Optimization means maximizing the good while minimizing the bad.
There are “health habits” that will put your body into a much better position to receive the best possible results from your HGH supplement.
These suggestions focus on optimizing your body so that you help it to be more efficient.
Do you have to do these things?
Of course not, it’s just that time and time again people who receive the best results from HGH supplements have something in common?
They have chosen to optimize their bodies by adding “health habits” that assist their physiology to function more efficiently.
Health Habit Suggestions
Most people take a haphazard approach. If you have excess body fat, low energy levels, weak muscles, diminished sex drive, or look older than most people your age, chances are your hormonal optimization is not working very well.
You can optimize your physiology by adjusting the following:
- Diet
- Exercise
- Lifestyle
- Increased Dietary Potassium
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Diet
The Hormonal Response To Food.
Studies show that for better results fasting prior to sleep can heighten sleep-related HGH output.
Going to bed with a stomach full of carbohydrates will diminish, if not nullify, HGH release.
To enhance HGH output, do not eat carbohydrates within 90 minutes of going to bed.
Each time you eat you provide a flurry of hormonal activity. You influence the state of your body and mind for several hours in four critical areas:
- Fuel Usage: Whether you will burn fat or store fat.
- Mental State: Whether you will be alert and clear-headed, or sluggish and foggy, or something in-between.
- Energy Level: Whether you will have high or low energy.
- Appetite: Whether or not you will experience food cravings.
For better results eating should be viewed NOT as an event limited in time by how long it takes to swallow the food, but rather as a means of priming your biochemistry in terms of fat-burning-storage, mental state, energy levels, and appetite.
What you eat:
If you are currently consuming a diet high in carbohydrate, your particular food desires and your sense of hunger is out of wack and you won’t get better results.
Carbohydrates trigger insulin -
- fat builder
- lowers blood sugar
- converts sugar to glycogen
Protein triggers glucagon -
- fat burner
- raises blood sugar
- coverts glycogen to blood sugar
Snacking
Better results means providing the right nutrients, which will:
Ward of hunger and create the appropriate physiological state for your hormonal functions.
When and Why…
For better results eat every few hours irrespective of whether you are hungry; eat to prevent hunger rather than eating in response to hunger.
General guidelines:
Never allow more than four hours between feedings; ideally, eat something every two hours
Eat in small amounts
Snack ideas:
A small handful of nuts
A tablespoon of peanut butter
An ounce of cheese
A small amount of sliced turkey
A small protein shake
The concept here is to preempt the mindless impulse of hunger and by eating when you are not hungry, you will be proactive and guaranteeing that hunger will stay away for another few hours.
For better results – Snack: What and How…
Nuts
Pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc. take your pick. They are portable and convenient. Raw nuts and seeds contain protein (particularly rich in the superstar amino acid, arginine), “good fat,” fiber, potassium and magnesium, and more naturally occurring vitamin E than any other food.
Based on the outstanding nutrient profile of nuts, it has been long suspected that this relatively high-fat food helps prevent heart disease.
The epidemiological studies finding that nuts protect against heart disease are consistent with clinical trials finding that nut consumption lowers LDL and triglyceride levels.
Based on evidence to date, frequent nut consumption may decrease coronary risk by up to 40%.
Which are the best nuts to snack on?
Almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and soybeans each contain amino acids, omega 3 fat in addition to other good fats. Omega fat facilitates fat loss in addition to other substantial health benefits.
Fruit
Fruit is not as good a snack as nuts and seeds, because it contains only carbohydrates, fiber, a little protein and negligible fat.
Lean White Meat
Super snack in terms of its substance. Lean white meat is the “king of thermogenic foods,” which means it cranks-up your metabolism.
Be careful – usually the more convenient and portable meat snacks are, the more “processed” they are.
Cheese
Be careful with your consumption. Cheese is high in saturated fat.
Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is an outstanding snack. It contains less fat and substantially more protein than other cheeses. Cottage cheese that is 4% fat is preferred because it contains approximately 5 grams of fat per 1/2 cup, just enough to counter act cravings and provide a rich taste, and provide 13 grams of protein.
By adding cottage cheese to salad of fruit, you transform a low-protein meal into a moderate-high protein meal.
Exercise
To get better results from HGH therapy what kind of exercise should you do?
Over 99% of the population believe that aerobic exercise is more effective at burning fat and elevating growth hormone production – they’re wrong.
Progressive resistance training is your most effective tool for shedding excess body fat and elevating your growth hormone production.
The reality is that the greater portion of fat loss and growth hormone production benefits accrue between not during workout sessions. The hormonal and metabolic forces set into motion as a result of your motions in the gym can have an effect for many hours after your workout ends.
Studies show that resistance exercise have a post-exercise metabolic elevation persisting for approximately 15 hours.
The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even at rest, the better results you get.
Authors opinion: You’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to spend a long time in the gym doing continuous, monotonous exercise in order to burn fat and stimulate growth hormones.
Instead:
For better results exchange duration for intensity.
