Rapid fat loss > adding fuel to the fire > how MCT’s work

Optimal Parrillo fat-loss products: Advanced Lipotropic, Cap-Tri, per-meal Vitamin and Mineral, Protein powder.
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Anyone halfway serious about improving the shape and condition of their physique needs CapTri®. Regardless of how much or how little muscle you have built, regardless your degree of physical condition (or lack of condition), the inclusion of CapTri® into your nutritional program will aide and amplify your efforts.

People mistakenly think that CapTri® is some sort of advanced supplement used only by elite bodybuilders and nothing could be further from the truth. While it is true that competitive bodybuilders swear by the stuff, CapTri® can and will make a huge difference for those regular trainees who have zero competitive aspirations.

What is it about CapTri® that makes it appropriate for both the beginner and the advanced trainees? It all comes down to our ultimate goals. When you get down to the elemental basics, the reason we train and the reason we diet is that we all seek the same two things: we want to add muscle and we want to melt away our excess body fat. Cap-Tri® can help us do both.

CapTri® is a nutritional supplement that was designed for a dual purpose. Used correctly this amazingly versatile product can be used as a caloric booster for those seeking to build muscle. CapTri® enables those seeking mass to add muscle without increasing body fat during the process - a devilishly difficult task. CapTri® enables dieters seeking to shed the maximum amount of body fat to retain hard earned muscle mass during the process - a devilishly difficult task.

How is it that the same product can be used for two completely different purposes, purposes that are completely contradictory? CapTri® has the caloric density of a fat (9 calories per gram) yet its unique molecular structure makes CapTri® calories nearly impossible to end up partitioned into body fat.

CapTri® is a tremendously effective tool for the mass builder intent on muscle building or the dieter intent on minimizing body fat.

Fats Facts: People are often put off by the fact that CapTri® is technically a lipid, a fat, and “fat is bad!” Fat-phobia has been beat into people’s brains for so long and from so many different angles, sources and directions that folks are unwilling or unable to differentiate between various types of fats. Some fats are bad for us and some fats are good for us. Medium-chain triglycerides, MCTs, are a “good fat” in that they are cholesterol free and do not have any of the health-impairing characteristics associated with conventional fats.

Most dietary fat and the fat stored in your body are long-chain triglycerides. A LCT is a “bad fat.” Technically speaking, LCTs contain long-chain fatty acids that are 12 to 22 carbon atoms in length. Medium-chain triglycerides are made up of medium-chain fatty acids that are 6 to 11 carbon atoms long. The shorter molecular structure of the MCT has tremendous significance: MCTs are metabolized in an entirely different manner than conventional long-chain fats. In order for a conventional LCT fat to be used for energy it must go through an elaborate, slow-moving process: an LCT is an oily substance and LCTs are not water soluble. This is significant because the human body is largely made of water and water and oil do not mix.

An LCT must first be dissolved by enzymes and bile in the small intestine. The long-chain fat is hit from two different angles by bile and enzymes and dissolved into tiny fat “drop-lets” that are “wrapped” in special protein “blankets.” The wrapped fat is transported to the lymphatic system before being dumped into the bloodstream. Once in the blood-stream, the fat globule is transported to the liver for further breakdown. Next the fat reenters the blood-stream for a second time. At this point the fat can be either burned as energy or stored in cells as body fat. The elongated, elaborate route conventional fat must take before it arrives at the final destination is the human body’s version of having to take a train, a plane, a bus and an automobile in order to arrive at a trip’s final destination.

On the other hand, a medium-chain triglyceride (like Cap-Tri®) avoids all this aggravation and is simply transported directly to the liver via the portal vein. No need to be dissolved by enzymes and bile, no need to be wrapped in a protein blanket - MCTs bypass the lymphatic system altogether.

MCT and fat burning: In order for a conventional fat to be burned for energy it must enter a cellular blast furnace known as the mitochondria. In order for a LCT to enter the mitochondria, a special transport system known as the “carnitine shuttle” needs to be operational. Think of the carnitine shuttle as a drawbridge: if the bridge is down, no problem, if the bridge is up, big problem. If the cell happens to be burning carbohydrates when the LCT fat shows up, the carnitine shuttle cannot operate. As long as the cell is burning carbs the drawbridge is up.

Technically carbohydrate metabolism creates a by-product that closes the carnitine shuttle. A LCT can only be burned for fuel after all the carb fuel has been burned and depleted. This reliance on the carnitine shuttle to move an LCT into a cell is a prime reason why LCTs are preferentially shuttled into body fat. Basically, if the cell is suffused with carbs, the fat must wait outside the cell wall to see if the carnitine shuttle will get up and running. If there are a lot of carbs being burned, the human body eventually says, ‘the hell with this’ and sends the fat to fat cells to be stored as body fat.

On the other hand a medium-chain triglyceride, with its shorter molecular chain, has no need for the carnitine shuttle: it can simply diffuse through the mitochondrial wall and is preferentially burned for energy - even if carbohydrates are already in the cell. MCTs go to the front of the energy burning line. MCTs are able to jump into the mitochondria fire even if carbs are being burnt - in fact MCTs will actually help carb fuel burn longer and more completely.

Imagine that carbohydrates are the logs being used to fuel a fire. The MCT shows up while the carbs are being oxidized and acts the same as a gallon of gasoline being thrown onto a fire: the MCT turns a modest carb fire into a raging inferno. Combining MCTs with carbs helps the carbohydrate fuel burn fully and completely. Mean-while, the poor LCTs are left standing on the other side of the mitochondrial moat, hoping against hope that the carnitine shuttle, the drawbridge to the mitochondria, is opened before the body gets tired of all this waiting around and sends the LCT to fat storage.

Science has shown that foods release energy during digestion. Different foods release heat to greater and lesser degrees: foods that release their energy quickly have little likelihood of ending up stored as body fat and foods that release heat slowly are far more likely to end up as body fat.

The thermic effect of food (TEF) is a scientific measure that denotes how much of a particular nutrient or food is either burned for energy, converted into fat (bad) or used to build muscle (good). The faster a food burns, the higher its TEF rating. The Parrillo Nutritional System is based upon the concept of eating fast-burning foods and avoiding slow-burning foods easily converted into body fat.

Foods with a high TEF rating elevate the metabolism. Medium-chain triglycerides have a sky high TEF rating. MCTs have been shown to increase the metabolic rate by 12% for up to six hours.

LCT consumption increases the metabolic rate a pathetic 4%. The high TEF of CapTri® is the single most important reason why MCT calories are rarely stored as body fat.

Supplementing your meals with CapTri® jacks up the metabolism and that is a spectacularly good thing. The Parrillo protocol is genius cubed: every 2 to 3 hours eat a meal consisting of lean protein, fiber and starch carbs. These combined foods have a high TEF rating and very little tendency to be stored as fat. By avoiding foods that have a low TEF rating, foods that are easily partitioned into fat, the metabolism kicks upward repeatedly, over the course of the day. Each time these specific foods are consumed the metabolic rate ratchets upward.

If you sprinkle CapTri® atop these metabolism-elevating foods, gasoline is thrown on an already blazing metabolic fire. If you are looking to bust through to the next level of physical development, purchase a bottle of CapTri®. Make it your “backbone supple-ment.” Decide which direction you are going to head: are you seeking to add mass with a minimum of fat accumulation? Are you looking to get as lean and fat free as possible while retaining as much muscle as possible? Regardless the direction selected, you need to understand how CapTri® works.

Even though CapTri® is a natural product, medium-chain triglycerides must be in-troduced into the diet gradually and always taken with meals. Improper introduction of MCTs - too much CapTri® taken too fast - can cause cramping and diarrhea. This is a direct result of how quickly the body absorbs MCTs. Tolerance should be built up gradually.

Begin by taking one half tablespoon with each food meal for the first three days. Subsequent increases should be made in ½ tablespoon increments.

CapTri® cooking: Another terrific attribute of CapTri® is that you can cook with it! Use CapTri® to sauté as you would any other lipid: olive oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Parrillo Pro bodybuilders use CapTri® to sauté potatoes, onions, bell peppers, fish fillets, chicken, shrimp, scallops and other exotic shellfish.

The Parrillo Pros have discovered that CapTri® al-lows them to put flavor back into bland food preparation. The Cap-Tri® cookbook “adds excitement and TASTE to strict nutritional programs.”

The CapTri® cookbook contains 80 fantastic, easy-to-prepare recipes that range from appetizers and snacks to exotic main dishes. How about flavor-rich foods such as crispy chicken fingers, luscious turkey chili, fluffy dumplings and country-style Mexican omelets?

The CapTri® cookbook is available in print or in the Healthy Recipes section of ParrilloZone (on the Internet at www.parrillozone.com) and can be used with the latest addition to the Parrillo arsenal: Butter-Flavored CapTri®. This innovative product allows you to put butter taste back into diet foods. Parrillo Pros nationwide are using this product in exactly the same fashion as they would butter. Butter-Flavored CapTri® is brushed on Parrillo muffins or pancakes, used on top of baked potatoes, drizzled over lobster and steamed shrimp.

Butter-Flavored CapTri® makes it seem as if strict diet foods are no longer diet foods at all. In summation, CapTri® provides the user the caloric density of fat without any of the LCT drawbacks. MCTs have been shown to contribute less to body fat accumulation than conventional fats or even carbohydrates. The expert use of CapTri® helps prevent muscle loss during dieting and adding muscle mass is a snap using this calorie-dense product.

CapTri® is amazingly versatile. Regardless if the goal is to add muscle or lose fat, CapTri® can and will make the process much easier and far more time efficient and time effective. Quit spinning your wheels: stop adding unacceptable amounts of body fat during mass-building phases; stop losing unacceptable amounts of muscle during lean-out phases. Train smart, eat smart, supplement smart and start using CapTri® today

Optimal Parrillo fat-loss products: Advanced Lipotropic, Cap-Tri, per-meal Vitamin and Mineral, Protein powder.
p. (800) 344-3404

Weight loss pills > how to lose weight fast > chromium picolinate

Core starting supplements for weight loss (fat loss): Parrillo Advanced Lipotropic Formula^TM, Protein Bars (to increase number of meals throughout day), per-meal Vitamin and Mineral.

Parrillo Performance
p. (800) 344-3404

One of the key ingredients in Parrillo Advanced Lipotropic Formula^TM is chromium picolinate, and it’s there for several reasons. For background, chromium is an essential trace element involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, mainly by increasing the efficiency of insulin. In fact, chromium makes insulin work more efficiently in the body, and without it, insulin simply would not function.

The Estimated Safe and Adequate Daily Dietary Intake for chromium is 50 to 200 micrograms a day for adults. (Our formulation contains 50 micrograms per capsule.) However, the dietary intake of chromium in humans is often suboptimal. The chromium found in foods is not easily absorbed by the body. In fact, only about 1 to 3 percent is absorbed.

Diets high in sugar and processed foods (like Western diets) rob the body of chromium. Furthermore, strenuous exercise can force chromium out of the body. And, chromium levels decline with age. Severe deficiency symptoms often mimic those of diabetes: overweight, abnormal thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, decreased immunity, and yeast infections.

Based on what we know about this important mineral, I feel chromium supplementation is a good idea. Decades of research show that chromium supplementation has a number of important benefits:

-Improves glucose tolerance and can restore it to normal
-Enhances insulin secretion
-Reduces fasting glucose and insulin levels in gestational diabetes
-Decreases triglycerides
-Promotes more favorable cholesterol levels.
-Encourages the loss of body fat.
-Promotes muscular gains.

Supplementally, there are several forms of chromium on the market. Each varies in “bioavailability,” which describes how easily the mineral is absorbed and retained by the body. Our product uses chromium picolinate, the best known and most widely studied form of chromium.

Picolinate, or picolinate acid, is a breakdown product of an amino acid. When combined with chromium, picolinic acid enhances its absorption.

Several studies over the last 20 years found that daily supplements of either 200 micrograms or 400 micrograms of chromium picolinate may improve body composition (ratio of fat to muscle) and promote weight loss in healthy adults. But how? There are five possible explanations, according to research:

1. Chromium helps prevent roller-coaster swings in blood sugar and thus may diminish cravings for sweets.

2. Chromium may stimulate the burning of carbohydrates so that they’re converted into energy given off as heat, rather than being turned into body fat. Thus, by supplementing with chromium, you may be able to prevent unwanted fat gain. But to shed existing fat, you’ll still have to monitor your diet and exercise regularly.

3. Chromium may help regulate the body’s fat-producing processes. If you eat too many carbs, your body overproduces insulin. Too much insulin triggers the activity of lipo-protein lipase, an enzyme that tells fat cells to store fat. But by making insulin work better, chromium in effect prevents excess fat from forming.

4. Chromium may stimulate the metabolism. Some scientists think chromium may jump-start metabolism in brown fat - the special fat that supposedly burns white fat.

5. Chromium may stimulate protein (muscle) synthesis. For growth and repair of tissues, including muscle, cells need amino acids. Assisted by chromium, insulin helps amino acids gain access to cells. Once inside, amino acids reassemble themselves to construct new muscle tissue. Thus, chromium may have an indirect effect on muscle growth. And the more muscle you have, the less fat you’re likely to gain.

Chromium and Blood Sugar Issues: One of the key reasons our Lipo-tropic Formula^TM contains chromium picolinate is because of its positive effect on blood sugar. It has been shown to increase glucose tolerance (to help get carbohydrates into your cells to be used for energy rather than stored as body fat) and stabilize blood sugar levels (to avoid low-energy periods).

Then there is the issue of diabetes, which affects millions of Americans. Sometimes normal insulin activity becomes upset, and the cells don’t use glucose properly. Either not enough insulin is produced (a condition called type 1 diabetes) or the cells aren’t letting in enough glucose for proper nourishment (type 2 diabetes).

Chromium may be a part of the medical solution. Virtually all trials using chromium picolinate supplementation for subjects with diabetes have demonstrated beneficial effects. Thirteen of 15 clinical studies (including 11 randomized, controlled studies) involving a total of 1,690 subjects (1,505 in the chromium picolinate group) reported significant improvement in at least one outcome of blood sugar control.

Positive outcomes from chromium picolinate supplementation included reduced blood glucose, insulin, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels and reduced requirements for oral diabetes medication. Collectively, the data supports the safety and therapeutic value of chromium picolinate for the management of blood lipids and blood sugar problems in people with diabetes.

Also worth mentioning is that steroid medications such as cortico-steroids, used to treat inflammation, can increase chromium losses from the body and actually induce a condition called “steroid diabetes.” Research shows, however, that these conditions can be reversed by chromium supplementation. How to Use Chromium Picolinate:

Chromium is best taken with meals, since food aids in the absorption of minerals. With our Advanced Li-potropic Formula^TM, I recommend that you take it with meals; that way, chromium will be properly absorbed.

(This product contains other key nutrients used in fat mobilization and metabolism: L-carnitine, B vitamins, betaine HCL, biotin, choline, and inositol.) Chromium researchers who support its use as a weight-loss aid say it can take at least 8 weeks of supplementation before you see results.

Like most supplements, chromium works best if you make lifestyle changes. If you supplement with chromium for weight loss, make sure you’re following the full Parrillo Nutrition Program. It is low in fat, low in sugar, and high in fiber - a nutrition paradigm found to best complement chromium supplementation.

Also, the scientific data on chromium supplementation suggest that the mineral may significantly improve fat loss and alter body composition favorably when combined with regular exercise, particularly aerobics and weight training. Chromium has a very low toxicity. But extra-high doses can build up in the liver and kidneys, and potentially cause damage. Doses of more than 600 micrograms a day may cause heart arrhythmias and nervous system, liver, and kidney damage. So obviously, don’t go overboard.

References: Broadhurst, C.L., and Domenico, P. 2006.
Clinical studies on chromium picolinate supplementation in diabetes mellitus–a review.
Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics 8:677-687.
Ravina, A., et al. 1999. Reversal of corticosteroid-induced diabetes mellitus with supplemental chromium. Diabetic Medicine 16:164-167.

Core starting supplements for weight loss (fat loss): Parrillo Advanced Lipotropic Formula^TM, Protein Bars (to increase number of meals throughout day), per-meal Vitamin and Mineral.

Parrillo Performance
p. (800) 344-3404

Fast muscle gain > quick muscle gain products > how to gain muscle fast

Parrillo Hi-intensity training and recovery. Recommended products for post-workout recovery: 50/50 Plus^TM powder and creatine
p. (800) 344-3404
On-line

Spring in Boston was being a big tease as we edged closer to summer. One day it would be in the seventies and blazing sun with clear blue skies, the next would be steely grey skies, blustery wind, and temps back down in the forties. It was proving that old New England adage to be most appropriate: “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute, it will change.”

If you’ve ever wondered why I seem to be so obsessed with weather, I get it from my late father, who probably missed his calling as a meteorologist (who do not, contrary to what some think, study meteors). For most of his adult life, my dad kept a journal to keep track of the weather. Outside his bedroom window was a thermometer, and morning and night he would record the temperature. Whenever it snowed, he would be outside with a ruler measuring just how much we got. An old tin pan served the same purpose for rain. When he passed away in 1986, I inherited a few of his journals. I had hoped to find some wise musings and reflections on life from the old man, but instead I only had a record of his climatic observations.

Should I ever need to know how the weather was on any given day over those years though, I am all set. I suppose it’s a good thing Dad didn’t live long enough to see The Weather Channel and the various web sites allowing you to check current conditions and forecasts for any place in the world. I doubt he would have ever left the house again. I should note that he was a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, whose slogan is, “whether the weather is great or crappy, we will still get the mail to you - and raise the price of stamps every year.”

For you younger readers, stamps were things you had to buy and stick on envelopes so you could send letters to other people, as there was no e-mail yet. On the plus side, I never got a computer virus that crashed my hard drive from opening a piece of real mail.

Memorial Day was less than a week away, and the wife and I were desperately scrambling to open our pool. This was no easy task. Despite our dutifully spreading a giant cover over it at the end of last summer, there were a bevy of leaves in clumps along the bottom and algae had turned the water a murky green. Some nights I would peek out my bedroom window, expecting the Creature from the Black Lagoon to climb out and begin his fishy, murderous rampage. He could have begun with my Shih Tzu, Chewy, as an appetizer.

My client Jared was in high spirits. The Seniors had just had their last day of class before they graduated in a couple weeks, leaving the high school roomier and much more peaceful. Football camp didn’t start up until the end of August, which meant that Jared would have two full months of summer vacation to devote to bodybuilding. I knew that he looked forward to this with an excitement that bordered on mania.

I was a few minutes early for our training appointment, but Jared was already at the gym’s juice bar waiting for me. In front of him on the counter were two very well-worn paperback books written by the late Mike Mentzer.

Mike was a Mr. Universe whose competitive bodybuilding career was quite brief. Turning pro in 1978, he promptly retired after the 1980 Mr. Olympia, the one where Arnold was supposed to commentate for TV but wound up being a surprise entry and winning his seventh Sandown trophy in a cloud of controversy. So bitter and angry was Mentzer, a favorite to win that year; that he spent years home-less and deranged before settling back down to reality and becoming a best-selling author.

Mike was best known for creating a training system called Heavy Duty, which stressed very brief, high-intensity workouts. It was the complete opposite to the standard high-volume style of training that virtually every bodybuilding champion at that time (as well as today) followed.

