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  • You know what I hate? working out. It’s the worst. If only I could reward myself with

  • like a cheeseburger afterwards. Sound counter productive? New research suggests maybe not

  • Hey hungry hippos, Julia here for DNews

  • A recent study from the University of Montana found that there was no difference in energy

  • gained from eating fast food or from taking sports supplements.

  • In the study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism

  • - 11 male cyclists cycled for 90 minutes, depleting their bodies of glycogen. Right

  • after the ride and then two hours later, the participants either ate fast food or took

  • sports supplements. Then fours after the first bit of exercise, they did a 12.4-mile time

  • trial.

  • The researchers found no difference in blood glucose and insulin response between fast

  • food and supplements, but even more intriguing, there wasn’t a difference in the athlete’s

  • performance in the time trial.

  • This story sounds great! I mean I could go run a mile then eat a greasy cheeseburger

  • with some french fries and be HEALTHY. RIGHT!?

  • well hold on, let’s take a closer look at this.

  • First of all, it was an incredibly small study, with only 11 male cyclists as participants.

  • Any study with small sample size warrants caution. But what about their results?

  • This is really a story about glycogen. Which is a type of carbohydrate found in a few different

  • cell types, like Liver cells, but in this case, it’s important that it makes up about

  • 1 to 2% of your muscle mass. Your body uses glycogen easily during exercise. In fact it’s

  • the first source muscles use to contract, especially during high intensity exercise.

  • Some intense athletes like marathon runners can deplete their body’s store of glycogen

  • during a workout. Theyhit the walland experience extreme fatigue that makes

  • it hard to even move. Thus a lot of athletes carbo-load before a big race or game. But

  • restoring glycogen afterwards is super important too. By eating lots of carbs afterwards, the

  • body’s glycogen stores are replenished and can build bigger muscles with more glycogen

  • storage capabilities for future exercise.

  • So this is basically what the study focused on. It could mean that any high glycemic foods

  • would restore your glycogen levels. Pasta, pizza, bread, rice, pasta, did I say pasta?

  • I love pasta.

  • Or another way of looking at this study is that sports nutrition supplements work JUST

  • AS WELL AS FAST FOOD.

  • Which doesn’t bode well for expensive nutritional supplements. Would you pay 60 bucks for a

  • bottle of supplements over a 5 dollar meal down the street? Well, you wouldn’t be the

  • only one. Over 150 million Americans take some form of supplement. But nutritional supplements

  • have their own host of problems. The New York State attorney general's office recently tested

  • dietary supplements and found that many don’t contain what they're supposed to. But what’s

  • actually in them is another story. One study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found

  • that many supplements for weight loss and body building were recalled for containing

  • banned substances that could cause serious health problems or death.

  • And I mean really, let’s not say fast food is good for athletes. Fast food is still considered

  • a leading cause of obesity. Most fast food meals are high in fats and sugar. While these

  • are good for the body in small doses, too much of a good thing, is bad. Very bad. Too

  • much fast food increases your risk of heart disease and stroke.

  • And the authors of the fast food study say all the hype is just that, hype. Moderation

  • is key. Don’t go binge on a burger and fries after every workout. Sad day.

  • Would you give up your body building pills for a cheese burger? Let’s be real. We all

  • would. Let us know down in the comments below..

You know what I hate? working out. It’s the worst. If only I could reward myself with

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