates (or sugars) consumed at these times into glycogen, the more powerful and longer acting fuel source.