Digital Social Hour - Heavy Metals in Plant Proteins: What You Must Avoid | Angelo Keely DSH #869

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

🚀 Discover the hidden risks of heavy metals in plant proteins and what you must avoid in our latest Digital Social Hour episode with Sean Kelly! 🎙️ Join the engaging conversation with guest Angelo Keely as we dive into the world of amino acids, debunk myths, and explore the science behind effective protein supplements. 🌱 Packed with valuable insights, this episode is a must-watch for anyone looking to maximize their muscle growth and nutrition strategy. Angelo breaks down the differences between plant-based and animal proteins, revealing why essential amino acids might be your secret weapon. 💪 Don't miss out on these insider secrets! Watch now and subscribe for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more exciting episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Join the conversation and level up your health game today! 🌟 #eaa #bcaa #lysine #dovegansneedsupplements #aminoacids CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Are BCAAs Worth It? Benefits and Considerations 02:07 - How Protein Works in the Body: Function and Importance 09:36 - Do You Get Enough Protein Through Diet Alone? Nutritional Insights 12:58 - Heavy Metals in Plant-Based Protein Powders: Safety Concerns 15:27 - Risks of Whey Protein: Health Implications 18:28 - Plant-Based Essential Amino Acid Supplements: Benefits Explained 22:13 - How Amino Acids Compare to Caffeine: Effects and Differences 24:42 - Creatine: Uses and Benefits for Athletes 27:00 - Resting Metabolic Rate: Understanding Your Metabolism 28:20 - Carbs: Importance in Nutrition and Energy 32:20 - Advice for Women: Nutrition and Health Tips 33:30 - Body Fat Percentage: What You Need to Know 35:53 - Upcoming Products: Innovations in Nutrition 37:15 - Where to Buy Keen: Product Availability APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Angelo Keely https://www.instagram.com/angelokeely/ https://www.instagram.com/kion/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit flyporter.com and actually enjoy economy. CFA and it's like not true. You know, my problem is like a lot of brands say made in the USA and all you need to do to qualify for that Is the packaging? But you can still order stuff from China and as long as you assemble it in the US made in the USA Yeah, crazy, right? Yeah, I mean it's crazy though with a global supply chain Like how much stuff is coming from all over I would definitely look for those supplements that are

manufactured in the United States All right guys, we're talking amino acids today. We got Angelo Keely here from Keyon. Thanks for coming on, man. Hey, thanks for having me, Sean. Yeah, let's do it. We're going to talk amino acids, and there's a lot of myths you're going to break on the show, right? I hope so.

We'll see. Yeah, so we'll start off with BCAAs right there. BCAAs. Have you taken them before? I have. OK. So BCAAs, for anyone who's heard of them, stands for branch chain amino acids.

And they're a very common sports supplement. They've been around for at least 30 years. And basically what they are, are three of the most important essential amino acids. So a long time ago, when they started studying kind of how does protein work, how do amino acids work, we thought that BCAAs alone were valuable to take on their own as a supplement.

And as the scientific community has continued to research this over the last 20 years, it's become very apparent that taking BCAAs on their own provide basically no benefit. Wow. Yeah, they're not anabolic at all. There's a great meta-analysis that came out. The International Society of Sports Nutrition put one out in 2017.

I mean, that's how you can see how old, how long we've actually known that their bunk basically take on their own, that showed that they were not anabolic at all. You must have all nine of the essential amino acids. That's crazy. A lot of people on you used to take those. Yeah.

If you really want to get into the nuance of the science, if you combine them with certain other types of protein, you could enhance the benefits of that protein. But taking them on their own don't do anything. And rather than trying to combine them with other types of protein, it'd be more effective just to take a complete essential amino acid formula Right. So are amino acids more effective than whey protein for muscle growth?

The short answer is yes The slightly longer answer is probably worth just explaining a little bit So maybe we take a step back and even just talk about what what is protein? How does it work? Because lots of people don't actually know. I think we all get fed the information like, hey, you need to eat protein if you want to build muscle. And more and more lately too, like, hey, if you want to lose weight, the actual more sustainable way to do that

is to eat protein while also cutting calories. And that's how you can like lose fat, but maintain a better body composition. So a lot of that's out there, but people don't actually know what protein is. And I think it's because, well, we don't all pay attention probably in like our sixth grade biology classes or whatever. And on top of that, when we get fed information about diet,

most of the time it's like, carbs are really bad for you. You gotta eat high fat or like don't eat this or do eat that. And it's these kind of oversimplified things that are much more focused actually on carbs and fat. But here I'll break it down. So there's three main macronutrients. They are carbohydrates, fat, and protein.

