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The liver is the largest glandular organ in the body and it helps purify toxins and harmful substances from the body. The liver secretes bile, a chemical that digests fats. Bile’s salts break up fat into smaller pieces so it can be absorbed more easily in the small intestine.

In addition to producing bile, the liver:

• Detoxifies the blood to remove harmful substances such as alcohol and drugs
• Stores some vitamins and iron
• Stores the sugar glucose
• Converts stored sugar to functional sugar when the body’s sugar (glucose) levels fall below normal
• Breaks down hemoglobin as well as insulin and other hormones
• Converts ammonia to urea, which is vital in metabolism
• Destroys old red blood cells (called RBC’s)

TOP 5 AYURVEDIC HERBS FOR LIVER HEALTH

Though liver is such an important organ, but it is subject a lot of abuse from factors such as environmental toxins, pain killer abuse.  If you are overweight, drink heavily, suffer from diabetes or have high levels of triglycerides, you are putting your liver health at risk.

MILK THISTLE

Milk thistle is the best herb for a healthy liver. It has been used for thousands of years to support liver health. It contains the flavonoid silymarin, which is thought to be responsible for many of its beneficial effects, including liver protection and antioxidant, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Silymarin, its active component, is actually a group of compounds (silibinin, silidianin, and silicristin), which work together to provide multiple health benefits.

HOW DOES SILYMARIN PROTECT YOUR LIVER? 

Silymarin prevents tissue scarring, and it’s thought to act as as a “toxin blockade agent” by inhibiting the binding of toxins to liver cell membrane receptors.

Not only is silymarin used to treat alcoholic liver disease, acute and chronic viral hepatitis, and toxin-induced liver diseases, but in experimental studies, this powerful compound has been shown to reduce liver injury caused by a number of drugs and environmental toxins.

Silymarin is a good herb for treating fatty liver. Fatty liver is a result of a buildup of fat in liver cells. Usually, obesity causes fatty liver, but it may result from diabetes or high serum triglycerides as well as alcohol abuse, rapid weight loss, and malnutrition.

Long-term use of steroids can also cause fatty liver.

BHRINGRAJ

Bhringraj, botanical name Eclipta Alba is an important Ayurveda herb. it is widely used in hair fall treatment, liver disorders, skin diseases etc. This herb supports healthy liver, as it protects the liver from toxic substances and is used in the treatment of hepatic disorders.

BHUMYAMLAKI

Bhumyamlaki (Phyllanthus niruri) is a well-known hepatoprotective herb provided by nature. Bitter in taste and with cooling, soothing and cleansing properties, it acts to cleanse, detoxify and strengthen the liver.

Bhumyamalaki also supports healthy functioning of the gallbladder and promotes healthy skin.  Bhumyamlaki pacifies pitta and kapha dosha, acts as a diuretic, protects the liver, detoxifies liver toxins and improves metabolism.

SHARPUNKHA

Sharpunkha is a well-known Ayurvedic herb, which is used in the treatment of liver cirrhosis. This herb is very beneficial to maintain the healthy hemoglobin levels in body. In Ayurveda sarapunkha has been identified as the fruitful herb for liver health. Besides this herb is good for digestive system and also helps to manage the digestive disorders.

  CHICORY

Chicory root has a long history of providing support to liver problems. Ancient Romans used the herb to help cleanse the blood. Egyptians were known to consume chicory root in large amounts to help purify the liver and the blood. In addition to its beneficial antioxidant effect, chicory root provides functional support to the liver.

Incorporate these herbs in your diet, so that your liver remains healthy. You also need to make a few changes in your lifestyle, like stress less, reduce your alcohol intake, exercise more and get at least 7-8 hours of shut-eye. Drink pure, filtered water and freshly cooked food. Your liver works quite hard and you must take good care of it to stay healthy. 

A stack is a common term in a bodybuilder’s vocabulary and it refers to using more than one supplement to speed up the fulfilment of the bodybuilder’s fitness goal.  A bodybuilder might be bulking in his off-season, with an agenda to increase his strength and size. There would be someone who is keen to lower his fat percentage before a contest and an athlete who wants to break his previous record and set a new one, and the supplement stack is going to make it easier for them to achieve their goal.

If you have ever wondered, supplement effective, then you might not have used in the right way. A supplement stack is designed in such a way that it makes available more nutrients to the muscles so that the fitness enthusiast does not have a hard time meeting his fitness goal.

WHAT IS A SUPPLEMENT STACK

The bodybuilding stacks work on the principle of synergy. They include a group of supplements that work together to improve energy, endurance, muscle size and workout intensity. Supplement stacks are to be taken before a workout, intra-workout and post workout.

