[MikeMartial]

*First Things First: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due:

King Kabuki designed 99% of this FAQ; A majority of the linked posts are made by Madmick, KK and others. I've only re-designed and slightly updated it.

To cut down on the repeat posting of threads we've answered a billion times, King Kabuki came up with this, and I've added and refined a few parts. This combined with the search function should allow for you new posters looking to get your shit together where eating and supplementing is concerned on the right track, and off the bullshit meters of the veteran posters.

****KEEP IN MIND****

The Moderators of this forum are under ZERO obligation to respond to your PM requests for information, or to answer questions. That being said, should you shoot us a well-worded, mature, grammatically correct question, we'll most likely respond, when we can.

Q: Hi, I'm a gnub here and...

A: Slow down there hoss. Watch this:

Posting and you.

Now, after watching that video and understanding the point, I'd also like to direct you to this. It's fairly self-explanatory:



The tongue-in-cheek meaning of all this? Post smart, and post maturely. Do your homework, because believe you me, you're not getting spoonfed the answers to basic and inane questions here. Come prepared willing to learn and when an answer escapes you, do your best to find it on your own through research available at your fingertips.

Now, onto the FAQ:

Q: Should I take a Multivitamin? If yes, which one?

A: Of course you should; think of it as insurance, even if your diet is optimal. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for. A list of good Multi's is as follows:

1) Balanced Essentials from Heaven Sent - Here you have a formula made from whole food sources that comes in liquid form and the taste isn't excruciating. With liquid you get the better absorbency, and the whole food source mean this would be like what you SHOULD get from Vitamin content of all your food, but don't because food in the US SUCKS.

2) Sea Essentials by Heaven Sent - This was their first formula. People had discrepancies because it doesn't list the precise values of Vitamins it contains. But Heaven Sent aren't to blame for this. The FDA is. Because of the nature of the blend (Sea Vegetable preparation) the numbers vary slightly from batch-to-batch. The FDA said if they can't make it precise, they can't put numbers. But the antioxidant and mineral properties of this are very good. And it was the Sea Essentials that I took and never, EVER got sick. I switched to Mega Men this year, and got my first cold in 3 years.

3) GNC Ultra Mega Green - Most Americans just do not get enough greens. Plain and simple. This is another Vitamin with whole food nutrients in it. But the drawback is these things are GIGANTIC. Not Horse pills, Elephant pills. And suggested use is 3 times per day (to supplement veggies with your meal), but I think this is a bit of overkill. 2 per day in the morning should do.

4) Garden of Life's Living Multi - Notice a theme here? I hate the idea of purely synthetic vitamins. If you can score a good one with whole food nutrients you're going to find the health benefits a bit better. This is a good one. Garden of Life is a good line of things anyway, very reputable.

5) Nature's Plus - Source of Life - The customers who use this never, ever consider taking another one. And yet again another whole food source Vitamin.

Now, cheap? What will suffice? Well you have GNC's Mega Men, Twinlab's Daily Two, Solgar has a decent multi (Solgar is actually an excellent line but they tend to be pricey as well as they come from Japan.)

Q: Should I take protein? I always hear about protein. When should I take it? Morning? Afternoon? Night time? What's a good protein? Casein? Whey?

A: Supplementing with protein in the PWO (Post Work Out) window is an effective and convenient way to utilize enhanced insulin sensitivity and re-fuel your body of essential nutrients. Whey protein is generally used PWO, as it is considered "fast acting", or "fast absorbing". Casein, a slow-digesting protein, is generally used at night to prevent catabolism. Read the protein links in below for a plethora of information.

Q: Why is my pee neon yellow!??!

A: Relax, chump. It's from the water-soluble B2 vitamin Riboflavin in your multi; the max you can absorb at one time is 27mg, and the rest you excrete harmlessly.

Q: What about Xyience?

A: Xyience is garbage, it's tin-can packaging is appropriate for where it belongs. Recently they declared bankruptcy, so don't expect them to be around much longer. One of the worst companies in supplement history. Check the Supplement Wars News

Q: How do I gain weight:

A: There are a couple of factors to gaining weight. Eat big but eat clean, lots of whole grains, lots of leafy greens, lots of lean protein, simple carbs in moderation. At least 5-7 meals per day. Snack on things like almonds and yogurt, things with good calories and high nutritious value. If your numbers of calories in is greater than your calories out, you should be gaining weight. If you're eating is clean, you should be gaining lean muscle. Lift BIG. Lots of guys think they lift heavy and really haven't scratched the surface of what their body is capable of. Big weight = big muscles. And get AMPLE rest. 7-8 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep per night, and on your days off at-least have one day where you barely move. Your body needs to heal to grow.

Q: But I do all of that and still can't gain any weight. I MUST be a hardgainer! Right? Don't I need some supplement like GAKIC, LEUKIC, or some high-end Creatine to give me that edge I need?

A: No, what you are is either a liar, or delusional about your eating or lifting. You cannot do everything perfect and NOT gain any weight. It just doesn't work that way. You're botching it up somewhere. Supplementing aside, your eating and your workouts are where all the real progress is made.

Q: Okay okay, I admit I don't eat that clean. But why is clean eating so important? Surely I will get bigger eating pizza and McDonalds, I mean their food is loaded with calories right? And if I had a whole bag of Doritos, that's like a billion calories!! Shouldn't I get bigger?

A: *sigh* You may end up getting fatter. And before you ask no fat does NOT turn into muscle. Fat is fat, muscle is muscle. Completely different molecules that never BECOME each other. And NO you DO NOT want to get fatter, before you say it. You want to put on lean and healthy bodyweight. Getting fatter comes with a laundry-list of health problems. Here, read this: Metabolic Function For Dummies.

Q: Metabolic Advantages!?!?! Surely that's all nonsense. Isn't a calorie just a calorie?

A: NO. And don't you come in here spouting that AHA bullshit. Any organization such as the American Heart Association and their Nutritional Committee that puts their "Heart Healthy" stamp of approval on a box of fucking Lucky Charms is NOT to be trusted. There's a whole world of true information out there, you'd be wise to look into it.

Q: Speaking of bullshit, isn't Ephedra legal again?

A:From wikipedia.org:

The FDA appealed this ruling, and on August 17, 2006 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the FDA's ban of ephedra.[11] As of June 2007, the sale of ephedra-containing dietary supplements remains illegal in the United States due to their health risks.

UPDATE: In Canada, ephedrine HCL is still available in 8mg tablets.