Whey protein as secretagogue; other secretagogues

I usually have some whey protein every morning and sometimes I take a teaspoon of glutamine before exercising, but I do not taking any other supplements to stimulate growth hormone (GH).   Glutamine is the most prevalent amino acid in the blood and has been found to stimulate the release of GH; also the amount of glutamine in the blood decreases during intense exercise.  I eat glutamine as a powder and it tastes sweet.

Here’s a website with an explanation of secretagogues and it even has “recipes” to make your own secretagogues: http://www.csmngt.com/secretagogue_stack.htm.    (Although it is interesting, I suggest that take you read this and other web pages with skepticism.)

Here are reasons why I won’t take some secretogogues/supplements which are advertised/purported to stimulate the release of GH:

1. fear of side effects or long-term undesirable effects
2. fear of stigma related to “doping” or extremism
3. inability to know with certainty if products are worth it
4. financial cost

Yesterday I did not exercise.  My first “meal” was 1.5 scoops of whey mixed together with .5 scoop of water and waited 2 hours before eating anything else; when I eat whey by itself as a secretagogue or as a means to replenish my muscles quickly I prefer to eat it as a paste with a spoon instead of drinking it.  Sometimes I chase it with seltzer water (having read that seltzer water speeds the digestive absorption).  I don’t mind the taste at all; in fact I look forward to eating unflavored whey by itself. 

I have 2 kinds of unflavored whey from a company called “All the Whey”.  I went for the unflavored whey to avoid sugar, fake sugar, and other unknown ingredients.  One kind of whey is called “concentrate” and is the cheapest; the other kind of whey that I have is called “isolate” and has more branched chain amino acids and has less carbs (though both “concentrate” and “isolate” are low in carbs).

Often I don’t notice any effect from eating whey, but a few times I have noticed a heightened alertness which I assume is related to a GH release.  Yesterday I took the “isolate” whey and I noticed more alertness.

Many people think that whey protein is excellent for quickly replenishing muscles after a workout; I am not aware of anyone that recommends whey protein as better than other kinds of protein for stimulating GH, but it is certainly convenient after an exercise session.  The cost is reasonable; the whey that I have ranges from $0.40/scoop to $0.60/scoop.

Some people are skeptical of whey since it is highly processed and because it is advertised with hype.  The advertising spiels are complicated which try to explain the different kinds of whey and the different processes in which whey is made.

Some people also think that it is not necessary to consume protein immediately after exercise to help the muscles re-build as quickly as possible.  And it has been suggested that eating protein (even by itself) causes a release of insulin which could have a dampening effect on the GH release.  I have experimented both ways–eating protein immediately after exercise and waiting 2 hours before eating; although I don’t know for sure what is best, I am currently eating protein immediately after exercise because I have been convinced that the catabolic state that occurs after anaerobic exercise may be lessened from eating protein ASAP.

I have also experimented with eating egg whites as a secretagogue and as protein right after exercise.  I think egg whites also stimulate the release of GH as indicated by increased awareness.  I would probably eat more egg whites if they didn’t require more preparation and cleaning than whey.  Since I try to avoid frying foods, I tried these 4 ways of cooking egg whites:

1. Baked in the oven at low temperature using corningware for about 30 minutes
2. Steamed in our Oster Food Steamer in corningware
3. Microwaved on a low power setting
4. Hard boiled eggs but just eating the egg whites

I expect to do another post on eggs within about a week a couple of weeks which will discuss eating raw eggs, “Omega 3″ eggs, and cholesterol.

Tags: concentrate, diet, eggs, glutamine, isolate, secretagogue, whey