If you have ever listened to the news, or read a magazine, you may have heard a great deal about protein shakes and unfortunately in the media, they do get a bad shake (forgive the pun). The important thing is that these shakes are essential to reaching your bodybuilding goals.

When you hear bad things about these shakes, it is usually tied to someone who replaced all of their normal meals with the shakes, essentially going on nothing more than a liquid diet. Obviously for anything other than a short period, this isn’t healthy.

Serious bodybuilders understand that it is extremely difficult to eat as much high quality protein as you want ans this is where protein shakes come into their own. They are highly convenient, giving you a high quality protein source with minimal carbs in an easy to drink form. Furthermore, bodybuilders have a one hour window after a workout to consume a meal with carbs and protein, in order to enhance muscle growth, and slow down or stop muscle breakdown. That isn’t enough time to shower, change clothes, get home, and cook a meal…or even to get to a restaurant to order a meal. Therefore, they arrive at their workout with an after workout shake in hand, and consume that shake immediately after the workout – and often before the shower.

When you are trying to get in 6 plus meals a day, a high quality protein can really help. Preparing and eating 6 full meals a day is extremely time consuming and taking a couple of shakes a day really makes a difference. When you have a quick break at work or study, you can though down a shake to help meet your requirements.

The good thing about today’s shakes are that they mix easily in water, taste great (especially good news if you tried them years ago and are very high quality protein (I personally stick to the WPI (Whey Protein Isolate) and casein varieties)

Here is another nutrition tip from John Berardi, author of Precision Nutrition

Tip #22
Fat Recommendations – How To Meet Them
by Dr. John Berardi

So how much fat do we need and what kinds? While there’s a lot of debate nowadays, most of the real fat experts agree that a good balance of the three is the way to go if you want to give the old ticker a fighting chance. In other words, your goal is to consume 1/3 of your fat from saturated fatty acids, 1/3 from monounsaturated fatty acids, and 1/3 from polyunsaturated fatty acids. But it’s important to learn what kinds of foods contain the different types of fatty acids. So use this handy chart below to learn which fatty acids are found in a number of common foods. By learning which foods contain which fatty acids, a balanced fat approach should be a snap.

Food % Saturated Fat % Monounsaturated Fat % Polyunsaturated Fat

Almonds 10% 68% 22%
Beef 55% 40% 4%
Brazil Nuts 26% 36% 38%
Canola Oil 5% 57% 38%
Cashews 20% 62% 18%
Cheese 67% 26% 7%
Chicken 31% 49% 20%
Coconut Oil 86% 9% 5%
Duck 35% 52% 13%
Eggs 39% 43% 18%
Flax Seed Oil 8% 18% 74%
Hazelnuts 8% 82% 10%
Herring 22% 55% 18%
Macadamia Nuts 16% 82% 2%
Milk 67% 26% 7%
Olive Oil 13% 75% 12%
Palm Oil 50% 41% 9%
Peanuts 15% 51% 34%
Pecans 8% 66% 26%
Pine Nuts 15% 40% 45%
Pistachios 13% 72% 15%
Pork / Lard 40% 48% 12%
Salmon 20% 30% 40%
Sesame Oil 15% 42% 43%
Walnuts 10% 24% 66%

SEE ALSO:
This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition – our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!

John Berardi, author of Precision Nutrition is back with another nutrition tip.

Tip #21
Increasing Water Intake
by Dr. John Berardi

Sedentary individuals should drink at least 2L or about 8 cups of water per day, athletes should drink at least 3L or about 12 cups of water per day, and athletes in hot weather climates drink at least 4L or about 16 cups of water per day.

Since following these recommendations can prevent dehydration and can actually assist with fat loss, you’d have to be a desiccated fool to ignore them. However, try as they might, some individuals find it difficult to ingest up to a gallon of water per day. So try out these three proven strategies for increasing water ingestion:

• Drink cold water – cold water is more palatable, improving ‘mouth feel’ and ingestion
• Add lemon – lemon increases urge to drink and also kills bacteria
• Chuggables – always carry some sort of jug of water around to ensure you’re drinking. Rubbermaid makes a nice blue top container (Chuggables) that we recommend to our clients.

SEE ALSO:
This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition – our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!