The primary role of carbohydrates and fat, why we eat them, is for fuel. So when you consume food with carbohydrates and fat in it, your body converts that into ATP, which is like our internal energy fuel that we use to beat our heart, to breathe, to move, to lift heavy stuff, to do everything we want to do. And so if you think about your body, maybe like a house, it would be the equivalent of, you know, buying natural gas or buying electricity from the power grid or having solar panels. Like you get the energy for your house. Protein is fundamentally different. So protein actually helps us rebuild our body. It's more like building materials.

It's more like wood and glass and metal and tile. So like, why the hell do we need building materials? They're like, I'm already built, right? I'm a 40 year old dude. Like I've got a body. Like why would I need to rebuild it? Well, the way that protein works in the body is that the proteins like, so first of all, people maybe don't

realize this, my body, over 50% of the solid mass is made up of proteins. So that's all of my vital organs, my lean muscle, my skin, my hair, my nails, but also things like the enzymes in my body, my hormones, all of these are proteins. And the way that proteins function in nature is that they don't last forever. So if I look at my arm and I see it's made of like millions of little tiny All of these are proteins. And the way that proteins function in nature is that they don't last forever. So if I look at my arm and I see it's made of like millions of little tiny proteins actually, each one of those proteins only last for a certain amount of time and then it gets old. And the way that the body deals with that is that the protein actually breaks down.

And when it breaks apart, here's the first connection to amino acids, what you realize is it's made up of these 20 amino acids, particularly like in skin, right? And some of those amino acids are still good, and you can actually reuse them to build a new protein. Some are old and you pee them out. So immediately what you realize is like, whoa. This winter, take a trip to Tampa on Porter Airlines. Enjoy the warm Tampa Bay temperatures and warm Porter hospitality on your way there. All Porter Fairs include beer, wine and snacks and free fast-streaming Wi-Fi on planes with no middle seats. And your Tampa Bay vacation includes good times, relaxation and great Gulf Coast weather. Visit flyporter.com and actually enjoy economy.

Metrolinx and Crosslinx are reminding everyone to be careful, as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks, and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. I'm like short some amino acids. The skin protein broke down because it got old. Some of it I peed out and I need new amino acids. That's why we eat protein. When you eat chicken breasts, when you eat even plant proteins, quinoa, soy, buckwheat,

whatever, you digest those proteins, you break them apart into little amino acids, they go into your blood and then your blood uses those to actually rebuild all of these proteins throughout your body. If you optimize the certain types of proteins that you eat, when you eat them, how much you eat them, combine them with certain types of exercise, that's how you build muscle. So when you ask me like, are amino acids better than say, was the question whey protein? Whey protein. Whey protein is awesome for building muscle and it's awesome as a protein source.

Amino acids, essential amino acids, if you take all nine in a free form, meaning like a supplemental form, they are superior to whey protein. Now here's why. So the way that amino acids function in the body to whey protein. Now here's why. So the way that amino acids function in the body to stimulate new protein synthesis, so not just to help rebuild the old proteins but actually I consume some chicken or I consume some beef or whey protein or essential amino acids, the way that it works actually tell my body to build new proteins is it's all dependent on having

a high peak concentration of essential amino acids in the blood. So when you eat a piece of chicken, for example, some of that chicken is protein, some of it's carbs, some of it's fat. The part that's protein, about half of it is essential amino acids, actually less. The other half are these things called non-essential amino acids. The basic definition being essential, you have to eat them, your body can't synthesize them, non-essential, your body can convert the essential into the non-essential.

But the more interesting thing is that the amount of the essential amino acids that your body can digest from that chicken and then get into the bloodstream not only become the building blocks of rebuilding muscle or rebuilding proteins in your body, it actually specifically is the chemical messenger. It actually tells your body to like, hey, build more. So when you compare, and these are, I mean, I can share all the studies with this, you can look at that. Honestly, the easiest place to go to for anyone who really wants to dig in more is search

international society sports nutrition, essential amino acids, position paper, and you'll find a lot of this broken down. But basically, if I consume 30 grams of beef protein, like totally just piece of meat, it will stimulate as much protein synthesis as if I consumed twice the amount of that beef, but if I ate that beef as part of a mixed meal. Really? Yeah, so what happens is

like literally as much essential amino acids from that beef slightly more get into my blood and hit this peak concentration faster than if I ate it as part of a whole meal. Wow. Because you think about like I'm eating potatoes, I'm eating broccoli, I'm eating all these other things, right? Yeah. And so by doing that I get this doubling of the concentration of the essential amino acids in my blood. Interesting. Now, get this. When I take a more refined form of a protein, right? And this is refined out like Oreos, right? Like totally kind of like bullshit ingredients, right?

