I am a 24 year old masters swimmer and getting cramps a lot recently.

I am a 24-year old masters swimmer. I have been getting cramps - calf and toe- a lot recently. On the advice of the coach and teammates, I am taking a potassium supplement and eating a lot of bananas. However, this hasn't really solved my problem. I think now that it may be a...

Your information regarding protein requirements for weight training is being debated.

I just wanted to let you know that your information regarding protein requirements for weight training is being debated on the newsgroups called misc.fitness.weights. The title of the debate is "MetRx Protein Debate". I'm speaking of your protein topic. I'm hoping that you will join the discussion and contribute with some empirical data, as most...

I am working on my thesis about body image of athletes versus team sport athletes.

Hello! I am a graduate student at Northern Illinois University. I am currently working on my thesis, which is, titled Nutritional Knowledge of College Athletes: Body Image Athletes versus Team Sports Athletes. I am having a very hard time locating current research done on this topic. I have looked in the Journal of Nutrition...

Is there any medical research to back recommendation to take whey protein?

I saw a patient who is taking whey as a powder in shakes and creatine, and another amino acid supplement to define his muscle. These supplements are very expensive as you know. I discourage him from doing this, but I wondered if there was any medical research or articles of any kind to back...

I want to gain mass in the form of muscle mass or fatty mass as a football player.

Unlike most people, I want to gain weight. I work out heavily and am really interested in bodybuilding. I want to gain mass, in the form of muscles mass or fatty mass. But my main objective is to gain a lot of weight and fast. But safely. The reason is that I am a...

When I enter 35% for my protein intake in your calculator, I get an error message that 35% is too high.

When I enter 35% for my protein intake in your Healthy Body Calculator®, I get an error message that 35% is too high. I am a weightlifter and this is not 'unreasonable'. Please fix this or find a way to enter whatever values we would like. I like your page and would like to...

I was told that soft drinks are extremely bad nutritionally by my track coach.

I have been told that soft drinks are extremely bad nutritionally. I know that they have acids and sugars which are both bad for teeth, but I have also heard that they can lower bone density. I was also told by one of my track coaches that they could negate the effects of cardiovascular...

I don’t know how to tell what amino acids I get from what I eat.

I exercise frequently, so I try to eat a diet rich in amino acids. Unfortunately, I don't really know how to tell what amino acids (or how much of them) I get from what I eat. Since food labels don't give us this information, is there another way to find out? First, you need to...

What is a good diet that would be for my activity level?

I would just like to get an idea of a good diet that would be for my activity level. I'm 22 years old, about 140 pounds, 5 feet 6 inches and work out at least three days a week. My exercise consists of basketball, racquetball, running and some weights. A healthy diet using recommended servings...

Some references say that diets rich in animal proteins promote excessive elimination of calcium in the urine.

Some references are saying that diets rich in animal proteins stimulate the release of parathyroid hormone and promote excessive elimination of calcium in the urine, which encourages bone resorption." One reference indicated that the federal government, intending to be on the safe side, established its minimum Recommended Dietary Allowances for protein at twice the value...