The Anabolic Diet was my first low-carb phase shift diet and was geared toward bodybuilders. It was a fast how-to book without a lot of theory but full of practical information. The Metabolic Diet, which I wrote more than five years later is geared toward the general fitness and toning population. Those that just wanted to lose weight and body fat and look buff. Unlike the soft cover Anabolic Diet which was just over 100 pages, the Metabolic Diet is a hard cover book and has over 500 pages, including dozens of 2-week sample diets and various charts other information.

My new Anabolic Solution series is made up of four books, two of which are now available and two that I'm still working on. The AS series combines a focused look at using the Metabolic Diet and nutritional supplements in various phases of training and competition for most sports.

The Anabolic Solution for Recreational and Competitive Bodybuilders is kind of a revised and updated Anabolic Diet. It takes the original Anabolic Diet and updates it with the new information and guidelines that are in the Metabolic Diet, and adds a lot more because it ties the dieting in with phases of training (mass, strength, cutting, etc.) and with my line of nutritional supplements (which were specifically formulated for the Anabolic/Metabolic Diet) - in other words the whole Monty. That's the reason I named it the Anabolic Solution.

The Anabolic Solution for Recreational and Competitive Powerlifters does the same thing for powerlifters as the AS for BB does for bodybuilders. The other two books in the series will be for individual (including the fighting sports) and team sports that have an off and on season, and for endurance athletes.

The bottom line is that the Anabolic Solution completely replaces the Anabolic Diet. However that doesn't make the Metabolic Diet book obsolete because at 500+ pages the Metabolic Diet has a lot of extra information as well as 2 week sample diets at different calorie levels, and food charts, etc. Keep in mind that while some of this information, such as the sample diets and food charts, are presently available online on my MetabolicDiet.com site, the site (coupled with CoachSOS) will soon be set up on a membership basis (I'm enhancing both sites dramatically, offering personalized training/diet/supplement schedules and support).

Can you please explain how each product in your cellusol 1-2-3 kit works? As a doctor do you think thermogenics are safe for everyone? When do people want to stay away from thermogenics, how long can use them before burning out and lastly should you cycle them?

I get these questions a lot and for this reason I'm going to give you a more detailed answer than I usually do.

First of all nothing is completely safe for everyone, including water. In fact there were some recent reports in the literature of death by water intoxication in some military cases (Gardner JW. Death by water intoxication. Military Medicine 2002;167:432-434.).

Certain nutritional supplements, however, such as ephedra, and effective thermogenic compound that is even more effective when combined with caffeine (and perhaps with ASA) have more potential to cause adverse effects than others. For example it's difficult to imagine taking too many meal replacements.

Ephedra can cause some side effects in almost everyone if they take enough of it. A small number of people are so sensitive to it that any amount of ephedra causes them to be jittery and have some irregularities in their heart beats. Actually coffee can also do that. For these people, ephedra is contraindicated - ie. they shouldn't use it at all.

Most of us, however, again like one or two cups of coffee a day, can take 20 to 25 mg of ephedra and except for an increase in energy, have no significant side effects. And most of us would run into some side effects if we upped the dosage considerably to say 50 to 75 mg three or four times a day. And a small number wouldn't.

What I'm trying to say is that ephedra, taken in moderation is a safe effective thermogenic, weight, fat loss nutritional supplement.

As far as how long you can stay on it, if you take it three times a day for weight and fat loss it starts petering out after two or three weeks. Before I explain why Cellusol gets around this tolerance effect, let me go into the common practice of cycling supplements.

When most people say they cycle supplements they usually mean they go on them for a while then go off them. Similar to the way many athletes take ergogenic drugs such as anabolic steroids. Going on and off some supplements such as ephedra, and in fact many weight loss prescription drugs, can actually be counterproductive. That's because gains (in the case of ephedra, increased energy and weight/fat losses) made while they're on the supplements usually disappear when you go off them. As such, taking certain supplements that way becomes somewhat of a futile cycle.

The alternative is to stay on supplements such as ephedra for long periods of time in hopes of stimulating long-term weight and fat loss. Unfortunately, your body usually develops a tolerance to supplements such as ephedra and they don't do much good after a while. To counter the tolerance most people start to take higher and higher dosages, resulting in few benefits and instead an increase in side effects.

It was to counter this kind of scenario, and to stimulate long term weight and fat loss, while at the same time minimizing the loss of muscle, that I formulated Cellusol.

Cellusol is a stacked/cycled product consisting of 3 formulations. Each formulation is taken for two weeks and is meant to attack the problem of maximizing body composition from a different angle. The three formulations work in tandem to produce long term benefits without developing tolerance or side effects.

For the first two weeks you take Thermo. Thermo contains 12 ingredients (including ephedra) engineered to work synergistically to increase thermogenesis, metabolic rate and energy expenditure, as well as to increase fat breakdown and oxidation, increase growth hormone levels, and maintain lean muscle mass.

For the next two weeks it's Metabolic, which is formulated to stabilize your metabolism and hormones to help you maintain muscle mass muscle and keep the fat coming off. Metabolic optimizes the body's hormones, including thyroid, growth hormone, testosterone, insulin and cortisone in order to maximize weight and fat loss. It also reverses the adverse effects of dieting by decreasing hunger and increasing your metabolic rate.

For the final two weeks of the six week cycle you take Renew, a sophisticated, cutting edge product meant to enhance and stabilize weight and fat loss and more importantly enhance the immune system and decrease stress reactions in the body. Renew allows the body to return to an optimal metabolic and immune state so that it is ready and able to fully respond to the weight and fat loss actions of Thermo.

Each package of Cellusol contains enough product for 12 weeks or two successive cycles-each 6-week cycle will take you to a new level of weight and fat loss. By cycling each formula for a two-week period you won't allow your body to adapt to any one formula and as such your weight and fat loss won't plateau. You'll continue to lose weight and bodyfat in each of the six-week cycles.

Because one of the phases is a renewal phase, during each six-week cycle you'll be allowing your body to regain it's normal balance and become more receptive to the weight and fat loss supplements that are in the other two formulations. You'll no longer have to worry about staying on any supplement for too long and reaching a weight and fat loss plateau because your body gets used to the supplements, or go through a rebound and gain your weight back when you stop taking the weight loss aids.

While Cellusol will work it's magic alone, it works best if you follow a complete exercise and nutrition program. Regular exercise and going on the Metabolic Diet will maximize Cellusol's effects on body composition and weight and fat loss and allow you to reach your weight and fat loss goals much faster and easier.

I really like the taste of your Power Drink shake and have noticed improved workout performance since taking it during my workouts the last couple of weeks. In the product description it mentions that the PDrink helps with electrolyte replenishment, does this mean that my teenage son can use it instead of Gatorade following one of his training sessions or sports practices?

I know the research has pointed to post workout use of whey protein, but I have not read anything about taking a protein supplement during training, so why take the power drink during instead of right after training?

We all know that during training muscle is broken down. Most people believe that this breakdown is a necessary part of training. After all you have to break muscle tissue down before you can build it up. Don't you? Unfortunately, that's one of the most stubborn training myths. Muscle breakdown isn't what provides the adaptation stimulus for increasing muscle size. It's the damage done to the muscle cell structure and the subsequent adaptation to that damage that determines the muscle building response. You don't have to break down the muscle at all to get this response in full force. In fact doing so is counterproductive. The more muscle you keep from breaking down, and the more you increase protein synthesis, the better the results from your training. Taking Power Drink while you're training will put you miles ahead of everyone else who just uses water or at best a carbohydrate low protein drink while they're training and whey protein post workout (as an aside whey protein is not the best supplement to use immediately post-workout, for several reasons Amino is much better).

As well, Power Drink, because of its positive effects on the fat burning hormones and mechanisms actually allows you to burn more bodyfat while you're training. And with the other ingredients in Power Drink, such as electrolytes and buffers, you can train harder and longer and know that you have a powerful ally that will help you make good use of all that hard work.

Bottom line is that Power Drink is a revolutionary new concept in training drinks. This drink provides the nutrients necessary to increase muscle size and decrease body fat. By providing all the necessary ingredients to feed working muscles and shift the use of bodyfat as the energy source for training, Power Drink dramatically increases the positive effects of training, allows you train longer and harder, and increases recovery.

Power Drink is ideal for both those who want to increase muscle size and lose bodyfat and those who simply want to lose weight and bodyfat but maintain muscle mass.

Besides the hefty dose (44 grams) of the best quality proteins available anywhere, Power Drink also contains amino acids, electrolytes and other ingredients that will replace and replenish nutrients and fluid lost through exercise, prevent muscle cramps, and increase training time and efficiency.

As far as using it as a substitute for Gatorade, it's far, far better for those involved in power sports. That's because the electrolyte mix is for power athletes, not endurance athletes, and as such the mineral proportions are different, for example the sodium potassium ratio is one to one rather than the 4-1 sodium to potassium ratio you'll find in electrolyte drinks made for endurance athletes.

A friend of mine told me that the joint support works really well, but I did not have any luck with glucosamine when I took for a few months to help with an elbow injury. What makes your product different? Your ingredients list is a mile long, what do all of those things do? My doctor has put me on several anti inflammatory meds, but they all bother me in different ways, does the joint support have similar side effects?

Glucosamine is only one of the 36 ingredients in Joint Support and isn't even the most important one. I formulated Joint Support because I wanted a comprehensive joint and musculoskeletal tissue product that worked on more than just one level. Joint support contains ingredients that decrease inflammation, decrease muscle damage and soreness, relax muscle, increase healing of damaged tissues and also provide the matrix needed for connective and joint tissue repair.

Besides all the ingredients targeted for the relief of inflammation, muscle and joint pain, and maintenance and repair of musculoskeletal tissues, JointSupport also contains the cutting edge, exclusive, patented, and highly bioavailable, Biocell Collagen II, which has also been shown to relieve musculoskeletal pain in various conditions including arthritis and fibromyalgia.

With its many synergistic ingredients, Joint Support:

Protects joints and other tissues from the effects of excessive exercise and oxidant damage.
Provides the ingredients the body needs for the maintenance and repair of joints, ligaments, tendons and muscle.
Decreases inflammation, muscle irritability and spasm, swelling and pain, and helps heal sore and injured muscle, tendons, ligaments and joints.
Supports the anabolic and anticatabolic hormones and processes that increase recovery and healing.
Decreases natural wear and tear on the body, musculoskeletal system and skin.
Bolsters the immune system.

Most people who use Joint Support don't have any of the side effects of the anti-inflammatory drugs so I would think you should be able to take it without any problems.

Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale is one of the most influential voices on diet, performance and athletic training in the world. His innovative work in finding safe nutritional alternatives to anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs has won him praise from athletes, trainers and fitness experts around the globe. Dr. Di Pasquale was a world-class athlete for over 15 years, winning the World Championships in powerlifting in 1976 and world games in 1981.

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