A fresh look from a different perspective can open a lot of eyes and provide an education on something you might not know. It's also motivating to get tips and tricks from those we look up to, who inspire us. This is a reason I decided to start guest posts. I have gained many friends through sports and racing, many of which are serious competitors and have great things to share, so we can all learn from them and improve.

I met Chris Champagne almost a year ago at the Owl's Head Spartan Super/Beast/Ultra Beast. He has completed many ultra beasts (each around 50km) as well as OCR World Championships (as mentioned below!).

Being a vegetarian, I don't have much knowledge surrounding animal-based protein, however I am always open to hear other opinions, and know that many readers eat meat and can relate. Chris goes into detail about supplementation VS. diet and if shelling out cash on expensive products is really necessary. This is a great topic because eating a diet without chemicals and byproducts can do a world of good to the body, and many vitamins and nutrients that our bodies need can easily be attained through eating whole, real foods. You should always be aware of what you're ingesting and Chris provides an awesome description on this topic.

Supplements VS Real Food

Which is more optimal for your body? I tend to see a lot of people out there posting their “POST WORKOUT SHAKE” because they don’t want to miss out on that magical 30min life or death window… I also see people taking BCAAs to stimulate muscle growth and improve recovery after workouts/long runs . Folks are shelling out big $$ every year on these supplements but are they really as good as marketed compared to a well-balanced diet?

NOPE.

First off, supplements are not regulated by the FDA and when reviewed by independent studies have REGULARLY been shown to not have the ingredients listed on their labels. But I digress… Let’s look at two products… Optimum Nutrition (ON) Gold Standard 100% Whey & ON Gold Standard BCAA… VS… 6oz of steak.

At first glance.. ON recommends taking their BCAA product 2-3 times a day (pre/during and/or post training). Based on their nutrition label you get 5g of their BCAA blend per scoop (roughly 10-15g per day if you’re doing 2-3 scoops).

ON also recommends taking “1 rounded scoop” of their protein powder post workout… which, based on their label, equates to 24g of protein.

Both of these products include ingredients such as… “Natural and Artificial Flavors” (red flag #1... when a generic “ingredient” is listed instead of the individual compounds that are ACTUALLY in it), Sucralose (studies have linked this artificial sweetener to cancer, diabetes, gut issues, etc… red flag #2), “Blue 2” (what?).

Now… let’s look at a 6oz flank steak. Ingredients… steak. One 6oz serving of steak provides 36g of (complete) protein with roughly 6.2g of BCAAs.

Doing a little math here and using myself as an example… If I’m consuming my MINIMUM daily recommended protein, 88.5g, with steak alone (most studies show .5-.8g of protein per lb of body weight is ideal) … I am getting slightly more than 15g of BCAAs from about 14.75oz of steak WITHOUT all the processed powders with harmful chemicals (where does one find the “Red 40” & “Yellow #5” tree by the way?).

Studies have shown that supplementing with BCAAs when you are getting adequate protein intake from complete sources is a WASTE OF MONEY because there are ZERO additional benefits. So combining this knowledge with knowing that your body will not cannibalize muscle until AFTER a 72hr fast… Why are we wasting our time and money with supplements that do not provide our bodies anything, really, besides harmful chemicals?

Chris Champagne

Avid nutrition/fitness nut, Pokémon master, and outspoken New England sports fan. He started racing in 2013 at the Boston Spartan Sprint in Amesbury, MA. Ever since has completed 5 collective Spartan Race trifectas, x3 Ultra Beast finisher, & two time 5 lap block earner from F.I.T. Challenge. He is also a passionate food connoisseur and self appointed master chef.

To visit his instagram click HERE!

Side note: as I am primarily plant based, and assume some readers may be as well, click here for a post about substituting animal meat for plant based awesomeness while still getting your protein.