This is actually like a quality protein source. Whey is simply one of the proteins from milk. But when you take out as much of the sugars and the fat, et cetera, and you just get this like really concentrated form of like a whey protein powder, that whey protein powder stimulates even more protein synthesis than that beef. It actually has triple the amount of essential amino acid concentration in the blood. Dr. Justin Marchegiani... Wow. Dr. Ryan Seidler... It's not a direct correlation to the amount of protein synthesis but it's significantly more than the beef. So when I just think about,

hey, I'm trying to get more protein in my diet, I'm trying to maintain my lean muscle, et cetera, I'm trying to lose weight and build muscle at the same time, taking away protein powder during a midday snack or some other time of day is going to be more beneficial than just trying to eat one more chicken breast or one more piece of beef. Interesting. When you compare that to essential amino acids though, essential amino acids don't include any of the non-essential amino acids. When you take an essential amino acid formula that's got all nine and got

these more ideal ratios, you don't have any of the non-essential. And the fact that it's purely concentrated in the essential amino acids, which stimulate all the protein synthesis, and you can tweak the formulas to make them basically even superior to whey protein, which is an awesome protein source. It stimulates even more than that whey protein. Again, it's about three times the concentration of the essential amino acids in the blood, which we measure through. And these aren't like, these are actually truly human studies that are, that I'm quoting here. So, yes, fundamentally, essential amino acids, if used as a supplement, are superior to whey protein gram for gram in terms of promoting protein synthesis and supporting the development of muscle.

Good to know. Do you think through diet alone that you can get enough protein and aminos or do you think you need to supplement to a certain degree? It depends on what your goals are, what your age is, and what your current condition is. The younger you are, if you were 20 years old and you're already super fit, I think that focusing simply on trying to get a gram of protein per pound of body weight is going to get you pretty far.

If you then choose to also take, say, essential amino acids before you work out, you are going to maximize the benefits of that workout. Basically, there's a combining effect of the stimulation from the essential amino acids plus the strength training that creates a much greater benefit than just doing them on their own, but the diet's gonna go pretty far. As soon as you hit 30, your ability to digest protein and your sensitivity to the amino acids in the protein to stimulate new protein synthesis just goes down, down, down, down, down.

So every decade after that, it gets worse. So the older that you get after 30, the more and more sense it makes to, even outside of having some super ambitious training goals, to think about supplementing with a whey protein powder or even more ideally with an essential amino acid supplement. So a 20-year-old versus a 60-year-old,

like 60-year-old, like definitely. A 40-year-old, like I would, I'm 40, I'd do it. I think it's definitely worth it. You're 40, damn. Look good, man. Oh, thanks dude, yeah. I mean, I'm just- It's those aminos.

It's those aminos, bro. But yeah, so it makes more and more sense. Similarly, if you are overweight, so if you have extra fat mass, which comes from consuming more calories in sense. Similarly, if you are overweight, so if you have extra fat mass, which comes from consuming more calories in a given day than you need, and then you're actually exercising, you have this excess fat, and your goal is to burn that fat

but maintain your lean muscle, essential amino acids are key. The reason for that is, when you go into a caloric deficit, what happens, caloric deficit just meaning I eat less calories than I burn in a day. What happens is your body does not use the protein as I was describing earlier.

It's not thinking like, oh, I'm gonna break down this protein and help rebuild all the proteins in my body. It's like, I'm hungry, I'm starving. I'm gonna convert more of this protein via gluconeogenesis into sugars and basically carbs so that I can then use that as an energy source. Also it's not thinking like, oh, I should really be like maintaining this muscle.

It's going to start actually sparing that muscle because when you don't get enough protein in your diet to support the development of your hair, your rebuild heart tissue, for example, where do you think you get those amino acids from? The only place in your body that you can spare is your muscle. So you actually start breaking down and burning lean muscle to sup- not burning, but you break down the lean muscle to supply amino acids to your blood so the rest of your body, so you can still have hormone function and enzymes, etc. So when you're in a caloric deficit, you need to significantly increase your protein and

your essential amino acid needs. And it's been shown that simply a 30% caloric deficit requires a 300% increase in essential amino acids to maintain a net protein balance. So if you're trying to, you know, again, lose weight, I think most people aren't trying to like, lose a bunch of muscle. You're like, dude, I'm trying to lose 10 pounds of fat

or 20 pounds of fat, but I want to maintain my lean muscle. Like the idea of supplementing with essential amino acids, it's very challenging to do strictly with protein because you have to eat so much more protein during that period. I'm glad we're talking now because I actually just got a DEXA scan two days ago and I'm the highest body fat percent I've ever been.