HOW TO STACK YOUR SUPPLEMENTS

Keep it simple and sweet. Choose effective supplements, but with one ingredient and not having a mix of ingredients because you do not want to overdose on your supplements, and most importantly, your stack will be decided by your fitness goal and vary accordingly.

BEST SUPPLEMENT STACK FOR BULKING

The stack for mass gain needs to put you in a calorie surplus condition and will have a mass gainer for sure in it.  

1. Weight Gainers or Mass Gainers

When the fitness enthusiast needs to increase his muscle mass, he also needs to put on weight. Additional muscles are not built-in air, they need the right fuel and for human beings, the fuel is provided in the form of calories or the right foods.  However, the challenge is that the people who need extra calories, also found it more difficult to eat it, for reasons such as, hectic lifestyle and weak digestion.

2. Whey Protein

Your whey protein will allow it to recover quickly after a workout so that you suffer from fewer occasions of downtime and are able to hit the gym the next day.

3. Creatine

If you wish to build muscles, you need to exercise more intensely and break your previous personal record.  Your skeletal muscle tissues contain 95% of creatine. When you start supplementing creatine, it tops up phosphocreatine PCr stores, which allows you to have a longer and larger work volume. It helps you get one more rep.

4. Glutamine

Glutamine is an amino acid and you get in your diet when you eat protein. Glutamine helps remove waste products, like ammonia from the bloodstream.  According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, “People who regularly stress their bodies with heavy or prolonged exercise may deplete their glutamine stores.”

A workout stresses your muscles causing muscle damage. As the body repairs the damage, your muscles grow stronger and bit larger, anticipating future stress, but the process can take days of rest to repair that damage, which means you can work out only once or twice a week, and it quite hard to progress with this frequency. A supplement like glutamine will speed up the recovery process and allow you to work out more frequently.

BEST SUPPLEMENT STACK FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Along with whey protein, which you will have after a workout, your supplement stack to get ripped will include a fat burner and branched-chain amino acids.

1. Fat Burner

Fat burners can help enhance fat loss. They contain thermogenic ingredients, such as green tea, garcinia cambogia and grape fruit extract, which make them an effective weight loss supplement. These natural extracts raise your body’s metabolism, control junk food cravings and help burn stubborn belly fat.

2. Branched Chain Amino Acids

When you are trying to burn fat, your calorie intake is lower than it should be. However, hard you try to hold on to the muscle mass, dieting by nature is catabolic, which makes BCAA an effective supplement for dieters, especially bodybuilding competitors who take their physiques to the lean extreme.

Branched Chain Amino Acids, particularly leucine stimulates protein synthesis. BCAAs also reduce the rate of protein breakdown by maintaining muscle mass on a calorie-controlled diet. According to a study published in March 2011 issue of the “Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness” branched-chain amino can increase your exercise capacity and increase the use of fat for energy.

Mass gainers or weight gainers, as the name suggests will help you gain mass or weight. The standard principle for gaining weight is to eat more calories than you will burn. However, as a bodybuilder, what do you want to gain? Weight in the shape of pot belly or muscle mass? Obviously, it will be muscle mass, and here, a mass gainer is going to help!

Learn more about

• What is a mass gainer?
• What does mass gainer do to your body?
• What is your lean body mass?
• What is the role of mass gainers?
• How to choose mass gainers?

A mass gainer is not a pure protein. It contains carbs also. They are also known by the name weight gainers! Usually, they are taken as synonyms, but there exists a difference in their composition, specifically in their protein versus carbs ratio. Mass gainer serves a mix of proteins and carbs, along with high-quality fats and multivitamins (optional). The ratio of proteins and carbs in mass gainers can range between, 1:3 to 1:5. This ratio also indicates whether the supplement is a mass gainer or a weight gainer.

As a general rule, mass gainers have 1:3 protein and carbs ratio and in weight gainers, this ratio goes up to 1:5. 

WHAT DOES MASS GAINER DO TO YOUR BODY

Jim Stoppani, the most respected man in muscle kinesiology, and author Encyclopaedia of Muscle & Strength (Human Kinetics, 2006), explains: 

·         A mass gainer is for those, who cannot eat enough calories, protein, carbs and fat to build adequate muscle. This is typically teenage males and guys in their early 20s.

• Also, those who are truly hard gainers and no matter how much they eat cannot gain any weight

Mass gainers give you extra calories along with measured macros, such as proteins, carbs, high-quality fats in an easy to mix shake. It is these nutrients that cause a difference in your strength, size and stamina.

How? When you want to increase the size of your chest, back, biceps, you need to go in a calorie surplus situation, which means, you should be eating more calories than you can spend in a day. What should be that calorie number so that you put on lean muscle mass and keep the fat at a bare minimum? 

