As the Olympics in Beijing ("city of the north," literally translated from Chinese) draw closer, the conventional media focus on illegal ways of doping that are applied by many athletes: using male sex hormones or their derivates, such as derivates of testosterone, and growth hormones and its derivates to build up more muscles; using adrenaline, cortisone or cocaine or derivates from these substances to battle fatigue; or using erythropoietin (EPO), or so-called EPO-mimetics, to get more red blood cells that transport oxygen to the muscles.
It is illegal to use these substances unless prescribed by a medical doctor as a cure for an illness. What's more, all of these are very dangerous for human health.
I want to tell you about three legal and healthy ways to increase your physical performance.
Creatine is an ingredient of red meat, but it is also available without prescription as a pure substance. It is not harmful to your health if you take only a small dash of it daily, and make a pause of two weeks in taking it every three weeks. It increases your endurance in sports like long-distance running and swimming, but taking too much can cause dehydration, since it leads to the storing of excess water in the muscles. It makes you look more athletic and makes you a little stronger. Taking too much can harm your kidneys.
Resveratrol is a compound of many plants, such as peanuts or wine grapes. The skin of red wine grapes especially contains a lot of resveratrol. You may drink grape juice of red wine or eat peanuts; resveratrol is also available from online shops as a pure substance. Right now, there is a lot of research going on about resveratrol, and papers about it have been published in high-ranking scientific journals like science and nature. Many researchers claim that it has two effects: It lengthens the life span by mimicking caloric restriction, and it increases endurance and stamina in long distance running, cycling and swimming. (See University of Cologne, Germany: "Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet," Josef A. Baur et al., Nature, 2006.)
The whole story can be found at:
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=383314&rel_no=1
