Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Advocare - "White Box"

This post is in progress.... my aim is to cover one product a day :)....

The reason for writing this particular post is that I thought I had supplementation down. I used jarrow's alpha lipoic, Primal Defense from Garden of Life, Bio-K, Juice Plus, Jay Robb's egg protien powder etc etc...

So when you switch all your products to a different suppplement line and then see MASSIVE results, you have to wonder why. So I started to investigate....

When I first tried Advocare I was skeptical. I dilly dallied with the products for while and thought they were so so, I still had my "old" supplements to use up. Then I started to like how I felt and began to do more research. The turning point was when I saw that one my Olympic weightlifting coaches was an endorser for the product (can anyone say burpee!!! LOL). So I emailed him and he told me that his kids and athletes are on it and that he loves the company and the products. Bam... I was sold and ordered a bunch of products for me and my family.

When the results started to appear, I started investigating the products more deeply to figure out why they were working. Below I'll outline the products that have had the most noticable and measurable impact on me and why. Then I'll talk about the results from combining multiple products and how they work synergistically and complement each other.


Meal Replacement Shake:

- Holy crap what an awesome awesome awesome product. This one makes the "Top Five" in terms of impact
- I first didn't like the stats on it since I've been so anti-carb, but it has a brilliant blend of complex and simple carbs so that your blood sugar stays stable.
- Theres also 5-6 grams of Fiber in each shake which is awesome for digestive health
- There's no Soy, just whey protien concentrate, milk protien isolate and Calcium Caseinate
- There's a bunch of BCAAs and L-Glutamine built in.
- 500mg of calcium!!!
- Here's the kicker though..... they freakin put freakin' put acidopholus, bifidus and Bromelain and Papaim into the mix. So not only are you getting high quality protien, you're taking it in with pro-biotics and digestive enzymes so that you absorb more of it.
- The first day I tried it, I felt "runbly" in the stomach since I was dding in the acidopholus and fiber, that's great because it means my digestive system was NOT in top shape.
- Start your day with this shake and your blood sugar will stay stable for a very very long time. All this for 220 calories.... that's just freakin' amazing.


Catalyst:
- I'm not going to go too deep into the science of BCAA's here, you can search MSN for it :)
- what I will say is that this product does an absoulutely awesome job of preserving lean muscle mass WHILE cutting fat due to a calorie deficit. This product is what will prevent you from yo-yo dieting, since you won't lose lean muscle.
- When I'm in my leaning cycle, if I'm not too hungy, I'll have a couple of catalysts and a spark and miss a meal or two.. or three.... the spark revs up the metabolism and suppresses the appetite, the water you take with it hydrates you, the Catalyst keeps aminos floating around in your blood stream in case your body decides it wants to burn protien. It also keeps a positive, anabolic nitrogen balance so that you're building muscle while starving.
- This one defintely hits the "Top five"

- it's funny I go through a bottle a of this stuff about every 8-10 days. I finances actually even out and I sometimes end up saving more money. Think about it, 3 catalysts and spark cost a little under $2 whereas a meal would be costing me anywhere from $5 - $10 easy.

- Alright, moral of the stroy, you wanna get lean, reduce your calories, skip some meals and up the catalyst.. comprende?

Spark:
- The best energy drink I have had.
- it has L-carnitine that transports fatty acids across the mitochondrial membrane so that fat is more easliy used as an energy store.
- It has a Co-enzyme Q10 for energy production and cellular anti-oxidation. I could write a book on the positive virtues of Co-Q10 - it has so many positive effects on the body.
- GABA, L-Tyrosine, L-Phenylalanine --> all pre-cursors for neuro transmitters, they help with mental focus and clarity (honestly, I get so much more work done, uncle Bill should send Advocare a thank you letter....)
- B complex - all used for energy production at the cellular level.
- Vit C (180mg), Vit E (30IU), Vit A(1000 IU) --> anti-oxidants
- Chromium -> helps with insulin sensitivity
- Caffeine (120mg) and Taurine (200 mg) -> synergyistic stimulants
- basically, this energy drink is the bomb because unlike red bull, coffee, etc it has the regular stimulants, but without the high doses of sugar and it's packed with all these vitamins and co-factors. So what? so that means that you aren't going to experience the all too familiar caffeine crash that I always get from drinking too much coffee or other stimulants.
- My workouts are better on Spark, I take one every morning when I wake up, on an emtpy stomach with my Thermo and catalyst, then I wait 30 mins before eating. I also have another one in the afternoon as a pick me up instead of coffee.
- If you are a coffee addict or energy drink addict, try switching to spark for a couple of days and see how you FEEL. You'll have more energy that lasts for longer, with vitamins and a mild appetite surpressant. So your blood sugar will be stable and you'll make better choices all day in terms of activities and nutrition. As you can see I'm a fan :).
- oh yeah, this makes the "Top 5"

Rehydrate:
- what's the best way to test a a rehydration product?.......
- Fly to mexico, play in the sun for 8 hours, drink very little water, eat a light dinner, have 5-10 shots of tequila (or hard liqour of choice) until you cannot walk in a straight line, then go home and have a serving of the product before going to bed.
Wake up in the morning and check for any of the following:
- body aches
- head ache
- stomach pain
- joint pain
- low energy
- stiffness
- etc.....
--> I'm happy to report that Rehydrate passed with flying colours and became the staple late night, post party drink for me and my buddies... how else can you sustain 2 weeks of non-stop partying? haha :)
- Ok so moving on to science.....
- L- Argnine and L-Glutamine!!! yay aminos... find me a reydration product that has those?
- 1:1 sodium:potassium ration for optimal inter and intra cellular hydration.
- low glycemic carbs so that you don't drink it have have blood sugar spikes.
- Co-Q10 and L-Glutathione --> both potent anti-oxidants to stave of post exercise free radicals.
- btw, did I mention that this product just tastes amazing?
- If you're a parent, don't be buying your kids sugar laden juices and drinks, give them re-hyrdate, it's cheaper and much much more healthy for them
- I think it's the NFL or some other major league whereby the kegs on the sideline have re-hydrate on the inside, but a massive "gatorade" sign on the outside since Advocare does not Pay for any endorsements.
- I started playing around with rehydrate about 3 months ago and I have to say it does do an awesome job of keeping you hydrated. This in turn helps with appetite control, internal cleansing and weight loss, since if you are sufficiently hydrated, your body will be less reluctant to hold onto it's fat stores.
- Ok, so this is a great addition to your regimen for post workout electcrolyte replacement, which btw, will improve recovery, general drinking etc etc. it's miles ahead of gatorade, powerade and any of that crap - plus it's CHEAPER



Muscle Fuel:

Muscle Gain:

NightTime Recovery:

MNS Max Energy:

Herbal Cleanse, Probiotic Restore and Fiber Drink:

CorePlex and Omega Plex:

Protein Plus Bar:

Weight loss tools: Crave Check, Fibo Trim and Carb Ease


Product Synergy

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing

Anonymous said...

I am reading this article second time today, you have to be more careful with content leakers. If I will fount it again I will send you a link

Unknown said...

I am a soccer player. I practice daily at least 6 hours. Can I take health supplements with protein shake?

Tony
pro arginine

Anonymous said...

Would you finish this post?? I'm LOVING it! I understand what the ingredients actually DO enough so that I can effectively explain it in terms other people can understand without getting so technical...thank you!