The World's Best Supplement Just Got Better - the Benefits of Using Creatine

In the quest for better physical and mental well-being, one supplement has stood the test of time and continues to prove its efficacy - creatine. Widely known in the fitness world for its muscle-building properties, creatine offers plenty of benefits that extend beyond the realm of just strength/resistance training. So, what exactly is creatine and how can it enhance not only your physical performance but also your mental acuity? Let's dive into the world of creatine and explore the top reasons why incorporating this supplement into your routine can be a game-changer.

Understanding Creatine: A Brief Overview

Before we delve into the benefits, let's first understand what creatine is. Creatine is a naturally occurring compound found in small quantities in animal products like meat and fish. It plays a crucial role in the production of energy during high-intensity, short-duration activities like weightlifting or sprinting. When taken as a supplement, creatine monohydrate is the most common form and is known for its ability to rapidly increase your body's stores of phosphocreatine, a precursor to ATP, the primary energy source for muscle contractions. Individuals who experience some bloating with creatine monohydrate can switch to creatine hydrochloride (creatine HCl) to get the same benefits.

Now that we have a basic understanding of creatine, let's explore exactly what those benefits are:

1. Enhanced Muscle Growth and Strength

One of the key reasons why creatine is a staple in the fitness community is its ability to enhance muscle growth and strength. By increasing the availability of phosphocreatine in the muscles, creatine allows for a greater production of ATP, leading to improved performance during intense workouts. This means more reps, more weight lifted, and ultimately, more muscle gains over time.

2. Improved Anaerobic Capacity

Creatine not only boosts muscle strength but also enhances anaerobic capacity. This means that your body can perform better during short, intense bursts of activity without relying solely on oxygen for energy. As a result, athletes and fitness enthusiasts often experience increased speed, power, and explosiveness, especially in activities like sprints or weightlifting.

3. Faster Muscle Recovery

In addition to its performance-enhancing effects, creatine has been shown to aid in faster muscle recovery post-exercise. By reducing muscle cell damage and inflammation, creatine supplementation can help you bounce back quicker from tough workouts, allowing you to train more frequently and with greater intensity.

4. Cognitive Benefits and Brain Health

While creatine is renowned for its physical benefits, its positive impact on cognitive function and brain health should not be overlooked. Some of the latest research suggests that creatine plays a vital role in brain energy metabolism, potentially leading to improved memory, cognitive processing, and overall mental clarity. This dual-action supplement not only fuels your body but also supports your mind.

5. Management of Neurological Conditions

Beyond the realm of fitness, creatine shows promise in the management of certain neurological conditions. Recent studies have explored its potential benefits in conditions like Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, and even depression. While more research is needed in this area, the neuroprotective properties of creatine offer exciting possibilities for the future of mental health treatment.

In Conclusion...

The benefits of using creatine regularly extend far beyond the weight room. From enhancing muscle growth and strength to improving anaerobic capacity and supporting cognitive function, creatine proves to be a versatile and effective supplement for individuals of all ages looking to optimize both their physical and mental performance. Whether you're a seasoned athlete, a weekend warrior, or simply someone striving for overall well-being, incorporating creatine into your routine could be the missing piece in your quest for peak performance.

So, if you're ready to take your workouts to the next level and unlock a new realm of physical and mental benefits, consider adding creatine to your supplement stack. Your body and mind will thank you for it, Everyday J.O.E.s!

Why Did Your Last Diet Fail?

There's a controversial statistic that's been floating around the health and fitness community for around a decade now-- you've likely heard of it. The statistic is that 95% of diets fail (Freedhoff, 2014). Right off the bat, there's a lot to unpack with that statement. Does it mean that 95% of the diet plans on the market are doomed to fail their adherents? Does it mean 95% of dieters will fail, and that basically dieting is a hopeless endeavor?

