WTF is Creatine?
We can pull a tiny glowing screen from our pocket and access nearly everything that’s written about everything, yet we use it to find out what celebrity is cheating on another celebrity with yet another celebrity as though it gives any kind of meaning to our own lives. Or to watch porn...
We have more information about health and wellness than ever before and it could not be more accessible, yet we’re arguably less healthy and collectively well than we’ve ever been in the history of mankind. In fact, this is the first time the CDC has ever predicted the lifespan of the latest generation to be shorter than their predecessors. But… if we choose, we can use the information at our fingertips to become the most DOMINANT version of ourselves.
Enter creatine. It’s the most studied, most researched supplement on the market. Its safety and effectiveness are well-documented, yet most people are ignorant, willfully or otherwise, to its inherent and important benefits. So what the fuck is it?
What is creatine and what does it do?
Creatine is an amino acid made by the body and found primarily in ruminant products like red meat and milk. It accumulates in muscle cells as well as the brain and aids in cellular water retention. This helps maintain an energy supply for the muscles, increasing the capacity for strength gains, muscular endurance, quicker healing, and heightened mental acuity.
A cursory Google search on the benefits of creatine will give you countless studies and research papers to read and, if you’re a science dork like me (I'm a jacked science dork, though), you can get down a rabbit hole that would take days to climb out of. The studies that are most eye-opening, however, are the ones comparing creatine supplementation in meat eaters vs. vegans or vegetarians and both brain performance and athletic prowess. What has been found over and over is that dietary creatine supplementation in those who do not eat meat has profound and pronounced benefits when it comes to athletic performance, lean muscle mass, growth hormone production, memory, mental acuity, and cognitive reaction time. In those who eat meat, whether they be omnivores or carnivores, creatine has less in the way of measurable benefits, but supplementation is still critical for optimal body and brain function.
Layman's terms: Creatine in vegans: very necessary. Creatine in those eating an evolutionarily appropriate diet that prioritizes meat and organs: STILL fucking necessary.
How to optimize your creatine levels:
If you want to be firing on all cognitive cylinders and performing in the most DOMINANT fashion possible, eating the same nose-to-tail diet as our bad ass, predatorial, evolutionary hunter ancestors will prime you to embody your FITTEST form. And creatine is not the only necessary nutrient found exclusively in animals… Choline, Vitamin K2, Vitamin B12… these are also essential and cannot be found in plants. Add at least 5g of supplemental creatine monohydrate to this diet, and you'll be a fucking animal.
Stay tuned for The Fittest Creatine coming SOON!
