This is a guide on how to get good creatine levels through natural production. First we will look through what creatine is and why athlete take it as a supplement. There is good benefits for people who work out when taking more creatine. We will also address how to make the body absorbs it in the best way and when to take it.
This guide is also made for helping vegans & plant-based athletes understand how to boost their creatine levels. Remember having chronic high levels of creatine in your body is not health. This likely comes from liver disease.
What is creatine
Basically, creatine supplies energy to your muscles. Creatine is a combination of three amino acids: L-arginine, glycine, and L-methionine. Creatine is a substance that your body produces naturally. It’s used in your cells to help them build energy and stay healthy.
Vegans usually have lower amounts of creatine in their bodies than people that consume meat. Creatine is found in animal (muscle) meat. Animals like humans produce creatine in liver at store it in muscles. Therefore, creatine is not an essential nutrient to get from food as it’s produced by the liver. Both vegans and vegetarians can gain a lot from taking a creatine as a sports supplement.
Naturally-occurring creatine is a chemical compound produced within the body. About 95% of creatine is stored in the skeletal muscle of your body and is used during physical activity.
Creatine powder is vegan
The most common is creatine monohydrate. This supplement is synthetically made and almost always do not contain animal products. Most supplements are made of a combination of sarcosine and cyanamide, two organic and vegan molecules. Vegans should be cautious of creatine supplements delivered in capsules. Often, capsules contain gelatin, which is made of ground-up animal parts.
Many athletes take creatine supplements to increase strength and improve performance. Creatine creates “quick burst” energy and increased strength, which improves performance but has little effect on aerobic endurance.
If you take creatine supplements, you may gain weight because of water retention in your body’s muscles. It will take seven to 28 days to see energy effects depending on how much creatine you already have in your body.
Research shows that taking creatine supplements may
• Improve your exercise performance.
• Help your recovery after intense exercise.
• Prevent and/or reduce the severity of injury.
• Help athletes tolerate heavy training loads.
• Increase your fat-free muscle mass during training.
Boost creatine absorption
Creatine is sodium-dependent, but it’s also mediated by insulin. This means that raising blood insulin levels is a good way to encourage creatine absorption. It’s why creatine is often included in supplements that contain a hefty dose of carbohydrates, which lead to the glucose production that raises your insulin levels. Add to that a bit of sodium, and you have everything you need to absorb plenty of creatine.
Creatine is dependent on insulin. Increasing insulin levels can help to increase your absorption of creatine, which is why it’s recommended to take creatine with a simple sugar/carbohydrate.
Creatine also needs magnesium to perform at its best. Magnesium increases cellular hydration. The increase in cellular hydration can lead to an improvement in protein synthesis, which create overall improvements of creatine consumption and its benefits.
Did you know
It shows more benefits when taking creatine after a work-outs, this will show more muscle gains in the long run. Taking creatine after training is preparing you for your next training session.
… but you can also do it before to load your muscle cells with more energy.
Plant-based foods which creates creatine
It is possible to maximise creatine creation in a natural way. The human body produces creatine naturally through synthesising arginine, glycine and methionine (protein building blocks). All you need to do get those amino acids through food consumption.
Glycine-rich foods
Peppers, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, sesame seeds (tahini), chives, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and almonds.
Arginine-rich Foods
Nuts, radishes, garlic, peppers, spinach, peas, onions, chives and mushrooms.
Methionine-rich Foods
Endives, spinach, zucchini, watercress, chives, mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, kale, squash and Swiss chard.
*There are many other plants which contains these amino acid. These are just ideas.
All these foods do not actually contain creatine themselves. What they do is give our bodies the necessary ingredients to produce our own creatine.
Boost natural creatine production
There is some steps to remember to make sure that your body can make its own creatine. If you follow these steps you will but your body in a perfect state to increase creatine.
Eating more food will increase your daily protein intake
Consume a healthy calorie amount for your height and weight each day. If you are not taking in enough of calories and nutrients, then this could lower creatine levels. Avoid fasting if you want natural high creatinine levels. Since your body receives fewer nutrients during a fast, it can cause a sharp dip in creatinine levels in your blood. You need more food and therefore more protein when you train hard.
Good protein sources
Beans, grains, quinoa, lentils, peas, peanutbutter, tofu, tahini, nuts and seeds.
Work your muscles
Go to the gym or do home workouts. The increase in muscle mass will cause a corresponding rise in creatinine.
https://fitaudit.com/categories/fvs/creatine
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14600563/
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3041
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319892
https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200636040-00002
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14506619/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17674-creatine-and-creatine-supplements
// There are very limited studies on these subjects. While reviewing them there were very limited with a high risks of bias. Risk of bias is the risk of errors occurring. Misleading results in this case can come from creatine companies or the animal agriculture.