Health Trend

Niacin flushing, consciously taking in an overdose of niacin in order to improve circulation, is becoming more and more popular in the weight loss world. Niacin flushing was initially used solely for improving cholesterol and to prevent depression, but recent scientific research has shown that niacin flushing can also help you lose some pounds. This article will explain how this is possible, how you can achieve this yourself too and how to avoid side effects associated with niacin flushing.

Niacin Flushing for Dummies

When you taker in the overdose of vitamin b3 (niacin), your arteries will instantly become a little wider. This process not only gives your body a chance to naturally detox itself, it also indirectly enables you to lose some weight. The body will transform some fat into energy that can be sued when exercising at the gym or running on a tread mill. Therefore, niacin flushing should not be viewed as a magic pill for weight loss; this is simply not possible. However, it can give an extra burst of energy needed to exercise.

Niacin Consumption: Two Options

You can choose out of two paths when achieving a niacin flush. First of all you can eat lots of niacin dense foods. Another option is to take in a niacin supplement. Personally, I stick to eating niacin dense foods because they are healthier and the niacin supplements are often way too concentrated. The following foods are very high in niacin:

1. Sun dried tomatoes | 10.4 mg vitamin b3 per 75 grams serving.
2. Organic chicken| 8.2 mg vitamin b3 per 4 ounces serving.
3. Peanut butter | 4.6 mg niacin per 2 ounce serving.
4. Organic turkey | 5.2 mg vitamin b3 per 3 ounces serving.
5. Raw Crimini mushrooms | 4.9 mg niacin per 6 OZ.
6. Lentils | 5.1 mg vitamin b3 per cup.

Avoiding Side Effects

Although overdosing vitamin b3 has some great benefits like improving cholesterol, losing weight and preventing a niacin depression, it can also cause some intense side effects. This includes but is not limited to a red skin, diarrhea and headaches.

The best things you could do is monitor niacin consumption. Around 60 mg is more than enough for causing the niacin benefits described earlier. When you consume more, you run the risk of overdosing too much, subsequently leading to side effects. Another remedy I personally can recommend is taking in an aspiring 20 minutes prior to a niacin rich meal.

These days, many people believe that the more vitamins, minerals and other supplements you take, the healthier you’ll be. Ironically, most people couldn’t be more wrong.

That’s not to say supplements aren’t potentially healthy, or that supplementation is a bad idea, but it’s important to understand the role supplements play in comparison with whole foods and how much of the hype surrounding supplements is legitimate, and how much is simply marketing propaganda.

Supplement Myth #1 – More is Better

Mass intake of supplements is rarely noticeably beneficial to your health, and can even cause health problems. For example, a person whose diet consists of a good amount of fruits and vegetables may get 100 to 200 mg of vitamin C daily, which is more than enough to maintain good health. However, common vitamin C supplements boost as much as 1000 mg of vitamin C, which is far more than is necessary. When it comes to supplements, the phrase “too much of a good thing” definitely applies. And while your body can adapt to take in higher levels of certain nutrients, it’s usually not going to do you much good.

Supplement Myth #2 – Supplements Work the Same as Food

Take fiber for example. Fiber in food must be broken down by the digestive system and separated from the nutrients attached to it. This leads to slower digestion of simple sugars and therefore lowers the glycemic index of the food and your body’s insulin response. Fiber supplements, however, are not attached to the food molecules and therefore don’t have the same effect on slowing the absorption of glucose. There are many other similar examples where supplements are unable to provide the same results as their whole food counterparts.

Supplement Myth #3 – All Supplements are Created Equal

Just like with food, the quality and the source of supplements matter. With fish oils, for example, it’s important to get products that aren’t overly contaminated with toxins or mercury. Another example would be protein powders, where even if the core protein is the same, some powders have loads of processed crap mixed in to prevent spoiling and insure the supplement tastes good. Higher quality products are likely to have higher quality ingredients, which is especially important for products like protein powder, which have a lot more than just protein in them.

Overall, supplements are great for compensating for nutrient deficiencies and can even be effective in improving overall health. However, it’s important to understand their shortcomings and adjust your supplementation routine accordingly.

The best way to body sculpt has been under argument for decades. Even before body sculpting was a common term in gyms and home gyms around the nation, the best protein supplement to use for it was under scrutiny and no one could agree as to what exactly the best supplement and exercise methods were.

That hasn’t changed much as of today, but the options for what you can do to work out both at home and at the gym, as well as what kind of workout supplements you can use to aid your progress, have increased dramatically. In fact, you could even say the argument has not only been solved, it’s been made more complicated by all the additional options each side can throw around.

There are more protein supplements available on the market today than ever before, and many of them claim to be the best. But in deciding what the actual best protein supplement is for your uses, you need to consider what your exact goals are and what you expect from the supplement.

If your goal for body sculpting is primarily to build muscle as quickly as you can, and you aren’t worried about gaining additional fat because your metabolism is quite fast, you should probably opt for whey protein isolate. This fast-absorbing powder will likely be the best protein supplement for your body sculpting needs because it enters your bloodstream and tissues more quickly than any other type.

Whey protein also comes in more than just powders and shakes. You can also get protein bars with the good stuff in them, allowing you to pack them just about anywhere without worrying about spills or unnecessary weight from liquids as you hike, climb, or bike up steep mountainsides. That way you never have to worry about being gone and lost without your protein.