I'm 18%. So I'm going to start taking these aminos while I because I'm gonna do some fasting and some workouts No, I think for sure with fasting too. So yeah, I mean definitely like if your goal is to cut your body fat I want to get down to like 10 15 percent. Yeah, I was gonna say with the fasting One other point I would make around that is that fasting is a great way to cut calories, right? Cuz if you're not eating you're obviously like you're eating less calories. The one thing I would name about that though is, again, this is strategic for your goal

of trying to lose fat but not lose muscle. When you go more than a few hours without consuming protein or amino acids, you start to break down muscle to supply the rest of the body with amino acids. Now, here's the deal, I don't want to scare you, it's like, oh, I'm gonna lose all this muscle. It's not like if you have a daily habit,

if you're in your 20s and you have a daily habit of fasting even just overnight, right? It's not like you're gonna lose all your muscle, but that becomes a habit and you consistently extend the period of time throughout the day that you're not eating and you're depriving yourself of those essential amino acids, you are, over a long period of time throughout the day that you're not eating and you're depriving yourself of those essential amino acids, you are, over a long period of time, you're progressively eating away at that muscle.

Wow. So what I would say is, for sure, when you're fasting, take essential amino acids every three to four hours. Three to four hours? Wow. Because I did a whole scoop, so you're saying to do a scoop every four hours? Well, so here's the way that protein synthesis works. Basically, when you consume enough essential amino acids, either in a very high protein

meal or more ideally like in the kind of situation we're describing like through a supplement like this, it reaches these peak concentrations in the blood. It tells the body, yo, let's go build new proteins. Let's build new muscle, right? And then what happens is that process lasts about three to four hours. And then after that, it ends and then suddenly your body wants more. Got it. So if you're really trying to, again, have like this kind of very strategic plan to like,

I want to cut body fat, I want to maintain lean muscle, even build muscle during this period, the idea of consuming amino acids every three to four hours is ideal. For like a general person, I don't think you need to worship the idea of, again, it's like what bodybuilders do. It's common. Bodybuilders are famous, right, for waking up in the middle of the night and like eating a chicken breast. So they consume chicken and rice, but every few hours you're kind of consuming amino acids either via protein or some type of supplement. So it's not the kind of thing you have to like do no matter what, but if you have that goal, then I would definitely advise you to do that.

I want to get your opinion on these powders, too, because I'm seeing the risk of heavy metals in these plant-based protein powders. Are you seeing that as well? So I think there's always a risk with any time you take a plant and you really significantly process it and strip things out, that plant came from the earth. And you're getting a highly concentrated form, whatever

came in the earth. So not just plant protein powders, but like even botanical ingredients, things like chocolate, like all kinds of things that are highly concentrated forms are just, they're open to having much higher levels of heavy metals. And so I think plant protein powders are, they have the greatest risk of that over any other type of protein powder. On top of that, I would just say plant proteins are, we didn't go into this too much before about the EAA concentration, but fundamentally when you're evaluating a whole protein source, the first question is how digestible is it? Not like do I like eating it, how's my stomach feel afterwards, but like literally can the

enzymes in our body break down that protein and get the amino acids out of it? Plant proteins are not as digestible as animal proteins. Really? Significantly less. Wow. Yeah, so I think, now there are good sources of plant proteins, like soy tends to be more digestible and have a better overall EAA profile,

things like buckwheat, quinoa, it's not like nothing. Doesn't soy raise your estrogen though? Man, there's a bunch, I won't go down like the whole phytoestrogen route down there. That's a bunch. I won't go down like the whole phytoestrogen Route down there because I don't think it's a myth I think that though there's a lot of conflicting information about I personally don't take soy because I think a whey protein isolate is Superior to a soy protein powder so it's like why yeah waste my time on Okay, I break out on it even an isolate. I don't know if I've had an isolate. So that's a really good thing to test.

And again, I wouldn't want you to risk breaking out, but I have seen virtually no one have the type of experiences with a whey protein isolate as they do with the concentrate. Got it. And here's the basic difference. So with a concentrate, it's a first level of stripping off like everything else. Like you're just basically getting the concentrated whey protein that's part of the milk.

When you go through an isolate process, it's a cold filtration process. You basically strip out the lactose, you strip out the other sugars, the fats, et cetera, and you're left with like a much more, just like, it's really just the protein. It's the isolated protein. Yeah, I think it was the dairy, the lactose.

Yeah, and so like, you know, I'm lactose intolerant. I can easily consume whey protein isolate every day if I want to. I got two scoops. Like, it's not a big deal. Yeah, my kids don't like, they don't do well with lactose either. They both can consume a whey protein isolate.