WHAT IS YOUR LEAN BODY MASS

Lean body mass is composed of muscle and bone tissue as well as organs beneath the body. It is composed of everything, except the fat beneath the surface of your skin. In order to find out your lean body mass, follow these steps:

1. Convert your weight in kg to pounds (1kg = 2.2 pounds)
2. Measure your weight in an intelligent weighing machine that will tell your body fat percentage as well.
3. Subtract your body fat percentage from 100, to arrive at your lean muscle mass percentage,  (If your body fat percentage is 20, your lean muscle mass percentage will be 80)
4. Divide your lean muscle mass percentage with 100 to arrive at the decimal of it, such as 80 divided by 100 will be 0.80
5. Pull out the calculator and multiply 0.80 with your body weight in pounds. For a 60kg male, the number will be 105.6
6. Multiply the lean muscle mass weight in pounds with 20 and you will get the calorie number.

105.6×20 =2112 calories

Now, if you want to increase your calorie intake, you need to know your lean muscle mass and figure out your calorie allowance. Stick to it in order to build lean muscle mass!

ROLE OF MASS GAINERS

People who need to put on weight find it hardest to do so. The reasons could be a busy lifestyle, fluctuating hunger level, high metabolism. Thus it becomes harder for them to fulfil their calorie needs. Here, mass gainers help, if you choose the right mass gainer.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT MASS GAINER

Your objective is to choose a supplement that will fuel your muscle gain and not fat gain. Therefore, junk foods, such as doughnuts, burgers, pizza are a complete no for someone who is trying to build muscles. The calories should come from high-quality nutrients, such as proteins, complex carbs, good fats, vitamins, and minerals.

The ratio of protein and carbs

Proteins or amino acids are important for building muscles and complex carbs provide a steady source of energy, which will give you the energy to work out more intensely. The ratio of proteins to carbs should vary between 1:3 to 1:5.

Proteins in your mass gainer should come from a blend of proteins, such as casein, whey, and milk protein.

How much sugar is present in the mass gainer

Your tub of whey gainer or mass gainer should not contain an overdose of sugar. The sugar content more than 6g in a 100g serving indicates that your mass gainer is an expensive sugar formulation. You should pay for premium nutrients and not sugar. Therefore, read the label carefully, before you make a purchase.

Does it have digestive enzymes?

Digestive enzymes reduce the common side effects of a mass gainer, such as unpleasant sensations, like bloating and ensure that all that protein and complex carbs are getting digested and absorbed in the body. Generally, the trouble with increasing the calorie intake is that it becomes difficult to digest that extra food and the person resorts back to his earlier dietary habit.

Does it have multivitamins?

For those who do not know multivitamins are required to build energy and immunity. B vitamins particularly have a critical role in converting the foods into energy and if you are a gym regular, you know how important is energy to push those extra reps?

Does it have creatine?

The best mass gainer will also have creatine in it, like Mass Gainer XXL as creatine builds energy for those phenomenal lifting sessions. And, anyone who is seeking to build muscle mass knows that it is hard to build muscle mass without working out intensely. You got to challenge your limits and creatine gives you the energy to do so.

HOW TO USE YOUR MASS GAINER FOR BEST RESULTS

For the best results, you should use the mass gainer as directed on the label. Since mass gainers contain lots of carbs and a good amount of protein, you can have it after a workout, at bedtime, before meals or after waking up. Follow the manufacturer’s direction and do not use it more than directed. Also, be sure to eat healthy foods along with your mass gainer. A supplement is in addition to healthy meals and workout regularly. Soon, you will build an admirable physique.

Protein is one of the most common among a gym-newbie, gym-regular, workout-holic, and athlete to get his best fitness and muscle building. If someone wants the best result, he will definitely put his best effort under the best nourishment. Then whey protein isolate comes into the picture as the best protein supplement for supporting your unadulterated muscle gain. 

For those who have doubts in mind about choosing the perfect protein and why they should choose whey isolate over whey protein or any other proteins, we have put together the protein yardsticks, on which they could examine the purity standard of their protein. Read through and decide for yourself if whey protein isolate supplement is for you or not.

Top 3 Benefits of Whey Protein Isolate

Whey protein isolate is purer than whey protein concentrate because it undergoes a process called Cross-Flow Micro-filtration.

• Reduces Inflammation: Inflammation is an indicator of the body that somewhere, something is wrong. Actually inflammation for the short term is quite beneficial.
• Weight Loss: To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you intake. Carbs are the biggest source of calories in our body that have a major place in our daily diet schedule.
• Muscle Growth: Many athletes use whey protein isolate for muscle growth as it is a rich source of high-quality protein. That supports amino acids in protein synthesis so that you will get the bigger muscles.

WHY WHEY PROTEIN? WHY NOT OTHER PROTEINS?

