Have you heard about the wonderful benefits of creatine? Found in the body naturally, creatine has long been associated with enhanced exercise performance and is often referred to as a muscle building amino acid. Though popular among serious athletes and bodybuilders, the truth is, most of us can benefit from supplementing creatine into our daily routine.
In order to appreciate creatine’s benefits, let’s take a quick look at how it works. According to Healthline.com, creatine “helps your muscles produce energy during heavy lifting or high-intensity exercise.” It is mostly stored in muscle cells as phosphocreatine (with five percent stored in the brain). When we supplement natural creatine reserves, we increase phosphocreatine levels, which in turn produces more energy in the form of a molecule known as Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). So boosting creatine stores in your body produces more ATP, which results in more energy. You don’t need to be a bodybuilder to appreciate that benefit!
Creatine can be found naturally in red meat and seafood. Otherwise, taking 2.5 to 5 grams of creatine daily can:
- Improve brain health: By increasing phosphocreatine stores in your brain, some research suggests you can help prevent neurological diseases.
- Lead to improved gut health and repair: Creatine helps create ATP at the cellular level; ATP is needed to assure the intestinal lining doesn’t become compromised and cause intestinal inflammation or “leaky gut.”
- Increase muscle mass: This process starts with an increase in water content in your muscles, but then by boosting your overall energy level, muscle growth happens with enhanced performance and reps.
According to this article by Medical News Today, creatine deficiency has been linked to a whole host of health issues, including depression, diabetes, congestive heart failure (CHF), Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), among several other conditions.
Creatine & Nutrition
Here at Fuel 4 Ever, we’ve become so enamored with creatine’s benefits that we couldn’t help but include what we think is the best form — creatine monohydrate — in our new FAST supplement, along with a special mix of amino acids, electrolytes and minerals. FAST was created to help fill in nutritional gaps during a fast or fasted workout, but can also be taken as a regular dietary supplement.
You might be wondering, does creatine break a fast? For religious reasons and devout fasters who are fasting down to the enzymatic level, then yes, creatine will break your fast. But for those of us who fast for longevity or weight management, creatine will not break a fast because it doesn’t have calories or promote an insulin response.
For those who follow a low carb or ketogenic diet, creatine can be taken with transporters in the form of electrolytes like sodium, chloride, magnesium and calcium, so an insulin or carb response isn’t necessary for absorption.
At Fuel 4 Ever, the question we ask ourselves is always the same: What can we do to feel better and live longer? Supplementing with creatine is one way we believe you can improve your well being and reap some amazing benefits.