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Tasty.
First of all, I’d like to congratulate ThatKim, who was this week’s winner in our secret contest, “Who can correctly guess a big contributing factor in Kelly’s malaise?” Hormones, people, they do mess with you. Of course that’s never all that’s up, but it is like throwing gasoline on top of whatever small tire fire might be smoldering in my own private hell. The day after I posted I was filled with rage towards very single person on the planet for doing something irritating like saying hello in a bad tone of voice or blinking in a way that could only be a sign that they hated me. I literally had to get out of conversations with other human beings quickly because even the people I care the most about seemed deliberately annoying to me. Naturally I hated myself most of all. Ah, good times.

Anyhow, the next day, after getting literally teary when one class showed remarkable proficiency at the deadlift (”Sniff, they’re just doing so well, it’s inspirational”) I had some better perspective. Thanks extra especially to some real sweethearts who told me nice things or were generally tolerant and sympathetic and not offended by my rageful glances in their directions. And I had better workouts than the one where I cried because I’m such a fitness loser. My mom even sent me this email regarding my last post (quoting in entirety here): “You are so NOT a loser (per FF). Love you lots. Mom.”

But though I do tend to chronicle the hormonal roller coaster on FF meticulously, I think it is probably time to move on, just as my cycle has. Perhaps we should talk about something health-oriented. Like vitamins.

Vitamins: They are really bad for you. The end.

Okay, not really. But seems like lately the NY Times has been taking the Vs to task by highlighting some studies and findings that indicate you might not need to swallow that musty-tasting horse pill every morning. Ya, we need vitamins. And there’s a really good source of them. It’s called FOOD.

Let’s take this study for example, on antioxidants vitamins C and E. The researchers had a group of young men exercise and gave them moderate doses of these two vitamins, then tested their sensitivity to insulin and some other stuff. They found no improvement in insulin sensitivity and very little reaction of the bodies defense mechanisms against oxidative damage. Right, because these are antioxidants, and the researchers theorized that the body uses reactive oxygen compounds (which are byproducts of exercise) to trigger the defense responses. What does all that mean?

“‘If you exercise to promote health, you shouldn’t take large amounts of antioxidants,’ Dr. Ristow said. A second message of the study, he said, ‘is that antioxidants in general cause certain effects that inhibit otherwise positive effects of exercise, dieting and other interventions.’”

In other words, if you exercise to, say, improve your metabolism, you might short-circuit that through taking vitamins C and E. Fruit and veggie forms are exempt because those food sources of these vitamins come with other benefits. Now, is it true? Study was on young men, and probably more research is needed, blah blah blah. Don’t look to me for answers, by god.

But I do think we are exceptionally lucky to be living in a time and place where we have easy access to a whole range of produce, and grains, and proteins (animal and otherwise), and the chances are, if you eat a balanced diet, you might not need a supplementary pill unless you are advised by a medical professional to take it or are missing something for some reason. I’m not telling you what to do, of course, cuz fuck if I know. But I do believe pills should be for recreational use only. Ha! No, I just think it’s wise to be wary of over-popping the capsules, and that a varied nutritional program is probably a very helpful thing, one that might save you from having to shell over $25 for a bottle of daily doses of this and that.

Is this thrilling? Would you like to hear more about my cycle now? Yap at me.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm and is filed under blah blah, body building, exercise, expert advice, fads and facts, healthy crap, news and research, nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.