For this particular study, the daunting statistic came from self-reported data from a large number of dieters who admitted that either: 1) they failed to lose any weight on a recent diet, or 2) they did lose some weight but they regained all of the lost pounds within a year, or 3) they wound up heavier within a year than they were when they started the diet. Researchers put forth a number of theories as to why the failure rate was so high, and most of their theories line up with what professionals in the health and fitness community observe from clients and patients on a regular basis.

The most prominent theories revolve around one word: adherence. Think of adherence to the diet or nutrition plan as the most obvious answer to the "what", but it requires more understanding to dissect the "why" of the matter. So, why is adherence such a struggle? One potential reason why is deprivation. Many of the most popular diets of the past half century involve the removal of entire food groups, labeling all foods as being either bad or good with no room for nuance. Whether real or imagined, depriving our bodies of entire food groups, or foods with which we've been familiar, can make our brains and our bodies respond negatively, whether that's through increased stress levels or our bodies choosing to slow down our metabolism in an effort to conserve energy. Sometimes, those food-group restrictive diets leave the adherent with too few options that they genuinely enjoy, making it even more painful to stick to a diet over the long run. Banning sweets altogether from a diet has been shown to lead to a dieter eating closer to 133% more of that sweet snack, compared to how much they would have eaten if sweets weren't forbidden for them in the first place (Soetens, 2008).

What can we learn from this? One, we can see the importance of starting with a sustainable nutrition plan or diet plan? Being too restrictive on things you enjoy ultimately has a negative effect on reaching your goals. Two, the importance of habit forming to aid with adherence is bigger than you might expect. Having a standardized grocery list, having a handful of 5 or 6 dishes that you regularly eat and still allow you to lose body fat, and saving time via weekly meal-prepping can all help to make the process easier to stick to in the long run. Let the next time you try to lose bodyfat be the most successful and long-lasting endeavor you've ever had!

Drinking Alcohol while Losing Fat and Gaining Lean Muscle? Tell Me How!

You've probably heard stories of people getting shredded while drinking alcohol, just as often as you've heard stories of someone cutting alcohol out of their diet and immediately losing a significant amount of excess bodyfat. So, which one is it? Can we truly have our cake (iced cake vodka, whipped cream vodka and half and half-- you're welcome) and eat it too when it comes to meeting our goals without compromising on what we really enjoy?

The short answer: No. Some of you might be thinking, hey John/Everyday J.O.E., you've said not to remove entire groups of foods from your diet, or not to entirely give up on things you enjoy. You'd be absolutely correct! And I don't want you to give up alcohol entirely if you don't want to! But keep in mind that alcohol is not an essential macronutrient like fat, carbohydrates and protein are. It's also not an essential micronutrient or mineral. It does, however, pack about 7 calories per gram. The only macronutrient that's more calorically-dense than alcohol is fat. What makes it worse than fat, significantly, is that your body has to prioritize metabolizing alcohol first, but it has no immediate benefits to your metabolic system and instead gets into your bloodstream, impacting the function of your brain, kidneys, lungs and liver, relatively quickly. These are organs that we need for our successful fat loss journey!

At the same time, happiness is a food group. If you can cut alcohol out of your life entirely during your journey and not miss it, that would be ideal. If you'd like to indulge, do so reasonably, where you assign yourself a 1 or 2 drink limit before the fun begins, and you stick to it! Check out the website getdrunknotfat.com for a great list of somewhat low-calorie drinks for the individual who wants to feel a buzz and minimize the caloric impact on their diet. Another cheat code: day drinking. Yes, the majority of the negative effects are still there EXCEPT for a big one: there will be no negative impact on your sleep quality. Under normal circumstances, when we drink in the evening, it impacts our sleep architecture, the amount of REM sleep we get, and can increase our odds of having sleep apnea by around 25%. All of that equals poor sleep quality, and sleep is the second most important element of fat loss (second only to diet). Conversely, enjoying 1 or 2 drinks earlier in your day gives enough time for your body to recover from the deleterious effects and go to bed without alcohol in your system. You should still consider that day of drinking to essentially be a "wash" or a mulligan with regards to reaching your goals, but you can jump right back on your train to success the following day!