A protein is a protein, argues the gym novice. Why should I drink the protein powder and why not food will be good enough? All proteins are not equal! Such as vegetarian foods lack essential amino acids. Moreover, for experienced bodybuilders, protein needs to go up.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reports that the bodybuilders require 1.4g to 1.7g of protein per kg of body weight to build the muscle mass.

Now, your protein-rich foods, serving essential amino acids are also rich in calories. Well, mostly!

On the Biological Value Scale, whey protein isolate is more efficient in using the protein source. The higher the biological value, more amino acids are being retained by the body from that protein source.

Difference Whey Protein Isolate vs Whey Protein Concentrate?

Though isolate is made after taking away the nutrients from whey concentrate on getting the purest form of protein. The benefits of whey protein isolate would be definitely less than whey concentrate. But in certain fitness goals, Isolate proves more beneficial than Concentrate or any other proteins. Here are some points that create the difference between Isolate and Concentrate.

5 Reasons To Choose Whey Protein Isolate

Choosing the best whey protein Isolate should not only be inspired by the decision of your friend, gym buddy or colleague if you wish to maximize your muscle-building goal. You need to make an informed decision and choose only the best whey protein or Isolate for yourself.  Shortchanging on your fuel will stunt your muscle growth and compromise the intensity of your sets and reps.

The Reasons Why you Should Choose Isolate are:

1. Nutrients in a scoop of Whey Protein Isolate: Whey Protein, Carbs, Fats, Flavours, Others (Digestive Enzymes Multivitamins)
2. Higher Percentage of Protein: Whey Protein Concentrate has approximately 30 to 80% protein and Whey Protein Isolate contains a higher percentage of whey protein. Whey Protein Concentrate is the basic whey and is meant for people who just want to add a shot of protein in their menu to fulfil protein shortage, but if you want more from your whey protein, you need to look beyond concentrate and pick Isolate, the purer form of protein.
3. Best For Lactose Intolerant: Whey protein isolate undergoes a process called Cross-Flow Micro-filtration. This separates the protein from fat, cholesterol and lactose,  meaning you get a purer protein as the end product.
4. Need Not To Count Calories anymore: If you are conscious about your calorie-intake, whey protein isolate is the way to go, as it has fewer calories than whey protein concentrate. This makes whey protein isolate, an ideal protein for bodybuilders who are on a cutting spree or are prepping for a contest.
5. For Faster Results: As whey isolate contains only protein, it is faster to get absorbed than whey protein. If it is taken as a post-workout supplement, it is going to give faster results by fastening the muscle recovery process. So, get the stronger muscles with better bulk with Isolate. 

Conclusion:

Make an informed decision when you are looking for your favourite whey protein. Choose MuscleBlaze Whey Gold, the purest protein for fitness enthusiasts, who will settle for nothing but the most premium whey protein. Each scoop of  MuscleBlaze Whey Gold has 25g protein, 10.9g Essential Amino Acids and 4.09g Glutamic Acid that will make all the difference in your muscle-building goals.

Whey Protein is an indispensable part of modern bodybuilding workouts. Some fitness trainers refer to supplementation as the pillar of staunch bodybuilding. With new health and sports supplements coming out on shelves every other day, it has become quite a challenge to pick what is best for you. There is a plethora of fitness activities, sports, and goals which require a totally different set of diet and supplements to follow. The major ingredient to get you the results whether you are trying to gain weight or lose fat is Protein.

Protein as a supplement could be derived from various sources including plants like soy and pea, or dairy products like Whey and Casein. Whey Protein is the king in the kingdom of bodybuilding supplements as it provides with plenty of protein for new muscle synthesis and muscle recovery. Whey Protein is a byproduct which is obtained during the curdling of milk to form cheese or other milk solids, especially the milk of ruminants.

Whey Protein is a byproduct which is obtained by various procedures to bifurcate whey protein and casein from milk (dairy). Whey Protein is further classified into three major forms including:

1. Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC): It is obtained by putting Whey under ultrafiltration and diafiltrating process. This might contain a notable amount of nutrients other than protein including fats and lactose. It is also the slowest digesting Whey Protein.
2. Whey Protein Isolate (WPI): When WPC is further purified to remove nutrients other than protein, we get WPI. It is purer than WPC and provides more dose of protein per serving. It is approx. 90% protein by weight.
3. Whey Protein Hydrolysate (WPH): It is obtained when WPI is further hydrolyzed to simply the complex amino acid chains into simpler ones. This form of whey protein is easier to digest and is transported from gut to muscles quicker than the other two forms of Whey Protein. Though this might taste bitter, it is an indication of availability of pure protein in each serving.

Every goal needs a different set of nutrition and you don’t need to burn a hole in your pocket every time. Know your protein better and keep rocking with your goals! Give a quick but careful look to the following table to know what you need.

Now that you know what are three main types of Whey Proteins composed of, you can pick only the one that will help you achieve your goals without making your pockets lighter.