Oral Contraceptives and Muscle Wasting

I was all for putting my teenage daughter on a contraceptive until I found out that it causes muscle wasting. Many young ladies use oral contraceptives, yet its effect on their body composition and exercise performance has not been thoroughly studied. Research has shown that contraceptive use can make your girl weak and also affect her hormone levels so that she is less healthy.
The study I am talking about is called 'Oral Contraceptive Use Impairs Muscle Gains in Young Women. It was conducted by Chang-Woock Lee and Steven E. Riechman, Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; and Mark A. Newman, Human Energy Research Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
In this study examined generally healthy women between the ages of 18-31. The girls were assigned to two groups and both completed a 10-week program of whole-body resistance exercise training . Group One consisted of 34 women who used oral contraceptives (OC). Group Two consisted of 39 women who did not take birth control pills (non-OC). The women were encouraged to consume at least 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day (a third more than is called for by the U.S. government nutritional guidelines) to make sure they consumed enough calories and protein to encourage muscle growth.
The participants exercised three times per week for ten weeks under the supervision of exercise physiologists. They exercise to included chest presses, lateral pull downs, leg extensions, triceps extensions, arm curls and sit ups. Body composition was determined using hydrostatic weighing and blood samples were taken.
The researchers found that there were significant differences in lean mass gains, Those OC users had reduced DHEA hormone at the end of the training period. By contrast, the other participants' levels did not change. This could lead to muscle wasting.

In the study the researchers say they were surpised at the magnitude of differences in muscle gains between the two groups. The ones that were not on birth control had a whopping sixty percent more muscle than those who were on the oral contraceptives. That is not a small effect on the human body and something to really be noted if you or a daughter are on this type of birth control.

A lack of muscle mass can cause problems with weight in the future so I am going to encourage my daughters not to stay on oral contraceptives if they can help it and seek an alternative means of birth control. This is because lean muscle burns a lot more fat that just plain tissue. Without lean muscle the body does not burn fat efficiently and you end up being obese!

Staying a Young and Fit Mom

People who have bad nutrition often look much older than they really are. This is because over time they literally become constructed out of things that are not that good for them

I don't know about you but I don't like it when my kids point out things like the wrinkles around my eyes. My son started calling me Big Butt the other day. I did not appreciate it. However he was right.

So how can you avoid having your kids seeing you as too old or making those cute little cracks about your age or weight?

Health experts recommend a diet that emphasizes whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other tips:

· Drink eight to ten cups of fluid every day, and make at least five of those cups of fluid water. Water is needed by each and every one of your cells, including those in your skin to renew themselves. If you live in an area where the water is possibly polluted drink bottled water or distilled water.

· Limit your daily intake caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, which can wreak havoc with the nervous system and cause insulin spikes in blood sugar. This can also help create a big fat belly.

· Stay away from carbonated beverages, which are thought to be hard on the pancreas and increase insulin production. Studies have shown that people have lost as much as fifteen pounds in one month simply by cutting out colas from their diet!

· Reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet and replace it with healthy monounsaturated fats such as that in olive, canola, sunflower, safflower and soybean oils.

· When snacking, choose fruits, vegetables or whole-grain products and avoid sugary or refined products.

· Choose foods that have good calories and that give you the most nutritional intake for the effort it takes to ingest them. For instance a slice of whole grain bread is more nutrient dense than a slice of white bread even though both are approximately 90 calories.

· Eat several small meals a day to keep your blood sugars level. Many doctors recommend doing this to prevent bloating and weight gaian.

· Choose brightly colored fruits and vegetables as they contain antioxidants that assist in the fight against aging. They have more vitamins and minerals.

  • Avoid processed foods, artificial coloring, deep fried foods and monosodium glutamates (MSG) which are thought to accelerate the aging process, especially with regards to the skin include sugar, chocolate, preserved meat, chips, French fries and other kinds of junk food.

This is not just advice for you. It isa lifestyle and way of eating that is also good for your kids if you want them to grow up lean, healthy and happy.

Of course my main motive is to have my kids get to know me for as many years as possible.