Let me preface my question by saying I love your book and have seen some good results in
the relatively short time I've been following the bodybuilding plan (I'm trying to gain
some mass). While I read your thoughts on alcohol in NHE, I have a question that is not
answered in the book. I always drink alcohol at least once a week when I go out on
weekends. I know I'd be better off if I gave it up, but I like to party and drinking is a
part of that for me. Since I'm going to do it regardless, I wanted to know if it would it
be better to do this as part of a carb up or on a low carb day? I could think of a reason
for both. If I drink on a low carb day, I'd get kicked out of ketosis and thus probably
mess up the rest of my low carb days until the next carb up. However, if I drink after
eating carbs I thought maybe the alcohol will be stored as fat. Thanks in advance for
clearing this up for me.
Thanks for the kind words. If your drinking and partying
nights fall on a carb-load days (which is actually carb-load evenings given they take
place as the last meal(s) of the day), then they can be merged into the carb-load or
upcycle. If drinking alcohol fell on a day other than the carb-load and you were on the
general NHE Eating Plan, I'd say compensate by keeping carbs lower that day relative to
other downcycle days, prior to drinking. But since you are on the bodybuilders' NHE Eating
Plan, which allows much less leeway regarding carbs, try to hook it up with the carb load
given there's no upward limit on carb intake during the carb-load phase. It terms of
scheduling, it would be to your advantage to limit the drinking and partying to one night
per week rather than two, so each drinking night would coincide with a carb-load. Also,
type of alcohol matters. If you are drinking large amounts of sweet drinks like dacaris or
pina colada two nights per week, then you may as well throw-in the towel now because the
bodybuilders' NHE Eating Plan is not for you. Something like vodka and club soda/water
with a twist would be more advisable.
Also, if you are not taking at
least three tablespoons per day of flaxseed oil, you are likely not getting enough fat or
good fat. Fish oil is a better source of EPA/DHA, but there are purity issues with fish
oil, and flaxseed oil delivers more lipid per dollar. Overall, the bodybuilders' NHE
Eating Plan is not only more challenging than the general but also more expensive when you
factor in fat supplementation. If you can schedule your drinking/partying for once rather
than twice per week, you can transfer those funds into buying a six pack of flaxseed oil.
