42 JUNE 2017
Food & Nutrition
WORDSPATRICK LOHPHOTOGRAPHISTOCKPHOTOThe Top Five
Supplements Your
Body Needs Now
Although they can’t replace your prescribed medicines
vitamins and minerals, they can still work wonders
SORRY, MALAYSIANS: DR. LESLEY
Braun, Director of Blackmores
Institute, says we’re an unhealthy
lot. “No one eats the daily
requirement of two and four
servings of fruit and vegetables
respectively. That’s why Malaysians
fall sick so easily,” she explains. This
is where supplements can come in
handy to strengthen your immune
system and to boost recovery
time when you fall ill. To get you
started, here are five essentials
from Blackmores Institute, as
recommended by Dr. Braun.
1/ CURCUMIN FROM
TURMERIC AS AN
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
Concentrated curcumin extracted
from turmeric is perfect as an
anti-inflammatory, according to Dr.
Braun, who adds that inflammation
happens in our body undetected.
“It’s also safe to take with other
medication, unless stated by your
doctor or pharmacist,” she says.
2/ GLUCOSAMINE FOR
ACHES AND PAINS
It’s difficult to get glucosamine
from your diet, so this supplement
will help, especially when you
experience aches and pains due
to osteoporosis and arthritis,
according to Dr. Braun. “If your pain
is extreme, however, see a doctor
to get medication, which you can
then use in combination with your
supplement,” she states.3/ ZINC FOR
PERFORMANCE
AND ENERGY
People who exercise regularly
lose a lot of zinc. “When you are
zinc-deficient, you suffer appetite
and weight loss, your wounds heal
slower, and you fall sick easily,”
Dr. Braun explains. “If you are a
professional athlete, get the right
dose from your pharmacist to
support your training hours.”4/ COQ10 FOR CELL
PRODUCTION
If you are active, you’ll need this
supplement for cell reproduction
for better performance. “It helps
cells create more energy and
prolongs your workouts. It also
boosts your recovery rate,” Dr.
Braun says.5/ PROBIOTICS AND
ANTIBIOTICS FOR
BETTER RECOVERY
“Probiotics prevent any side effects
from antibiotics that might kill good
bacteria in your body,” Dr. Braun
says. However, if you are on heart
medication, consult your doctor
before taking probiotics (or any
supplements for that matter), as
the combination of the two could
lead to blood thinning.42 JUNE 2017
Dr. Lesley Braun is the Director of Blackmores Institute, a research centre for
healthcare professionals and medical students to educate the public about
their health. Visit blackmoresinstitute.org
http://www.mens-health.com.my 43Measuring meals to the gram
is a lot of effort for little return.
Our expert explains why eating
by numbers just doesn’t add upDon’t Count
On Macro
Management
AS A GENERATION, WE ARE KEEN
to quantify things. Fitness is measured
in PBs; social influence by Instagram
likes. And dietary virtue – so some
would have us believe – by our macros.
Not a number cruncher yourself? A
quick explainer: macronutrients are
proteins, carbs and fats, and ingesting
the right amounts will purportedly
earn you the perfect physique. But,
to borrow a common aphorism, not
everything that can be counted counts.
Macro counting usually centres
on a daily target: 120g of protein, say,
or 300g carbs. But this is as arbitrary
as setting a daily “breath target” or
putting a cap on the number of times
you yawn per week. The quantity of
macros your body needs varies hugely
day to day, affected not only by your
activity levels, but also illness, injury
and even the weather 1. To view your
target as anything other than a fork-
stab in the dark is self-delusion.
Your body does not reset at the
end of each 24-hour period. When
you eat your macros is as crucial as
whether you eat them. If you’re shy
of your protein target, it’s no usechoking down another lumpy shake
after dinner and mentally high-fiving
yourself. You need that protein to
drip feed your muscles all day long 2. Likewise, carbs. Carbohydrates are
your body’s chief source of energy,
so you need a hit before and after
training. Without them, you’ll burn
through your glycogen stores and start
to break down muscle, regardless of
what your MyFitnessPal total says.
You wouldn’t let your iPhone run out
of juice, just because you’d charged it
once already that day.
It’s all too easy to forget that what
we eat is more than the sum of its
parts. Fats, for example, tend to be
neglected. You might stay within
your calorie limits while weighing out
chicken and rice, but you risk missing
out on the fat-soluble vitamins your
body needs to build brain cells and
hormones. Similarly, your whey shake
might be engineered to cover your
amino acid needs, but it won’t contain
the iron, zinc, selenium and B12 you’d
find in a hot-off-the-pan ribeye. In
many cases, your body would benefit –
both aesthetically, and from
a health perspective – if the numbers
didn’t always add up 3.
But perhaps you know all this.
Perhaps you’re punctiliously divvying
up macros throughout the day,
switching chicken for steak for salmon
on a weekly rota. Consider, then, that
you’re still applying maximal effort for
only marginal gain. A 20g discrepancy
makes little odds. And how sure are you
that the figures on the packet are even
accurate? No calorie-tracking site can
tell you exactly what’s in your dinner. In
fact, the American Dietetic Association
found food-label figures are out by an
average 8%. It’s just a best guess.
Instead, listen to your body. If you’re
hungry and sore after training, you
need to eat more. If you’re struggling
to get rid of excess weight, reassess
portion sizes. I like to use hand-sized
measures: five fist-size servings of
slow-release carbs a day, two palm-
sized portions of protein and five
handfuls of veg. It’s not precise, but
that’s the point. And if this doesn’t
work for you, keep experimenting
until you find what does. You’re a
human being, not a machine. So
start eating like one.“How sure are you that the
figures on the back of the
packet are even accurate?”(^2) SPLIT OPINION
Dividing your protein evenly between
meals causes a bigger spike in muscle
synthesis than saving larger portions
for dinner, reports Nutrition journal.
(^3) SLIM DIFFERENCE
In a study by scientists in Boston,
men were shown to lose equal weight
whether assigned a diet with 20% of
their calories from fats or double that.
(^1) THE COLD FACTS
Cold weather can increase our metabolic
rates – and therefore macronutrient
requirements – by an average of 30%,
according to Maastricht University.
JUST THE FACTS, PLEASE
WORDS
SCARLETT WRENCH
PHOTOGRAPH
JOBE LAWRENSON
http://www.mens-health.com.my 43