So that's the first thing I'd look at. Yeah, again, the soy thing, I don't want to like go too far down that route, but it's actually kind of interesting. They've shown that in some cases, people actually have higher testosterone levels. Really? Yeah, and it's inversely correlated to the estrogen.

That said, I'm not an expert on all of the how phytoestrogens work relative to soy. I'm more interested in protein and amino acid nutrition and way superior. And again, I guess if I was comparing to plant proteins, an essential amino acid supplement can be vegan and plant-based. So for example, like Key on my company,

we have one that is 100% plant-based. It's fermented actually from plants. Oh, nice. And so in that case, like if you are more sensitive, you think to like a beef protein isolator, whey protein isolator, you just don't wanna eat animals, you can get this thing that's better than a plant protein powder.

It's going to perform way better than it. It's cleaner. It's like easier. I just wouldn't even waste my time with a plant protein powder. I feel that. I also like how you third party test because some of these brands, you have no idea what's in there. You saw what happened with Ryan Garcia.

Like you really don't know, you know? It's like really worth it if you're out there shopping for honestly any kind of supplement, just making sure it's a reputable brand. It's not the kind of thing where you shop around for the best price. Which a lot of people do. And it's just like, you're putting it in your body,

particularly if it's something you're putting in your body every day. It's really worth finding a reputable brand that does significant third-party testing. Yeah, I'm sure you've tested your competitors and been shocked at the results. Dude, you know what else is crazy sometimes? And this is not to throw anyone under the bus,

but even other brands have looked at that have made certain claims about their product saying, like, oh, it's 100% this, or et cetera. And then even calling their customer service and researching into it and getting a CFA, and it's not true. My problem is a lot of brands, say, made in in the USA and all you need to do to qualify for That is the packaging

But you can still order stuff from China and as long as you assemble in the US made in the USA Yeah, crazy, right? Yeah, I mean it's crazy though with a global supply chain Like how much stuff is coming from all over I would definitely look for those supplements that are Manufactured in the United States because there's really significant compliance That's involved in that in terms of like CGMP yeah, you know NSF certified facilities like you definitely want to be again buying from a reputable supplement company where It's manufactured in the US 100% yeah When did you start this in?

2017 okay, so what seven years? Seven years yeah. It's been a cool journey man. Yeah you guys are now just starting to do some PR right? Yeah more and more. I'd say like over the last two years it's we've been doing more and more PR and podcasts and just trying to like educate actively outside of like our own little world. Because it's crazy man like things like protein nutrition that seem, and amino acid nutrition that seem like they're getting enough coverage.

Surprisingly, even the example I gave earlier about like what protein is, how it functions, how it's different from carbohydrates and fat, like people don't know. And if you don't know, like if you don't know kind of the basics of what an amino acid is and how it works, you won't be as motivated to want

to try to make changes in your life. And once you do, you're like, oh, damn. OK, that's actually really important for my overall health. I haven't really seen aminos in the mainstream, to be honest. Yeah, I think BCAAs have been historically kind of like in bro culture, like in gym workout culture. Unfortunately, again, because we started the whole show, they don't actually

work on their own. So the one thing that's gotten more coverage is like kind of not a worthwhile thing to invest in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What about if you're vegan or vegetarian, can you take aminos? Yeah.

So again, I think you got to look at like the brand specifically. You can source amino acids from animal sources and it's actually pretty gross. It's like, like duck feathers and like, yeah, like kind of other weird type of animal hair type stuff. So I would definitely seek out a plant-based vegan option. Yeah, it's 100% compatible with vegetarian and vegan diets. I personally consume meat. So that's not like, that's not what drives the decision.

It's more about like, hey, if you can make a much cleaner, fermented-based supplement, then it's just more ideal. Right, and how does this compare to caffeine? Because I've been drinking this. I feel kind of energized, honestly. Yeah, so caffeine is an interesting supplement to create energy, because it doesn't actually create energy, right?

