CARDIO ON EMPTY STOMACH
Cardio on empty stomach or not is a question that plagues a lot exercisers and is a question which can be answered right now. We present the theory of Bill Philips:
Bill Philips published his book – fitness best seller “Body for life” where he describes “the miraculous powers” of cardio on empty stomach.He describes his theory without it being scientifically proven and justified.
His theory says that if you have low levels of blood sugar and insulin like in the morning when you wake after sleep, you will directly switch to a regime to use energy from the fat store, not from the glycogen (the energy stored in the muscles).
After this questionable reading everyone start to use his advices blindly believing in the idea of more effective way to burn fat by cardio on empty stomach. Unfortunately, studies have different opinion.
Cardio on empty stomach in the morning helps in some ways to burn fats but in cases where the intensity is lower. But this will prevent you to reach enough high pulse to start the process of fast fat burn. The fats that are released from the landfills circulate in the blood but they do not reach the hungry muscles and they turn into dangerous triglycerides .
“The effects of exercise on the storage and oxidation of dietary fats” According to many researches is found that when certain amount of proper food is consumed and the load is moderate or high intensity then the fat burn is much more effective.
Furthermore people who do cardio on empty stomach before breakfast their metabolism slows down or the so called index of oxygen consumed after workout drops. Contrary – this index increases with those who have breakfast (scientifically tested by Lii S,. Ha M. C. and Lii D. – “The effects of oxygen consumption in change in the intensity and duration of exercise with and without food”
A group of scientist has also found that when you do cardio on empty stomach it triggers the process of catabolism of muscle tissue, or burned tissue protein for energy is higher than when aerobic exercise is performed on full stomach.
“Effects of muscle glycogen on glucose, lactate and amino acid metabolism during exercise and recovery in humans”. During cardio on empty stomach, the percentage burned muscle mass is about 10-20% of the calories consumption that has come from the breakdown of your muscles. While in full stomach it is only 5% (research by Leman P. U. and Malin D. P. – “Effects of initial muscle glycogen levels on protein catabolism of tissue during exercise”).
However if you cannot get rid of your habit to do your cardio on empty stomach or your time does not allow you to organize your trainings in other time during the day, you can have ½ grapefruit which has a proven thermogenic effect and will maintain your blood sugar leveled. You can also add amino acids and protein. With these two components you get a full quality “meal”.
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