Cardiovascular workouts should be short, intermittent bursts of activity interspersed with rest periods.
This is called “interval training,” and is far more effective at stimulating growth hormone than continuous, low intensity exercise.
In one head-to-head comparison, interval training induced a three-fold greater growth hormone response than a traditional moderate-intensity continuous workout. That’s impressive!
Note: Before undergoing any new exercise program consult your physician first.
Lifestyle
Stress…
Small modifications can make a major difference in your hormonal status.
Stress triggers food cravings in many people, specifically, stressed people crave the serotonin fix that a carbohydrate-rich food gives.
The principle response to stress is that it stimulates a rise in cortisol, the catabolic, pro-aging, anti-immunity, anti-testosterone, anti-growth hormone, insulin-raising hormone.
Cortisol directly destroys muscle tissue, inhibits repair, indirectly promotes central fat deposition, and interferes with sleep.
If a long, vital, and happy life is on your busy agenda, then make fun, rest, play, and quiet times a priority! Stress reduction is central to enhancing hormonal health naturally.
Sleep…
Contrary to the popular perception of sleep as an idle state, it is, in fact, a physiological event period. Electro-neurological oscillations and cascading hormones define the biologic busyness of sleep.
Furthermore, the complex hormonal and brainwave activities that occur during sleep are crucial to immune system operation, cognitive function, emotional well-being, and physical development.
Circadian hormonal rhythms, which orchestrate all biological process, are dependent upon the sleep-wake cycle.
Growth hormone status is especially dependent on sleep, because a major growth hormone surge occurs approximately 30-70 minutes after falling asleep. Disturbed or interrupted sleep can cause growth hormone output to be reduced or aborted.
Therefore, not merely sleep, but sound sleep, is essential to maximizing growth hormone release.6
Seven hours of sleep per day is a good target for the average person.
To optimize hormonal status, spend dark hours sleeping and spend daylight hours awake. This is just another way of saying “early to bed, early to rise.”
The vast majority of long-lived individuals go to bed early, and are “early risers.”
Increased Dietary Potassium
Water Water Everywhere
95% of our culture is chronically dehydrated!
Is it any wonder that our bodies begin to deteriorate and function less and less efficiently?
When a person is dehydrated they are in a compromised condition. To stabilize them both physiologically and metabolically, the person must be properly hydrated.
A baby’s tissue holds about 90 percent water, which is what makes the skin smooth and soft; adult tissue holds about 60 percent water; an elderly person about 40 percent.
You lose about two liters of water (and if your physically active up to two liters per hour) per day through the skin, urine, feces, and breath.
HGH therapy can help bring an individual’s hydration back in the same range of a 20-30 year-old. This is probably why people using HGH therapy often report that their skin is soft, pliable and fine lines and wrinkles have faded.
In recent years, scientists have learned that changes in cell volume regulate cell function. In fact the emerging view is that hormones and nutrients exert their controlling influence on cellular activities by altering cell volume. Cell volume is a function of the hydration state of the cell – and that bring us back to water.
If anything will convince you to drink enough water the following paragraphs will.
Water as an anabolic agent…
Fluid is constantly moving in and out of the cell across an electrical gradient bisected by the cell membrane. This fluid exchange is controlled by electrolytes.
The mineral sodium is the chief extracellular electrolyte, whereas the mineral potassium is the chief intracellular electrolyte.
The key to obtaining the anabolic benefits of “cell volumization” is to maximize intracellular fluid. Drinking water will improve your overall hydration status, but it will not significantly alter the ratio of intracellular to extracellular fluid.
Studies have clearly linked the importance of the sodium/potassium ratio in connection with growth hormones.
By increasing your potassium intake and reducing your sodium intake, you shift water from the extracellular compartments of your body into the cells.
Because potassium levels decline with age, as do growth hormone, cellular dehydration/shrinkage has been strongly linked to several disease states. It is evident that sodium/potassium and water is one of your most important daily choices in maintaining healthy cell structure.
A high-water low-sodium intake coupled with a diet high in potassium-rich foods is a sound strategy for hydrating the trillions of cells in your body.
Important points to consider:
Hydration is a continuum. Most people don’t drink enough water, and thus they are perpetually in a state of sub-optimal hydration – called hypohydration. Hypohydration can raise cortisol levels.44 Cortisol is a catabolic, anti-immunity, pro-aging destructive hormone.
To minimize cortisol levels, you should avoid hypohydration – and that means drinking a lot of water.
Thirst is not an accurate indicator of hydration. You can be seriously hypohydrated without being the least bit thirsty. Conversely, if you wait until you are thirsty before drinking water, you will always be hypohydrated.
Start properly hydrating yourself now (don’t wait until you start your HGH program). Follow the above recommendations for a low-sodium, high-potassium, high water diet.
Critical Point:
Increasing your potassium intake is vital to your own HGH production. Potassium deficiency has been found to cause growth hormone and IGF-1 suppression.