It actually, in some ways ways blocks receptors in the brain and changes the way that we perceive how we feel. So it's less about a thing of like, hey, this actually gives me say like the energy we discussed earlier, like I eat carbohydrates, I eat fat, and then I, you know, convert that into ATP and then allows me like move my body energy. And so maybe like if you haven't eaten for a while, like you might, you know, like you might have a hard time like focusing or concentrating when you take caffeine what it does is it blocks these certain receptors and it gives you this perception of focus attention etc the way that amino acids work is that amino acids are themselves neurotransmitters or the precursors to our

neurotransmitters so the way that our we actually experience like emotions and feelings and all these things in our brain are amino acids mmm or the precursors to our neurotransmitters. So the way that we actually experience emotions and feelings and all these things in our brain are amino acids or the metabolites of these amino acids. So the degree to which you support your body in having a sufficient amount of them is directly related to how it will impact mood, fatigue, alertness, et cetera. But on top of that as well,

the amino acids actually work in a specific way to facilitate the production of energy at the level of the mitochondria. So without getting too nerdy, like the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell where you actually do this. I remember that from high school. You do this conversion of ATP. So things like leucine, one of the key amino acids,

actually is the essential amino acids, plays this very important role in the facilitating of that production So it's it's more like giving yourself the raw ingredients you need to actually produce energy and to experience, you know improved mood and emotional regulation Versus say like blocking a receptor right and I'm not trying to like, you know talk trash about caffeine Like I mean, I take I take caffeine, I drink coffee every day. But the aminos really can support that type of,

it's a different form of energy. No, this feels way more manageable. Like some episodes, if I'm filming early, I'll drink some coffee. I get kind of jittery, honestly, and I have to chill. Sometimes the caffeine's a little too intense. I have to watch my total caffeine intake every day. I had one in Miami the other day, holy crap.

Drank like a fourth of it, and I was like flying off the wall. Yeah. And then the whole idea of trying to be more alert, be more into whatever you're doing, it's like the opposite. For real. It's like I'm tripping out. Bring yourself back. What else are you taking?

Creatine, I know that's a big one. Yeah, creatine's legit. So mean, so creatine actually is also technically an amino acid, but it's something very different. Creatine is, well, so we have a few different energy ways that we produce energy in the body. And you've probably heard of aerobic, anaerobic. You used to be a runner, right? Yeah.

Yeah, so there's aerobic, there's anaerobic, but there's this other one called the phosphocreatine energy system. And it's actually a this other one called the phosphocreatine energy system. And it's actually a way in which we store phosphocreatine inside of the muscle. And when we need very quick bursts of energy, like aerobic is with oxygen, anaerobic is without oxygen, this phosphocreatine is when we need bursts of energy.

You're doing bench press, and you can typically do maybe eight reps. And you want to get to that ninth tenth rep the phosphocreatine energy system will help you push through and do that. Wow. Yeah so when you take creatine you're basically supplementing what you would be getting if you ate enough meat and fish. Creatine really only comes in meat and fish in our regular diet so if you're vegetarian or vegan I highly recommend supplementing with creatine. Basically when you take it on a regular basis it saturates into your cells of your muscle

and provides this more immediate energy source for all different types of physical tasks. What's interesting though is that there's more and more research that also shows that it improves cognition and can improve sleep. Really? Yeah, the exact mechanisms of action, it's a little more unclear exactly why it does that, but it generally kind of makes sense. If you think that it's providing this kind of more immediate source of performance at

the level of the muscle or the cell itself, it makes sense to go like, oh, I can kind of get how it might improve cognition or improve sleep performance. Wow. I got to start taking creatine, then. Yeah. In creatine, really, the deal is you just got to take it every day. You might get all different types of advice about when to take it, take it before or after exercise, just take it every day.

And I don't want to say the exact same thing for essential amino acids. You get the benefits from getting into a habit of taking it every single day and just finding the time of day that you actually do that versus trying to time some perfect thing. For you, if you do intermittent fasting, I would do it during that intermittent fasting period.

That's an ideal period to make sure that you're stimulating one more bout of protein synthesis. If you mix it with your creatine, you're also getting your creatine in, and it's like, you're just getting it done. Yeah, so on the health test I took, it also told me my resting metabolic rate, and it was, I don't know what yours is,

but mine seemed really high. What was it? Dude, it was 2,000. 2,000 calories? Yeah. No, that kind of makes it, I don't know what yours is but mine seemed really high. What was it dude? It was 2,000 calories. Yeah, that kind of makes I mean cuz you're you're I mean, you're a lean dude, but you're pretty tall Yeah, so they say if I work out I've it's actually 2800 like Depends on how much you exercise. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty nuts. You got to eat like 3,000 just to maintain Yeah, and I've always had trouble putting on weight Always like I've been a twig my whole life, dude. Yeah, and I mean it's all sense. Yeah, I mean it makes sense, too It's like if you're a taller dude as well. It's like you gotta you gotta eat more. Yeah

