There is a lot going around right now about whether it’s better to eat meat or go on a vegan diet.

And there are many proponents of each, quite passionate, providing many different reasons why one is better than the other.

Unfortunately, they often contradict each other.

Some say meat causes an inflammatory response in the body, and can lead to weight gain or protein toxicity. That it’s bad for cardiovascular health and can raise cholesterol levels. And that it doesn’t contain fiber and other important vitamins and antioxidants.

Others say a pure vegan diet doesn’t provide all the nutrients present in meats such as b12 and other key vitamins, or iron, and that it leaves many people protein deficient due to lower levels of protein in plants, leading to lower strength and immune function.

But for each reason put forth as to why one is bad, someone else holds up an example to show how it isn’t true.

And, of course, there is also the moral aspect, which is personal to each individual.

But on a straight scientific basis, how is it that we do not have a definitive, agreed upon answer as to whether we should eat mostly meats or mostly plants?

And why is it that some people do better on meats, without reactions, and others on a plant-based diet?

Well, with all of our ability to test and watch the various reactions within the body at the cellular level, it would seem pretty easy to find out.

So let’s dive in and see if we can answer this question for you.

For the last few years a sort of battle has existed regarding protein.

Is meat or vegan protein better?

How much protein should I take? Is it too little or too much? Do people in general need more protein or less protein?

Beyond that, some say that meat proteins cause an inflammatory response in the body so we should get protein from plants.

Others say we need more animal protein, that it’s a superior protein source and provides key nutrients not available in plant proteins.

Some say too much protein is toxic and others say too little protein impacts our hormones, muscle, bones, mood, and immune system.

So how do we answer this?

Well, we don’t.

Because we’re asking the wrong questions.

And the reason we’re asking the wrong questions is because we’re starting from the wrong point of data.

Let's dive in.

Our body's ability to relax, de-stress, recover, and sleep deeply is heavily determined by one area of our body overlooked more often than almost any other — our Microbiome.

This colony of trillions of bacteria living in our large intestine helps produce the calming, relaxing, cortisol-lowering, and sleep-giving neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin.

These bacteria have more to do with our overall health, calmness of mind, nerve function, ability to sleep, ability to burn fat and build muscle, and even our hormones than you might think.

This colony, made up of about 500 different species of bacteria, is called the Microbiome.

But these bacteria, while being fully separate from us, act as if they were an organ unto themselves within our bodies. And what they do, amongst each other and in coordination with the cells in the lining of our colon, is truly extraordinary.

If we want to build and keep lean muscle, or have a lean, toned, and shaped body without the excess body fat, there are key hormones we need to look at:

Cortisol is our stress hormone, released in times of physical or mental stress. It's necessary, but when it goes too high it acts to break down the muscle we do have, prevent or slow new muscle gain, and create and hold onto body fat.

Estrogen and Insulin also play a large role here. 

On the other side we have Growth Hormone, Testosterone, and IGF, Hormones that act to repair muscle, bone, ligaments, etc, build lean muscle, burn excess body fat, and shape our body in both men and women.

But cortisol, estrogen, and insulin work on a sort of seesaw-reaction basis with growth hormone, testosterone, and IGF. 

Raise one side and the other side lowers, and vice versa.

Increase cortisol and we decrease testosterone and growth hormone levels, causing fat gain, preventing muscle gain, and even breaking down the muscle we do have. 

But raise testosterone and growth hormone and we lower cortisol, estrogen and insulin levels.

So while we've covered how to prevent cortisol, estrogen, and insulin from going too high in the above linked articles, in this article we cover how to increase levels of growth hormone, testosterone and IGF.

Let's dive in.

Today we want to walk you through a day in the life of someone using the PerfectAmino Performance Stack to build more lean muscle, increase energy and endurance, and improve recovery, all while slimming down.

Also, how it helps them to improve mental focus and clarity during the day and address stress levels, mood and the ability to relax in the evening and sleep deeply.

The PerfectAmino Stack includes: PerfectAmino, PerfectAmino Pre-Workout, PerfectAmino Creatine, PerfectAmino Electrolytes and PerfectAmino Strength & Recovery.

We're going to show when and how they're taken for best results.

And not just that, but what other actions do they take during the day?

What exercises do they do and when?

What foods do they eat and when? (And we include recipes.)

How do they get maximum sleep for recovery?

All of these points are important, so let's dive in.

Millions of people take pre-workout formulas every day, before workouts or runs or any intense activity.

