Body-building food : fad or need ?
by Nischal Anand Singh
YOU see a guy wearing a skin-tight tee with those lovely cuts, flaunting his well sculpted physique and you go "wow", wondering what a rich diet — lots of eggs,bananas, milk and what not—he must be taking. Wrong !

Body boosters have limited scope: doc
"TAKING drugs alone does not enhance the body. It has to be mixture of good natural physical attributes, genetics, socio-economic status of the person, a balanced diet, the climate and environment ", informs Dr G.Dewan, Deputy Medical Superintendent of the General Hospital, Sector 16.

• Weight-training tips

YOU see a guy wearing a skin-tight tee with those lovely cuts, flaunting his well sculpted physique and you go "wow", wondering what a rich diet — lots of eggs,bananas, milk and what not—he must be taking. Wrong !

Says Avneesh Jaisingh Lakhoval, coach-cum-dietician, Pumping Iron, one of the oldest gyms in Chandigarh, "Gone are the days when one had to have 20 eggs, 20 bananas and 5 litres of milk a day to maintain a great physique. With the advances in science, the numerous food supplements on offer can take care of our dietary needs in a hassle-free way." Just a total of five to six scoops a day of these body-building supplements taken with either milk or water are enough to fulfill the dietary requirements of a person. Of course, meals are to be taken as well since these are not substitutes for food.

These supplements are specifically designed to assist a body-builder in the development of lean muscle by providing maximum amount of proteins to the body with little or no fat at all. They are meant to sculpt the body to give it the "big is strong" look. Informs Avneesh, "Some people usually mistake these to be steroids or other harmful stuff, but that’s not correct . They are in no way harmful for the body, provided they're taken under supervision of an instructor. Just take care of that and you will really reaptheir benefits ".

Says Mayank Sharma, who’s been taking these supplements for some time, "I caught hold of my instructor and under his supervision took these food supplements. This resulted in impressive growth in my body". He further says that there are people who don’t know the abc of body-building but still are against the use of supplements and keep bad-mouthing them without any basis .

One common belief of the people is that on leaving weight-training, a person's body (especially the skin) tends to sag. "Doesn’t that happen with everybody, irrespective of whether they’ve exercised in the past or not ?Have you ever seen a man (or woman) with a naturally great body in terms of muscles,cuts and abs. At least,I haven’t. Only people who exercise have great bodies that others can’t stop admiring."

He went on to add, "Anything and everything in this world needs maintenance. Even those who don’t exercise have a sagging skin in later years, don’t they ? "

More importantly, the best part about these supplements is that they can be taken at any age whatsoever,which means that they would be as useful for a 20-year-old as for an octogenarian. Adds Avneesh, "I strongly recommend these supplements for all guys ( not for girls though ! ) , but only if it’s done under the supervision of their instructors. And only if they’re serious about their workouts because these supplements are priced a bit on the higher side (see box)". But don’t worry, it’ll be an investment you’ll never regret ", he claims.

So what are you waiting for, pump iron and it’ll become an addiction which even your folks won’t mind !

Body boosters have limited scope: doc

"TAKING drugs alone does not enhance the body. It has to be mixture of good natural physical attributes, genetics, socio-economic status of the person, a balanced diet, the climate and environment ", informs Dr G.Dewan, Deputy Medical Superintendent of the General Hospital, Sector 16.

If such food supplements are taken, it should be under the strict supervision of an expert. An overdose of anything can be harmful , the doctor cautions, adding that side effects, if any, vary from person to person and can be long term in nature. Admitting that such supplements do increase the body's vitality, the doctor says that their use is best avoided. Since most such drugs or food supplements come from developed countries, stringent quality testing is carried out. Explaining this, Dr Dewan says that if someone with weak genetics attempts building a big physique by taking a big dose of supplements it will never help.

It is learnt that the Government of India had written a letter a few months ago, asking the food authorities to carry out testing of these supplements as they are at present out of the ambit of the drug controllers . The manufacturers use such ingredients that these products go out of the drug controllers ambit even as the supplements are sold off the counter by chemists .

— Chetna