Yeah, and I think the key I think the other key thing I'd say also is just like Putting on weight, but like you just said right like you've been a twig, but now your body fat percentage is higher It's starting to catch a little bit. yeah. So the key to that is maybe initially it's not even necessarily changing your daily calorie intake. It's just focusing on eating that much more protein. If you change, I'm not doing it yet. You get a higher percentage of protein and you start supplementing with the essential amino acids. You will likely start to see a body composition change without even potentially having to like. Lose weight, maybe like maybe the weight on the scale stays the exact same,

but what happens is it starts to be less fat while you're building more muscle. It's good to know. Yeah, I'll take this every day for a month and eat more protein. I eat a lot of carbs right now, which could affect it too, right? Yeah, I mean, carbs are like,

do you still do a lot of cardio? Or do you- Once a week. Once a week? Yeah. Yeah. So why do you eat a lot of carbs? You just you- Once a week. Once a week? Yeah. So why do you eat a lot of carbs? Do you just like them? I like sandwiches, rice and pasta. I love Indian food, dude.

That's like my demise. Oh my gosh. The rice is so heavy though. Yeah, it is. And I think about how creamy it is. You eat like- And the naan, the naan or whatever. Yeah, like butter naan.

Holy crap. Yeah. It's pretty good. Yeah, I mean, but I always say is, like, man, carbs are good. Like, carbs get, like, people talk way too much trash about them. They're actually good. I mean, I think, but focusing on the protein first

is really key. Yeah. Like, trying to get into gram of protein per pound of body weight. Yeah, so I'll need 180 a day, which I'm definitely nowhere close to that. I bet you're nowhere near. Like, that's one thing I'd say is, like, track for one week.

Like, get, like, MyF my fitness pal or carbon diet coach like get one of those Track what you eat for a week and actually see much protein. I bet you're like consuming half that dude I'm probably a third that so like that is Like that one change man that one change I can't even tell you how much it's gonna impact so so many different parts of your body from like your immunity to your overall Obviously your body composition will likely change but like mood everything but you can still eat It's not like you have to like not eat. Yeah, I think to get there

I'd probably need a protein powder because 180 grams just how food would be pretty difficult, right? Especially if you're intermittent fasting every single day. Yeah, the other thing I'd say though too, it's like, why would never recommend taking like an essential amino acid supplement to hit your bare minimum protein goals? If you're trying to hit those more elevated levels, you can, and it's actually much more efficient. Like the way that I described earlier, if the essential amino acids has three times the impact

as a whey protein on the peak concentration in your blood, right, then you could consume considerably less of the essential amino acids and get way more impact from just taking the whey protein powder or from eating the meat. Again, like I wouldn't wanna go below like 0.4, 0.5 grams. So like make sure you're getting like 90 grams of protein per day.

But like you could supplement with a few scoops of essential aminos per day and you would actually be getting the equivalent amount of that EAA concentration in the blood that's going to promote the protein synthesis and why I'm basically telling you to eat more protein. Got to buy that Whey Isolate when I get home. Is there a brand you like, or do you have your own? Yeah, I'm going to have my own.

So I mean, I would go for Keyon. Yeah, I would do the Whey Isolate. Or again, just like the Keyon aminos, or if you can find something that has the same type of formula like that's the way to go I'm about to be an animal. It's more efficient, bro. Yeah between this and the way. Yeah, I'll be a different man I told you on the call. I'm trying to be dunking on kids. Yeah, you know, so how many do you play a lot of ball? Yeah, yeah, yeah once or twice a week. Cool. Yeah, I Used to play I haven't been playing that much lately

I coached my son's basketball and like I'm trying to find a way to get back in but actually a key on like we have one X-division one player and a few other guys that have played in high school So like we're actually gonna start playing again next Tuesday every week. We're gonna do it. Yeah, baby. Yeah Yeah, I can't wait to coach my kids one day. Yeah, I'm gonna be tough on my kid, dude It's pretty fun. My biggest fear is an unathletic kid Really? Yeah, that's what you're going to get. You're going to get this super sweet artist who's going to be like, he or she will teach you about life, though,

man. It's good. It's cool, though. I mean, what I've found with my kids, it's like I want them to be in all kinds. I want them to be athletic. I want them to be into arts and music. And I just want them to be open to the world.

When they're younger, man, sports is really cool. It's just like being in your body and performing harder and pushing yourself. It's so much more, I feel like, tactile and real than trying to be pushed in school. Like, you don't even understand, like, why am I studying really hard for this? What's the point of it?

Whereas if you can actually run faster or break someone's ankles on the court and then have some awesome finish. Dude, your confidence is massive. There's nothing like it. You're stunned. Getting this awesome score on the math test, man, it's not as cool when you're that age. Yeah, yeah.

