MRD's and Real Food?

[CRUNCH]

For the most, a purely hypothetical question for the sake of discussion.

Take two identical twins. Identical in everything, including training experience, sleep patterns, job stress, etc… Training goals are also the same, gaining muscle while maintaining fat at exceptable levels, maybe 10%.

If one twin were to drink ONLY shakes everyday, and one eats only regular, healthy foods everyday, how much of a difference would you see in the two after, say, six months?

Pick Muscle Milk for the MRD in skim milk, and the other twin eats the usual bodybuilder fare…chicken breasts, fish, oats, healthy fats, etc…

Both are dividing their calories out evenly over six meals per day, training at the same time, and with the same intensity. You get the idea, all constants are accounted for EXCEPT where the calories are coming from.

The total calories are the same, and the macronutrient profiles are the same.

Would the one eating the regular foods really be that much better in terms of muscle mass and strength at the end of six months, or would there really not be much difference???



Myself and a few guys at the gym have been discussing this lately. The only glaring thing I could see is dietary fiber, which could be made up for in the MRD guy with a fiber supplement. But what else?? Other than that, I can’t really think of any concrete, solid reasons why one would be that much better than the other.

 

[Ziricote]

First thing that comes to mind isn't how much muscle could be gained or fat lost but stuff like immune system, metabolism etc come to mind. I think you would find the twin who ate whole foods would generally have better health than the other which would obviously influence how he progresses in the gym.

 

[CRUNCH]

First thing that comes to mind isn't how much muscle could be gained or fat lost but stuff like immune system, metabolism etc come to mind. I think you would find the twin who ate whole foods would generally have better health than the other which would obviously influence how he progresses in the gym.

Makes sense. Could most of the health issues be made up for with other supplements...multi-vitamins, fish oils, etc...? If so, what else would you add?

Or are there just some things in real food that are impossible to get anywhere else?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make a case for living on supplements, just getting better answers for when this discussion comes up.

Thanks Ziricote.

 

[Ziricote]

I'm really not too sure about supplementing to that extent, seems to me an awful lot of swallowing and cash just to avoid eating food though.

 

[CRUNCH]

I'm really not too sure about supplementing to that extent, seems to me an awful lot of swallowing and cash just to avoid eating food though.

I definitely agree about the money part, like I mentioned, it was just for the sake of discussion. Mostly so we can waste more time between sets! LOL