They take these to increase energy, blood flow, endurance and focus, and get more out of their workouts.

But these formulas don’t work the way most people think they do. And what they do to a body over time, how they affect our overall energy, mood, stress levels, sleep ability and recovery, can often cause more damage than the benefits they seem to be giving.

While they appear to be giving energy, in reality, they’re forcing the nervous system into a high-output state by blocking the brain's natural fatigue signals and flooding the body with adrenaline and cortisol — the stress hormones our body was designed to use in small amounts, not daily for hours at a time.

In the long term this causes lower energy levels, reduced endurance, poor sleep, mood and focus, and poorer recovery leading to not only lessened gains, but increased weight gain over time.

So let's dive in and see what's actually happening here and what we can do to improve gains now and in the long term.

When working out, blood flow is very important for both muscle building and fat loss.

It’s how the nutrients, water and oxygen needed for energy creation and muscle creation flow to our cells.

If our blood flow is lower, our cells do not get these nutrients or oxygen fast enough and our energy levels go down during high intensity workouts.

And it slows recovery.

Achieving healthy blood flow then is important for maximum results and maximum overall health.

Getting good sleep is one of the most important things we can do, not just for muscle building and fat loss but for our mood, energy levels, and overall health.

Sleep is when our body is able to recover and repair cells, a lack of it even affects our aging process, speeding it up internally, as well as visibly causing wrinkles and sagging skin.

During the first few hours of deep sleep is when many hormones, including growth hormone and IGF (major fat-burning hormone) are released.

Getting enough sleep also helps to keep cortisol levels lower and balance estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and thyroid.

So if we want a lean, toned or muscled body, then we need deep sleep every night for full recovery, muscle building, natural fat loss and hormonal balance.

Yet a third of Americans get poor sleep, and those with the worst sleep generally have poor health.

So what causes this and what can we do to not only get better, deeper, more refreshing sleep, but also to reverse the effects of poor sleep?

Let’s dive in and see.

If you’ve ever had a shock and felt the adrenaline surge in your body, then you’ve felt cortisol. It’s a wake-you-up, get-you-ready-for-action hormone.

It hits its lowest point around midnight, so you can go to sleep, and then peaks again about an hour after you’ve gotten up in the morning, getting you to wake up and get ready for the day.

It’s nick-named the “stress hormone” because it’s released in moments of stress. So in a dangerous situation, or if you get scared suddenly, you’ll feel it.

But… when we have too-high levels of cortisol for too long, it can make us feel stressed… even if we have no reason to be.

It’s these too-high levels that are bad. They can make us depressed, anxious, or angry for no reason, make us want to eat more (especially sugary foods), cause us to lose muscle, and throw off our other hormones.

And it makes Fat Loss nearly impossible.

Let’s see how this works.

While insulin is in the bloodstream, almost no fat burning can take place.

But something can happen here when our diet is quite high in sugar over a long period of time, keeping our Insulin levels high for longer each day.

The cells build up a resistance to the Insulin. Meaning, when Insulin comes knocking, trying to give the sugar to the cell so it can make energy, the cell says “no” and closes its doors.

In this article we dive into how body fat is created in our body, and how we get rid of it, so you understand what we're doing on this protocol and why.

About 90% of what most of us consider to be body fat is actually made by and from sugar.

But probably not how you think.

And it has a lot more to do with how it affects your hormones (messenger chemicals that tell your body how to use the food you put into it).

Because it’s your hormones that will determine what will ultimately happen with this sugar and whether or not it will be used to make new body fat.

First, let’s break down what actually happens when we consume carbs and what hormones come into play here.

The first and hardest part of any diet is overcoming the cravings we have for sugar and junk food when we lower our calories.

We have to come off these foods if we want to lose weight, but that doesn't mean it's a lot of fun.

But that's fine. The Fat Loss Protocol is designed to get us through these cravings as quickly and painlessly as possible. But only if we follow it exactly.

Remember, if we have excess body fat to lose, then our body doesn't actually need extra food. It says it does… but it's lying.

Every pound of fat on our body contains about 3,500 calories — more than a 250 pound man needs for energy on an average day.

So, along with the natural foods we will be eating, plus PerfectAmino, our body has more than enough food to live on. Much more. It's just stored as body fat (AKA "old food").

If we want to lose this "old food," then we need to force our body to eat it instead of new food. That's the real trick. Because it doesn't want to eat it. It wants to keep it.

So let's see what we need to do to get the best results on this program.