"Exercise is your king, and nutrition is your Queen. Together they create your fitness kingdom!"
At Biosauce we are focused on one particular part of your daily nutritional activities: post-workout recovery nutrition. Research shows that intense exercise raises your body's insulin sensitivity. In essence, this means that after your workout, your body is immediately put into enhanced "repair mode". It's energy supplies are depleted and the muscles fibres have been torn and damaged by the workout. It needs to recover as soon as possible.
The two key macronutrients for optimum recovery are:
Carbohydrates - natural sugars made up, in essence, of chains of glucose molecules (for energy restoration)
Proteins - natural biochemical compounds made up of chains of amino acids (for muscle fibre generation)
In evolutionary terms, the human body would have been at its weakest and most vulnerable immediately after strenuous exercise - perhaps from chasing down woolly mammoths for meat! So the priority after such exertion would have been to quickly refuel the body's energy supplies (you can't do anything without energy to drive your muscles) and then to repair the damaged muscles themselves. Insulin, a hormone released from the pancreas when the the blood's sugar and amino acid levels hit certain concentrations, is central to this process.
Following consumption of carbohydrates and proteins after exercise, these amino acid and blood sugar concentrations begin to rise and, because of the increased insulin sensitivity at this time, the body starts releasing large amounts of insulin into the blood-stream. Insulin is the body's storage (refueling) hormone as the insulin molecules attach themselves to individual muscle cells and then act as sign-posts for the glucose and amino acids in the blood-stream by shouting "Get in here!". This will happen extremely quickly when you ingest Biosauce immediately after your workout due to the specially designed ultra-fast absorbing nature of the drink.
The body will be able to optimally refuel its glycogen supplies (future fast energy stores) from the sufficient glucose now present in the blood-stream. This in turn means that all of the available amino acids (derived from the protein) are used in muscle repair and generation.
This is why we at Biosauce believe a "protein only" attitude towards your nutrition, especially your post-workout nutrition, will actually limit muscle development. Without the ingestion of carbohydrates after a workout, you will have very little glucose entering the bloodstream. The insulin release will still be triggered by the presence of the amino acids from the protein but the body's first need will be for energy restoration and not muscle generation. As such, the body will combine the amino acids with lactate (which built up during your workout) in a process called gluconeogenesis to create glycogen for energy restoration (it's priority job in recovery). This will leave little of the amino acids left for muscle building thereby seriously compromising your gains.
For this reason, "protein only" drinks consumed post workout end up being little more than expensive energy drinks. The consumer will see limited muscle development as most of the amino acids from the protein are diverted into restoring energy supplies and not building muscle fibres.
And further, by adjusting the amount of carbohydrate in the drink, it is possible to create a drink that is more geared towards lean muscle growth (Biosauce's lower carb Muscle Tone drink, where a small amount of the amino acids will intentionally be used for glycogen replacement) or one that is marginally overloaded with carbs to ensure that every available amino acid molecule is steered towards out-and-out muscle generation (Biosauce's Muscle Gain drink).
The complication with all of this is that we are all different shapes and sizes, so the amounts of carbohydrates and proteins we should ingest to achieve our optimal results (whether focusing on Tone or Size) will differ from person to person. Fortunately, a combination of research within the scientific community and extensive real-life testing amongst the professional sports community has resulted in some clearly defined formulas that can now be used to create an individual's perfect post-workout macronutritional drink that reflects both their body-size and training aim.
Read more about the different Biosauce drink types under our DRINKS section. Additionally, various discussions and articles can be found on this subject in the following links if you're interested and want to know more:
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/288/4/E645.abstract?ijkey=f7183906344350e67a1032690676cd55a4cf85a1&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/40/11/900.full
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/138/11/2198
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9390958
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/130/10/2508
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10871568
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8044018/A-genuine-elixir-of-life-at-least-for-mice.html
http://speedendurance.com/2008/05/26/nutrition-for-recovery-post-workout-drink-controversy/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/post_workout_carbs.htm
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/store/2-1-1-recovery.html#product-description
http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=30
http://www.clutchfitness.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=8
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek37.htm
http://www.mens-total-fitness.com/window-of-opportunity.html
http://www.wannabebig.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32461
Read more about the different Biosauce drink types under our DRINKS section. Additionally, various discussions and articles can be found on this subject in the following links if you're interested and want to know more: