BodyOpus: Reloaded

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BodyOpus – Reloaded
The Eve of 10 years later

- article originally published on-line November 3, 2005

Dana Houser, MD, MHSA, CISSN

Introduction

YOU’RE NOT OVERWEIGHT; you’re normal. But there’s an itsy-bitsy secret, a painful part to keep to yourself because nobody will believe you. Well, I’m onto you. I won’t blab, but I know, because I’m a professional body confidante. The hush-hush is this – you’re still fat! Now relax. That was the worst news. The good news is that you’re not crazy.

You and I both know that you’ve been a good diet soldier – graduated from Weight Watchers, rotated your diet and embraced fit over fat. Perhaps you’ve even dabbled in Life Extension’s powders and pills. Your doctor, looking over your weight, cholesterol and various blood tests, proclaims you marvelously healthy. Your nutritionist is upbeat; you’re on course. All those food labels at the supermarket are now memorized.

And finally, your clothes. Your trousers or your dress size – they’re the same sizes as the models wear.

Victory! You’re not obese, not overweight – you’ve finally arrived. You’re – ah, well – normal. Happy at last? No? Of course not. Deep down in your heart of hearts, you know that normal is just...normal. But let me gently remind you, you’re still not fat. Your trim, toned, fit and in shape.

The chilling words echoed in Dan Duchaine’s 1996 BodyOpus, a militant recomposition program for people who are not fat yet still harbor a physique they had not pictured when setting out on their current weight loss program. When he introduced this diet that found itself grouped with the cyclic ketogenic set of diets – following only the Anabolic Diet before it in this class – it was clear to me that Mr. Duchaine was years ahead of his time.

It was decades prior that ketogenic diets had received much acclaim, but the cyclical version as suggested by DiPasquale (Anabolic Diet) and Duchaine (BodyOpus) far surpassed what Michael Zumpano, Robert Atkins, and the like could have imagined. I am often reminded that during his time on this planet, I never dreamed of the body of a Robert Atkins. Of course, without him, the works of many others would likely have never seen mainstream.

When Duchaine’s book was released, it offered more of a scientific rationale to the acclaimed Anabolic Diet, yet DiPasquale’s work was the first of its kind and with it comes the inevitable need for growth. Duchaine’s work proved to fill in some of the gaps. Yet there is still much to have evolved in this group. Two years later, Lyle McDonald’s book on Ketogenic Dieting hit the shelves, captivating only those with the scientific inclination to understand what the hell he was talking about. Many critics acknowledge how it bores them to this day. Of the three, the most correct in presentation without loading the layperson down with scientific fact while remaining entertaining is BodyOpus – what is dubbed by some as the encyclopedia of the CKD (and perhaps bodybuilding itself even to this day) despite its lack of completeness when compared to McDonald’s work.

The challenging fact behind diets of this caliber is that it likely takes a long time for many of us to buy into the possibility that they work – despite the science. It would go on to challenge all the dogmatic preachings of our day, yet prove itself to be more scientific and have a deeper depth of rationale supporting why it may work than any of the low-fat or ketogenics before it would ever had dreamed.

At the time of its initial printing, I had just gotten into the game of this about four years prior so it was hard for me to believe the writings. Though purchasing his book early in its public release, it was hard for me too to accept that this guy could have known what he was talking about. After all, the book’s promises were no more dramatic than all of the mainstream literature.

I had an opportunity to meet him about two years after the book’s release about the time McDonald’s work would hit the stands. I found it hard to buy into that which he was telling me as I questioned his work due to how much I had been essentially brainwashed by an industry I was trying to understand. Yet still, I was unhappy with my progress – despite achieving the “normalcy” (and nothing more) he preached about on page one of the book.

In 2000, with Duchaine’s passing and the acclaim he received, I had to again take his book off the shelf and give her another read. This time though, I had actually attained a decent body habitus and to my delight was able to compete in two natural bodybuilding shows of my own and actually come out on top of one novice division. So now I had the support that other diets could work as well. I continued on in my plight to continue to read and attempt to know all I could about body composition. I saw countless clients with the introduction of a business still find success with the low fat diet, yet still pondered the CKD workings in the back of my mind.

It was three years later (2003), that I slipped a little in body composition following a year of medical school. My bodyfat percentage had actually climbed to nine percent after keeping it in the six percent realm for almost three years time span. I wanted to do something and do something fast and still the CKD found its way out of my subconscious and I figured, what a better way than this to test Mr. Duchaine’s (and those around him) theories. I would set an eight-week goal of dropping to six percent body fat, while holding on to as much muscle mass as was feasibly possible but I would incorporate some changes of my own – an update to the brilliancy I had read about now seven years prior. Perhaps, needless to say, eight weeks later, it was so.

After a rough first year in the wards of the hospital, I have found myself back at nine percent body fat and yet would not like to see history repeating itself, or worse. Only this time, at my disposal I have one more weapon – Designer Supplement’s ActivaTe. In addition to the changes I had incorporated two years prior, bringing BodyOpus up to par with the current century, the only addition to the diet will be ActivaTe amongst other minor noted improvements based on more up to date research. These other improvements will be controlled for to examine how much of a difference the ActivaTe offers. For up to the minute results and rationale, check the daily log for how it is shaping up.

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Rationale

The appeal of the diet, to which I pondered for seven years before actually embarking on my own updated version of, is embodied in all that I believe in and attempt to teach on a daily basis. For one reason; the science is there and the results have followed! In fact, never before have I seen a diet with such depth of taking into consideration all of the sciences involved in basic human metabolism – Nutritional Biochemistry, Exercise Physiology, Endocrinology (for which it is known I live and die by), Neurology. We will consider each, one-by-one in the discussion that follows.

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NUTRITIONAL BIOCHEMISTRY COMPONENT

Caloric Tallies – Energy Balance

In order to stay in energy balance (neither gaining nor losing weight), we must, on average, consume an amount of food that meets our daily energy expenditure. The daily energy expenditure includes the energy to support our basal metabolism (BMR) and our physical activities (METs or AFs) plus the energy required to process the food we eat (diet-induced thermogenesis - DIT). Now, it is obvious as a bodybuilder and with the intentions of this diet – we are not usually happy with balance. Upsetting balance (i.e. – either gaining or losing weight) is the result of playing around with the aforementioned 3 values: BMR, METs, and DIT.

Basal Metabolic Rate

The BMR is a measure of the energy required to maintain life: the functioning of the lungs and kidneys, the pumping of the heart, the maintenance of the ionic gradients across membranes, the reactions of biochemical pathways, and so forth. Its usually determined from a measurement of the rate at which oxygen is consumed or heat is produced by a resting person who has recently awakened in the morning after fasting for at least 12 hours. In practice, therefore, the BMR is really the resting metabolic rate (RMR).

There are at least a dozen entirely different ways proposed to estimate BMR/RMR (i.e. – Rough Estimate equations, Owen Equations, Harris and Benedict Equations, and the list goes on). For the sake of this experiment, I calculate my basal rate using ALL the different equations I was aware of and taking the average of the set.

Physical Activity

In addition to BMR/RMR – you are likely to get up and move around a bit during the day. It is in fact a shame we cannot lie around like slugs all the time I suppose. The energy required for this physical activity contributes to the daily energy expenditure. The difference in physical activity between a student and say, a lumberjack, is enormous, and a student who is relatively sedentary during the week (which likely applies to much of the working office types as well) may be much more active during the weekend (or on days off).

We can again do these calculations in a number of ways and my figures were figured out using a whole slew of measures and then taking the average.

A couple examples are as follows:
Rough Estimate:
• 30% of BMR for a very sedentary person (i.e. – our student or office worker)
• 60-70% of BMR for person who engages in about 2 hours of moderate exercise a day.
• 100% or more of BMR for a person who does several hours of heavy exercise a day.
• Of course there are values that fall in between those, but I am trying to make this “simple.”

The requirements of the BodyOpus diet include 3 mandatory trips to the gym. However, that activity will be considered later on in this writing. Here, the physical activity accounts for day-to-day activity.

Additional ways (perhaps more precise but due to tough calculations and variation also offer up more room for either error or inconsistency) to approximate the energy required for physical activity are through use of the following values called

Activity Factors or Metabolic Equivalents (METs):

Resting: sleeping, reclining (1.0)

Very Light: seated & standing activities - driving, lab work, typing, sewing, ironing, cooking, playing cards, playing a musical instrument, etc...(1.5)

Light: walking on a level surface at 2.5-3mph, garage work, electrical trades, carpentry, restaurant trades, house cleaning, golf, sailing, table tennis, etc...(2.5)

Moderate: waking 3.4-4mph, weeding and hoeing, carrying loads, cycling, skiing, tennis, dancing, etc...(5.0)

Heavy: walking uphill with a load, tree felling, heavy manual digging, mountain climbing, basketball, football, soccer, etc... (7.0)


Training Factors

METs can be expanded for the intentional workout activities one may find their selves in the gym for. Differentiating cardio from the aforementioned values is sometimes interesting. If you are to include cardio in your calculation, I would advise against calculating both the aforementioned activities and those that follow:

The aerobic subset

high intensity running- 18
high intensity cycling - 12
low intensity running - 8 high impact aerobics - 7
high intensity (speed) walking - 6 low impact aerobics - 5
low intensity cycling – 4
low intensity walking - 2

The anerobic subset

Circuit type training - 8
intense free weight lifting – 7 intense machine training - 6
moderate free weight lifting – 5 moderate machine training - 4 light free weight lifting – 3
light machine training - 2

Understand that the term “intensity” in anaerobic training like weight lifting is defined differently by different “authorities,” yet in the world of exercise physiology – its definition is somewhat universal. I think the confusion came out of the cardio conundrum and how aerobic capacity gets its “intense” dubbing. It is designed as how close you lift to your 1RM (read: NOT moving from one exercise to the next really quickly!) and with this program, the Monday and Tuesday workouts (80% 1RM) will yield a MET value of 7, while the Friday session will yield anywhere from a 5-8.

Diet-Induced Thermogenesis (DIT)

In addition to the BMR/RMR and Activity Factors, our energy systems will either remain in balance or become disrupted with the types of food we eat. You may have heard of DIT being referenced in former writings as the specific dynamic action (SDA) or what the layperson seemingly latched onto, the thermic effect of food (TEF) both of which are outdated terms. Besides DIT is so much cooler to say than either SDA or TEF! The central dogma to DIT says that following our ingestion of food, our metabolic rate increases because energy is needed to digest, distribute, and store nutrients.

The energy required to process the types and quantities of food in the typical American diet is probably equal to about 10% of the total number of kilocalories ingested. Now for bodybuilders, simple adjustments should be made that elevate this number to 15% under the “typical” bodybuilding diet. Fortunately, as a practicing CKDer, you get the luxury of calculating in 20%. The DIT tally is about equivalent to caloric content of carbs, fat, and protein lost by rounding off these values to 4, 9, and 4, respectively. (Note: One could probably get away with about 5 for protein based on gluconeogenic conversions in the “typical” bodybuilding diet.) Therefore, DIT is often ignored with the exception of our additional rounded factor for protein which should be accounted for. In the ketogenic phase of the diet, you get the luxury of incorporating the 20%, but your DIT fluctuates during the four phases of the diet we will discuss shortly.

Daily Energy Expediture

The total daily energy expenditure can be determined from the BMR/RMR and the appropriate percentage of the BMR/RMR percentage of BMR required for physical activity (given above).

You have likely heard the current hype of: “energy balance has never been as simple as calories in, calories out.” I am going to disagree. Energy Balance IS this simple, but it’s only PART of the equation. If energy (calories) is in balance, you will maintain “weight.” If this balance becomes shifted in either the excess of deficit columns, you will either gain or lose “weight.” Later on, we will shift this tally in favor of “fat” loss versus “weight.”

Ideally, we should maintain a weight consistent with good health. From this perspective, what would an ideal or desirable be? Life insurance companies have concluded that this is the weight at which a person is most likely to live for the longest time. They periodically publish tables of average weights for “healthy” people, based on sex, height, and body frame size. Overweight people are frequently defined as more than 20% above their ideal weight. The body mass index (BMI), calculated as weight/height2 (kg/m2), is another measure to determine whether a person’s weight is in the desirable range. Individuals with BMI values below 20 or above 25 are considered to be underweight or overweight, respectively. Obese tallies tip in on this scale at greater than 30. Funny how bodybuilders usually tip in at “obese” calculations no matter how you calculate it – yet, this remains to NOT be our ideal. Everyone wants to live, and nobody wants to die, but what if your life be defined not by your death (which is what the “obese” category helps potentially predict), but your life; that is, your vitality, activity, and how you occupy your life. In this sense, the bodybuilding lifestyle and more directly here the BodyOpus diet’s impact on those measures is astronomic.

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Macronutrient Breakdown

The breakdown of macronutrients and their cyclical nature has sound support in scientific rationale. It is what will essentially dictate the four states of the diet plan and how this will induce different phases of how your body composition will be affected.

Stage I: Pre-Ketosis

Stage II: Ketosis
- The Basics: In the presence of decreased insulin (from post-prandial response), Free Fatty Acids (FFAs) are freed from adipocyte (fat cells) triglycerides into the blood stream and in the absence or depletion of glycogen over a 12-16 hour time frame (dependent upon the person). At this time the FFAs are converted to ketone bodies as glucagon levels are increasing. FFAs are NOT used in energy production via recycling or ketone body formation if glycogen levels are high due to its potential to form something called Malonyl Co-A, which inhibits something called CPT-1 (an enzyme of the carnitine shuttle involved in direction of the FFAs of long chain TGs to the mitochondria to be oxidized).

Stage III: Post-Ketosis
- With initial ascension out of ketosis with fructose-containing meal 1.5 hours prior to Friday workout

Stage IV: Recomposition (Glycogen Supercompensation)
- A prime example of a half-truth that has made supplement companies millions of dollars pertains to glycogen and glycogen-loading. During exercise, especially prolonged exercise of one or more hours (i.e. – the Friday 2-hour workout), your body will use a sizeable portion of its glycogen reserve – glycogen being sugar stored as starch in the muscles and liver for future needs. This is only a half truth that was dreamed up to sell you a complex carbohydrate powder or liquid made from maltodextrin – a very inexpensive and nutrient deplete starch compound, appropriately dubbed powdered white bread or alternatively, my favorite – liquid crack!
- Maltodextrin is cheap, dirt cheap and its also a sugar in disguise of a starch. And to compound this felony, the carbohydrate compound cleaverly denoted, glucose polymers, was created by stretching the starch molecule of maltodextrin – supposedly making it digest a little slower. Many modern “post workout” powders contain one or both of the above incognito sugars that have the power to raise blood sugar levels and block fat burning – while draining your wallet! I suppose with the fat blocking or, even worse, fat gain, with concurrent wallet downsizing – you at least remain in homeostatic balance from a intake/outflow standpoint.
- In attempts to keep this as simple as possible: 1st 24 hours – higher GI CHOs, 2nd 24 hours – lower GI CHOs – restricted to glucose and sucrose (NOT fructose, due to fruit sugar’s preferential to refill liver glycogen). Liquid CHOs and timing of CHO-intake have been maintained in this updated version of BodyOpus for two reasons despite research not really supporting the benefit of this: 1. Easier to consume the amount of necessary CHO for complete replenishment and 2. Better Blood Glucose stabilization (which could prove valuable protecting against another potential side effect where insulin sensitivity reacts in a way you would not like and you become hyper-insensitive – see later). To maintain glycogen compensation, the worst part is the maintenance of eating throughout the course of the night at regular two-hour intervals. Although not supported by research, it seems to offer the best results to people able to actually undergo this type of diet strategy.
- Your glycogen “carb-up” begins immediately at the conclusion of your training as waiting even a small amount of time decreases the rate of supercomp.
- Only the muscles worked during the depletion workout are supercomped to max potential and we aren’t going through this trouble for half-assed.
- Additonally, if you were to perform a workout that offered significant trauma (i.e. – heavy, low rep), your rate of glycogen recomp is also slowed.


There will be blood glucose readings throughout my trial to monitor where I fall along the aforementioned 4-stage continuum.

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EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY COMPONENT

A Good Diet without Exercise to Match is Just Half the Equation!

Yet it’s the fault of 99% of programs I see guys and gals partaking in the gym. We must become students in exercise physiology before either just throwing around weights or hopping on the hamster wheel (i.e. – ANY “cardio” machine – a peculiar dubbing to begin with). Pay attention - class is in session!

Your body calls upon the three macronutrients to fuel itself during exercise: glycogen (stored form of carbohydrates), fat, and in some circumstances, protein. The primary fuels during aerobic exercise are fat (fro body tissue as well as within the muscles themselves) and carbohydrate (muscle glycogen and blood sugar). Low-intensity aerobic exercise relies almost entirely on fat for fuel. So bring on the hamster-wheel activity then and where do I sign up, right? Not so fast skipper!

As exercise intensity increases, your body gradually switches over from fat and glycogen to glycogen alone. This point more or less corresponds with something called the lactate threshold. Push past this threshold and – if you’ve done much vigorous exercise you know what I’m about to say – you become intimately familiar with the “burn” that flares up from the accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles you’re overtaxing. The increase in glycogen use at higher exercise intensities is driven by a number of factors, including the release of epinephrine (adrenaline) – our first hormone to mention (see Endocrine discussion later) – your muscles’ inability to get the energy they need from the quantity of fatty acids circulating in your blood, and the greater involvement of different types of muscle fibers.

When aerobic exercise continues at fairly intense (but not full-out) levels, or even at less intense levels but for extended periods, your system drifts into what’s known as depletion: you exhaust those first-tier energy sources (glycogen stores) and actually begin metabolizing yourself: “eating up” muscle tissue to convert that protein into the energy you need to keep on going. Researchers have known for a while that once the body reaches this plateau, it burns up to 5 to 6 grams of protein for every 30 minutes of ongoing activity.

The reason I am always adamant that cardio stinks is because we cannot predict how close we are at ANY given point to this threshold. Therefore, the aforementioned muscle loss is magnified if you’re on a low-calorie diet while you’re doing all this aerobic exercise, and magnified further if you are NOT consuming adequate protein (1.816 grams per pound of body weight for BASAL requirements). Most people incorporating cardio into their routines unfortunately ARE taking on low calorie diets in hopes of their six-pack dreams. Interestingly enough, they will mention the articles in the bodybuilding magazines as their sole defense, citing “it’s how the pros do it!” Well, I got news for you if you aren’t already aware – the “pros” have very extreme chemical regimens to go along with all their wonderful cardio and it won’t make a bit of difference for the average supplement-only consuming gym-goer.

All of this is compounded and exacerbated as you age, because in your early 30s, you begin losing 1-2 percent of muscle mass each year anyway – a 5-10-pound loss of muscle per decade. Suffice it to say, Duchaine wasn’t a big proponent of cardio, but insisted if you must do it, then by all means – knock yourself out. In 2003, I found that the program didn’t need it and I am happy to report likely did better.

Anyone with the “heart health” argument can rest easier perhaps learning that researchers learned in 1988 that increased aerobic fitness produces a significant decrease in mortality. Hehe – they also learned, however, that this decrease was only seen in those people who start out as complete slugs who I believe should be doing ANY kind of movement anyway. So you’re then telling me that I am not to work out my heart? I am not sure why it is hard to understand that your heart IS in fact active with weight training. I think people that preach the contrary are simply NOT working hard enough! In 1990, the American College of Sports Medicine first recognized strength training as an important part of a complete exercise program for all healthy adults. A decade later, the American Heart Association issued an advisory in its own journal, Circulation, stating that strength training does in fact improve heart health. The AHA strongly recommended a weight-lifting program to prevent cardiovascular disease and to help rehabilitate those who have suffered mild heart attacks.

What prompted theses groups to have a change of heart, so to speak, about the benefits of strength training> Research had begun to show that weight lifting can provide modest bumps in VO2 max (essentially the body’s ability to process oxygen). Evidence has also shown that regular strength training lowers resting blood pressure and levels of LDL cholesterol while enhancing your stroke volume (a sexy-sounding term for the amount of blood your heart pumps with each beat). In addition, studies have found that strength training can decrease the stress on your heart when you do every day tasks like carrying heavy trash bags to the curb, and that pumping iron improves your body’s ability to respond to glucose. Further, research shows that weight lifting may even protect against damage by free radicals versus contribute to their production (I suspect this is actually a balanced effect – but this is another involved topic).

How bout a side effect comparison of the aerobic greats? Jim Fixx – big long-distance runner; arguably dubbed the father of the movement in the industry. Dead – after jogging in the backwoods one day after near 100% occlusion (blockage) of his coronary arteries. What? Where’s the protection? I suppose if Fixx gets the “father” nod, then Dr. Cooper at the Dallas clinic would be then dubbed the godfather of aerobics. He suffered the typical knee problems and chronic Achilles tendonitis – right on track for knee replacement. He has since added a rubberized jogging trail to his Dallas clinic and cut back his own personal running program. Following Fixx’s death, Cooper wrote a book entitled Running without Fear: How to Reduce the Risk of Heart Attack and Sudden Death during Aerobic Exercise. I have mixed views of this. I have to believe his motives stem from one of two things: 1. True fear of the real evils of “cardio-”protective benefits of this style of exercise that had always been present, or 2. Yet another way to make a dollar off a tragic event after the likelihood his cardio preaching tours would likely suffer. For the record, strength training not only promotes bone density (and anyone who says it contributes to “bad knees” is NOT doing it properly) and reduces bone loss but also helps rehabilitate orthopedic injuries.

Needless to say, I do NOT do cardio nor even consider its inclusion in the BodyOpus: Reloaded plan or any other CKD a necessity.

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ENDOCRINOLOGY COMPONENT

Theoretically, entitling a section anything-endocrine could be trouble. I will limit the discussion due for the sake of incorporating more about the program, but know it was all taken into consideration with this kind of program.

Hormonal Harmony
Only recently has testosterone become part of mainstream medicine. Medical researchers have known for decades of the benefits of the hormone, but its powerful effects have scared many physicians. The fact that bodybuilders and athletes took matters into their own hands in the seventies and began using synthetic anabolic steroid drugs to boost testosterone levels further alienated the medical establishment from considering the effects of testosterone therapies.

But testosterone doesn’t act alone. There is a whole cast of additional players (hormones) we need to address that will be imperative in any properly balanced program and if correctly influencing them all will yield body recomposition success. It is kind of like putting together a movie with an all star cast provided we had no budget. To date, BodyOpus and its CKD teammates are the only type of diets that address and incorporate each and every one.

Without further adieu, I would like to introduce the impressive cast: Testosterone, Insulin, Growth Hormone, Estrogen, T3/T4, Glucagon, Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, Serum Gonadotropins (namely LH) and Cortisol to name those we will make mention of throughout this article.

Insulin Insanity
Though testosterone is an important aspect in any muscle-building program, it unfortunately gets way too much attention – especially in the supplement industry. Unfortunately, this is often at the displacement of attention to the others. Insulin regulation is of utmost importance in my BodyOpus update and should be in any diet program – dare I say, potentially even more important than our precious testosterone.

Some people refer to insulin as the most anabolic hormone of them all. To many people, insulin is solely associated in the back of their heads with diabetes mellitus. Since the symptoms for both types of diabetes include elevated blood glucose levels, or hyperglycemia, insulin is most associated with carbohydrate metabolism. Insulin, however, is an all-purpose storage hormone that not only promotes storage of carbohydrates as glycogen (an important consideration in this diet), but also plays an integral role in bodyfat accretion and muscle protein synthesis.

The latter effect is the subject of debate in scientific circles. Some researchers say that insulin exerts merely a permissive effect on muscle-cell protein synthesis, while others believe it’s anticatabolic in that it appears to prevent excessive breakdown of muscle protein. Still another popular hypothesis is that insulin directly stimulates muscle protein synthesis, an anabolic action.

Much of the confusion on the issue of how insulin affects muscle is based on variously designed studies. Just as anabolic steroids work better if supplied with an anabolic stimulus in the form of exercise, the same appears to be the case with insulin. In other words, taking insulin will not promote muscular growth unless accompanied by a certain type of exercise. The type of exercise required is weight training. The muscle-fiber argument comes up all the time and fast-twitch fibers outside of being stimulated easier to grow (some may say slow twitch are NOT capable of this feat at all) are also the ones that require insulin to promote protein synthesis. The research here further actually supports the potential detriments to an aesthetically pleasing body over time with the cardiovascular training and aerobic lifestyle, but I will digress as I could talk about that too ad nausea. This program and life should not be about taking a step or two forward while taking a bunch back – though year in and year out at gyms across America, we have our proof.

In BodyOpus, we have times of serious insulin secretion (involved with glycogen supercompensation phases – that’s right some nutritional biochem cannot be erased in concert here) and times of insulin lag (the five-day work week). Why then, with all of what I just reported would we want to have insulin secreted only two of the seven days of the week? Again, remember and always keep in mind – everything works in concert.

Insulin levels directly affect glucagon, norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol, growth hormone, thyroid, and testosterone levels. If you were to look at as a balancing act or scale, it would like line up as insulin, thyroid hormones, and testosterone versus glucagon, norei/epi, cortisol, and estrogens. GH is more a tricky player and kind of like the spy in the equation teasing out things about each side. But, make no mistake; it’s not exactly that simple. Unfortunately, there are just too many interactions without making this article into a book to have them all accurately displayed. Recall our ketosis nutritional biochemical description, the counter process is necessary. Low insulin promotes increased glucagon and then cascades are set in place as depicted above through secretion of the other hormones.

This is one reason why supplements that work on one of the hormones do NOT mean a whole lot to me if you don’t use the supplement as part of an adequate COMPLETE program to “supplement” what will work in your body if all is in order in the first place. I am often reminded of the person who takes ephedra-type “fat” burners and yet doesn’t consider insulin regulation while using that kind of supplement. Do you see how this goes against what I have just told you about the interrelationship between circulating catecholamines and insulin?

There are too many hormones that get bad reps in mainstream media, but each hormone has an appropriate role in your body and it is their balance and appropriate timing that will ultimately dictate your body recomposition success.

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NEUROLOGY COMPONENT

Synaptic Science

The nervous and endocrine systems are closely related. Glands throughout your body release hormones, but most of the glands are activated by nerves. Conversely, the endocrine glands control some of the functions of the nervous system. The nervous system’s equivalent to the endocrine system’s hormones is the neurotransmitter. Although there are some 50 neurotransmitters, only about 10 are involved in most brain-cell communication. You may be familiar with some we have already spoke of that double as hormones: epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). This is accounted for in their genesis as a neuroendocrine gland. Also worth noting here are: acetylcholine, serotonin, and dopamine. (Note: you are likely familiar with others supported by the supplement industry: glycine and GABA). All of these neurotransmitters are put into action with BodyOpus: Reloaded.

Our two neuroendocrine neurotransmitters (epi and norepi) elevate mood, alertness, and even assertiveness. Acetylcholine seems to facilitate memory and help control movement, while serotonin causes drowsiness and relaxation. Dopamine is essential for both sexual arousal (yeah, I know not the primary concern of the diet, but it got your attention) and coordination. All of the aforementioned neurotransmitters with the exception of Acetylcholine are made from amino acids supplied by dietary protein. (Note: we’ll address acetylcholine later in the supplement section of the article).

The cellular units that use these chemicals are called neurons, and there are probably more than a billion of them in the brain alone. Each of these neurons is, in effect, an electrical conduit that receives and transmits signals that cross a space called a synapse. The actual transmission is mediated by neurotransmitter chemicals.

An average neuron has several thousand synaptic junctions. Theoretically, if you have optimal levels of neurotransmitters, you’re more energetic and dynamic. If you have subpar levels, you could suffer from depression, a lack of energy, or even diminished muscle motor unit recruitment. Whether you’re lifting a weight, taking a step, or moving your eyes across this page, the muscle actions are controlled largely by neurotransmitters. Now, putting this in practice, if you’re trying to curl a dumbbell, you need a certain number of muscle cells, or motor units, to do it. Let’s say your supply of neurotransmitters is as low as a three-toed sloth because BodyOpus and other CKDs carry with them one of the drastic side effects purported to be diminished energy levels and fatigue. You might not be able to activate enough muscle cells to accomplish the lift. If you could somehow increase the number of neurotransmitters, you might be able to recruit enough fibers to lift the weight. My update in 2003 seemed to keep this at bay to a large degree (see supplement section below).