It's not a flex if you're getting A's. Do you give similar advice to women? Yeah, it's the same advice to women. I think it often gets brought up that it's like So many of sports nutrition studies actually end up being on young men. Mm-hmm, but essential amino acids I'm talking like hundreds of studies have been across all different demographics young Middle-aged old men women, etc So it's like it's it's very results. And the protein amino acid needs are, they're the same. Basically.

Yeah, I mean, I think the only case in which it's a little different is actually for like women that are not on like a monthly cycle, but actually like perimenopausal women, because the hormone changes are so significant during that period and their sleep gets really messed up and sleep can impact protein synthesis. Maybe it's even higher, like higher amounts

of essential amino acids that they need in their diet. But yeah, it's just as relevant for women. Again, I would base it off weight. So like, if you're a 120 pound woman, you don't need to be getting 180 grams of protein. You wanna be trying to get 180 grams of protein, you wanna be getting 120 grams of protein. Or minimum of like half that 60,

and then Supplementing with essential amino acids and and maybe some you know protein powder. Yeah, so what body fat percentage are you recommending to males? Well, I think it's all kind of like for athletes for athletes I mean, I think it's kind of defined on like what I think the below 10% like you're you're definitely in a place where I Don't know how good it is for you long term But if you're naturally there and that's where you're at, like that's great. I think anywhere from like 10 to 20%, depending on how athletic you are,

what your level of visceral fat is, because it's not just your body fat percentage, but like how much fat do you- My visceral was actually low. Was low? Yeah, so it's actually like, that's okay, man. And I think, I mean, I think 18% is not something where there's like a lot of concerns that you're gonna be developing disease unnecessarily.

But if you don't like the way it looks, if you're like, this looks wack. Well, my VO2 max was terrible. Well, so that's the other thing I was gonna say too. It's like your VO2 max is partially dependent on your weight as well, but also just the performance of your ability to get oxygen throughout your body. And so if you could be at an 18% body fat,

you have muscle in your body, and you're pretty good at cardio, and your VO2 max is good, like, you're fine. And your visceral fat is low. But if you have like, your 18%, your VO2 max sucks, you've got a ton of visceral fat surrounding your organs. You feel like bad every day. I'd be like, well, I mean.

That is a problem. Yeah, it's probably a problem. You gotta take everything you do. Yeah, so I think you gotta kind of see how all these things compare. Yeah, some people have, they call it skinny fat, where they look skinny, but their visceral fat's terrible. Yeah, yeah.

So you gotta be careful with that. And just be clear, those numbers I was just giving, we were talking about for men. For women, it's like higher points higher basically Yeah, woman got more fat than men average right? Yeah, is it really 10 on average 10% higher? Um, it's about yeah I'm it's about it's like wow like, you know an average. Yeah, okay. Yeah I mean like you think about a 10% body fat guy. It's like a high teens body fat percentage woman Yeah, like women going down 10% by fat, dude, that's pretty,

that's not healthy. I wonder why they have way more fat. That's interesting, right? Yeah, I mean, I don't know all the evolutionary science behind it, but generally, I mean, just think about dudes are like, they're more straight, and women are more curvy, right? They have extra fat in their breasts, extra fat in their butt

and their hips. And why is that? Well, they give birth to babies and they nurse them. Makes sense. Anything else, man? Any upcoming products or things you're working on? No, man, really the focus has just been on making bad ass products that actually have

the most amount of science behind them. I'm coming from a place where it's like, in my life, there's always some new study. And always some kind of new like, oh, check this thing out. Like, this one study on this one thing. I'm interested in what actually works. You know, like, if I want to make money, what have the smartest people done over the longest period of time?

What is the consolidation of all of these really smart people over time? What did they do? You know? And it's not that fancy, dude. It's like, buy low, sell high. I mean, like for real, it's like, don't create too much overhead.

It's like, there's kind of very clear, simple economic truths that are out there. And I think similarly for fitness and health, it's like, what has actually been studied? And so things like creatine, International Society of Sports Nutrition, there are over 100 studies that are quoted in the position paper.

Essential amino acids, over 137 studies. Whey protein, I saw that hundreds of studies. So it's just like, don't waste time on whatever the new hot thing is, what actually is going to work and really provide benefit. So I feel like we're making the best products that are actually based science you know and trying to go out and share the message about like What actually works and help people understand it and just you know, hopefully people yeah listen and you know, where can people buy it man? You can get it at get key on comm You on Amazon to run Amazon to yep. Yep. So it's like slightly better priced on on key on but either one

It's not makes it too easy, dude. I know, Amazon makes it, yeah. I'd rather pay a dollar more and order it on Amazon. Yeah, and same day delivery, it's pretty rad. Yeah, it's nuts. Dude, thanks for coming on. We'll link it below. And thanks for watching, guys. See you next time.

See you next time.