High Potassium Foods:
Beet greens, chopped, cooked –1 cup, 1300 mg
Avocado — 6 ounces, 1080 mg
Apricots, dried — 1/2 cup, 895 mg
Beans (legumes), cooked — 1 cup 500, 1200 mg
Potato, baked, with skin — 6 ounces, 710 mg
Clams, cooked — 3 ounces, 535 mg
Yogurt, plain, low-fat — 1 cup, 550 mg
Fish, most varieties, cooked — 4 ounces, 350-700 mg
Orange juice — 1 cup, 500 mg
Banana — 1 medium, 470 mg
Counteracting Potassium Agents:
Alcohol, coffee, cortisone, diuretics, laxatives, salt (excessive), sugar (excessive), stress.
Fiber
Flaxseed, Your Wisest Choice! (1-2 tablespoons per day)
Although flaxseed is not a common food in the diet of North Americans, it has a long history and has been around for thousands of years. One of the first crops ever grown, the people of Scandinavia, Africa, and Asia eat flaxseed regularly. Also known as linseed, flaxseeds are brown in color and have a deep nutty flavor.
The use of freshly ground flax seeds can improve digestion, prevent and reverse constipation, stabilize blood glucose levels, improve cardiovascular function, and bring about many other beneficial effects.
Flaxseed has a high nutritional value and according to the Tufts University Health & Nutritional Letter, flaxseed is one of the richest sources of alpha-linolenic acid, one of the types of fatty acids in the omega-3 family which are considered a superunsaturated fats.
Omega-3 fatty acids help improve heart health by lowering elevated blood fats (serum triglycerides), reducing blood pressure, and platelet stickiness. Other benefits include: reversing premenstrual syndrome in most cases, shortening the time required from tired muscles to recover from exercise, increasing the rate of metabolic reactions in the body at levels above 12 – 15% of total calories, producing smooth skin, increasing stamina, and reducing inflammation. These fatty acids are “essential” for health and survival, but the human body is incapable of producing them; they must be obtained from food.
Flaxseed is an excellent source of insoluble and soluble fiber which can help decrease cholesterol levels. Flaxseeds are also packed with Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), a critical dietary element that regulates the balance of saturated fats and cholesterol in cells. In addition to being found in flaxseeds, EFA is found in fish, soybeans, leafy vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
In addition to the omega-3 essential fatty acids and soluble and insoluble fiber, flaxseeds also contain a phytoestrogen, a naturally occurring plant estrogen, called lignans. In fact, flaxseeds are one of the richest known food sources for plant estrogens, containing between 75 to 800 times more lignans than any other food.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Flaxseed Oil (1 tablespoon per day)
During the past 150 years, consumption of omega 6 fatty acids has increased in Western nations due to an increase in vegetable oil consumption. During this same period, consumption of omega 3 fatty acids has declined due to livestock domestication and food processing that disproportionately destroys the more fragile omega 3′s.
As a result, the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 consumption has altered radically from approximately 1 1/2: 1 to 25: 1.1 Studies indicate that fatty acid imbalance has far-reaching adverse physiological effects mediated via eicosanoids; and it is likely a contributory factor in the ability to control body fat.
The prevalence of omega 3 deficiency coupled with the substantial health and fat loss benefits associated with omega 3 consumption, warrants taking deliberate measures to incorporate this type of fat into your diet.
There are three sources of omega 3 fatty acids:
- alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)
- eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
- docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Omega 3 fatty acids have earned a spot at the forefront of nutritional research, showing promise as an important factor in fat loss. For one, omega 3 fat improves insulin sensitivity.
- Heightened insulin sensitivity facilitates fat loss by making insulin work more efficiently.
The more sensitive cells are to insulin, the less of it the pancreas must emit in response to a given amount of blood sugar. This helps keep insulin levels out of the fat-storage zone. (Other nutrients and exercise also affect insulin sensitivity.)
- Consistent with its favorable effect on insulin function, omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce abdominal fat storage in laboratory animals.
Unquestionably, omega 3 fat is your ally in the quest for optimal health and physique.
The best food source of omega 3 fat is cold-water fish.
- Salmon, herring, trout, mackerel, halibut, and sardines are rich in EP A and DHA.
- Low-fat fish such as sole, swordfish, snapper, and flounder are comparatively low in omega 3 content
- Sources of alpha-linolenic acid, which is converted in the body to EPA and DHA, include dark green leafy vegetables, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, soybeans, and canola oil.Flaxseed oil, one of the more highly touted supplements in recent years, is the richest source of alpha linolenic acid.
All Fats Aren’t Created Equal
Maximize your “good fat” intake within your moderate fat quota.
Good Monounsaturated! Omega 3
Avocado
Canola Oil
Fish (cold water is best) Flaxseed Oil
Pumpkin Seed
Olive Oil
Soy
Vegetables (dark green leafy) Walnuts
Wild Game
Neutral (effects depend on hormonal state) Saturated
Beef
Butter
Cheese
Eggs
Lard