Some branded him a heretic or a fool, while others hailed him as a genius and a savior. By the smile on Jared’s face, I think he already fell into the latter category. “I found these in the attic with some of my dad’s old magazines and I read them both in three days,” Jared announced. “And let me guess,” I said, “You want to try Heavy Duty Training.” Jared looked at me like I had magically read his mind. “Yeah, what do you think? I mean, according to this I’ve been madly overtraining and not recovering, and,” he stopped, as I had held up my hand to silence him. “I am well aware of Heavy Duty Training, and even gave it an honest try myself back in my younger years. Though it apparently works well for some guys, I was not overly impressed.” “Yeah, but for hardgainers,” “Trust me, you are far from being a hardgainer,” I shot back.

“As for overtraining, John Parrillo said years ago that there is no such thing - only under eating and not resting enough. Mentzer was a brilliant man. There is no doubt about that. But his logic was flawed in several areas.” “Like what?” Jared challenged. “For one thing, he maintained that we were all physiologically identical. If we weren’t, medicine wouldn’t work the same for all of us. But it doesn’t! People react differently to various drugs and medicines, which is why the pharmaceutical industry makes many billions of dollars in profits every year with a zillion different products.

Mentzer claimed that we all had the same tolerance for exercise, which is why we were supposed to do as little training as possible to allow for recovery. Some people, a rare few, are true hardgainers and can’t handle much exercise. For them, his prescription of one working set of just a few exercises done something like twice a week would make sense. For everyone else, it would be incredibly inadequate to stimulate gains. A lot of people I know that have tried Heavy Duty got a bit stronger, but next to nothing in the way of muscle gain.”

“Huh,” Jared said, staring at the ground. “Huh indeed. Muscle needs a certain amount of training volume to see a growth effect. The pump is also important. Combined with fascial stretching as pioneered by John Parrillo decades ago, it’s also key to muscle growth. Yet Mike Mentzer dismissed the pump as worthless and indicative of nothing.” “Well, what about the Heavy Duty workouts with maybe more than one working set? Couldn’t I try that?” Jared was a stubborn little cuss, I gave him that. “There would be no point.

Another aspect of Heavy Duty that never made sense to me was hitting bodyparts with just one exercise. For example, you might only do a pulldown machine for the back, or a bench press machine - Mike was big on using Nautilus machines - for the chest. Muscles need to be worked from various angles for maximum development. For the back, you need to do some type of vertical pull, like a chin-up or pulldown, and some type of horizontal pull, like barbell or T-bar rows, or deadlifts. The chest needs presses from a couple different angles plus some type of flye motion like flyes, cable crossovers, or a pec deck. Even then, using different hand positions and grip widths, or foot placements on pressing or squatting motions for the legs, can alter which part of the muscle you target.

Mentzer refused to recognize all of that. Even six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates modified Heavy Duty training to include more volume and especially more different exercises for each bodypart. Some tried to describe Dorian’s “Blood and Guts” style of high-intensity training as being Heavy Duty, but it wasn’t.”

Jared frowned at the books. “So what should I do, put these back in the attic?” “Not at all,” I said. “Look at the photos for inspiration. Mike had one hell of a powerful, thick physique.” We trained shoulders after this, hitting delts with seated dumbbell presses, lateral raises, cable laterals, barbell upright rows, and bent dumbbell laterals. All in all it came out to about sixteen work sets. Jared’s shoulders were pumped up like melons. Then we hit triceps with weighted dips, skullcrushers, and overhead cable extensons with a rope.

The shake with six scoops of 50/50 Plus^TM powder and creatine he knocked back right afterward immediately set him on the road to recovery and growth. According to true Heavy Duty disciples, the way I was training Jared should have had him overtrained and shrinking. But no, the kid was growing almost before my eyes, week-by-week and month-by-month. Perhaps his being a lifelong athlete was partly why he thrived on a considerable volume of training. Had he adopted a much briefer type of routine with far more rest days, I doubt his progress would have been anything but backward.

After we wrapped things up, I was off to the pool store to buy things to raise and lower the ph, the alkaline, the chlorine, and to keep mutant sea creatures from nesting in the water. But it was all good - the forecast for Memorial Day was 82 degrees.

Parrillo Hi-intensity training and recovery. Recommended products for post-workout recovery: 50/50 Plus^TM powder and creatine
p. (800) 344-3404
On-line