L-Carnitine: The best workout buddy and weight loss supplement you could find


Last Updated December 20th, 2021

What is L-Carnitine?

L-carnitine is a naturally occurring amino acid which is available in various foods and supplements. It is, on the whole, a nutrient and a dietary supplement. It helps transport the long-chain fatty acids from the blood into the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cells) and helps in converting fatty acids into energy.

Want to lose weight? L-carnitine helps convert your fat into fuel. The addition of L-carnitine as a supplement and natural food sources helps in bodybuilding and brain developing ventures.

L-carnitine and weight loss

When consumed in a structuralized manner, L-carnitine can be a wonderful tool to lose weight. A combination of a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle along with L-carnitine supplements can help you lose weight and increase your ability. It is naturally found in fish, dairy products, and poultry. It increases the oxidation of fatty acids and spontaneously provides energy flow. The energy produced is used to burn fat and convert the fat into energy. It shapes the body and also helps in building lean muscles with the essence of muscle power and endurance improvement.

The L-Carnitine Plan For Weight Loss

The L-carnitine diet plan helps you lose weight but not lose your favorite foods.

Meal TimingsFoods To Consume
Early Morning (7:00-7:30 am)Start your day with a cup of fenugreek soaked in water.
Breakfast (8:15-8:45 am)Treat yourself with a lovely plate of whole-wheat bread, scrambled eggs and a cup of low-fat milk.
Prelunch (10:30 am)A cup of green tea without sugar.
Lunch (12:30-1:00 pm)You could have a beef sad, a tuna sad or a grilled chicken taco…oh sounds yummy…
Snacks (4:00 pm)Drink a cup of coconut water or watermelon juice or another healthy cup of green tea
Dinner (7:00-7:30 pm)Delight yourself with a lovely platter of grilled beef steak with veggies or smoked fish or chicken stew.

How does it help in losing weight?

Fenugreek with water helps kick start your metabolism. This is followed with a healthy breakfast of whole-wheat, milk, and eggs which are great contributors of L-carnitine, dietary fiber, protein, and calcium. This healthy breakfast fills your stomachs and informs your brains that you’re not hungry at the moment, thereby keeping your hunger pangs at bay.

Green tea before lunch keeps you from over eating and helps flush out the toxins from your body. The options at lunch such as beef, fish, and chicken are great sources of protein and help you build lean muscles and burn fat. The snack in the evening is a small contributor that fills in the empty places of some mineral and vitamins. Your dinner is another healthy plate of protein which helps burn fats and transfers energy to all parts of the body.

L-Carnitine Diet Plan Exclusively For Vegans

Strict vegetarians generally produce a considerable amount of L-carnitine and synthesize the same to prevent any corresponding deficiencies. But a structuralized diet plan would be a great kick-starter.

Meal TimingsFoods To Consume
Early Morning (7:00-7:30 am)Lemon juice and warm water
Breakfast (8:15-8:45 am)A bowl of sprouts graced with the presence of Brazil nuts.
Prelunch (10:30 am)A cup of green tea without sugar.
Lunch (12:30-1:00 pm)You could have a healthy bowl of Kidney bean chili, or a combination of spinach, tomato, and asparagus salad, or a bowl of boiled corn salad.
Snacks (4:00 pm)Drink a cup of coconut water or any fruit juice or another healthy cup of green tea
Dinner (7:00-7:30 pm)Treat yourself to a nutritious menu of lentil soup or a bowl of bell pepper stuffed chickpeas, or a bowl of blanched broccoli, beans, and spinach.

How do these foods aid weight loss?

The consumption of lemon water in the morning helps flush out all the toxins and maintains the body’s pH levels. A healthy breakfast of sprouts and Brazil nuts contribute to an excellent provider of proteins and healthy fats. Green tea acts as an antioxidant and helps curtail your appetite. Your lunch platter is a nutritious venture of proteins that helps burn your fat or calories.

The evening snack boosts your body’s cellular functions and flushes out the toxins. It would be wonderful to keep your dinner as light as possible which could help you maintain and keep your health under control.

Though L-carnitine helps burn fat and produce energy, it can be of no assistance if that energy is not used effectively and as a result it causes the fat to get stored again. And therefore an essential workout of a few hours a day would help you recycle the fat and get those awesome curves.

The Relationship Between L-Carnitine And The Heart

L-carnitine possesses the potential to reduce blood pressure and any inflammation related to heart diseases. Supplements of L-carnitine have influenced improvement in patients suffering from coronary heart diseases and chronic heart failure. The levels of carnitine are found to be low in patients suffering from any heart diseases, the administration of carnitine helps in the management of cardiac ischemia (a condition where the blood flow is restricted to the heart) and peripheral arterial disease.

Patients with the peripheral arterial disease are prone to develop intermittent Claudication. Intermittent Claudication develops when there is an inadequate supply of oxygen-rich blood to the legs and leads to an accumulation of acetylcarnitine in muscle due to its immobility. This causes a significant impairment of exercise performance which is also accompanied with walking difficulties.

The intake of carnitine improves the skeletal muscles of the legs and is affective in resuming the walking abilities of patients affected with Claudication. L-carnitine supplements are used orally to meet the metabolic needs of the heart muscles (ischemia). This condition occurs when the coronary blood supply is insufficient and causes chest pain or Angina Pectoris. The administration of carnitine has found to modestly improve exercise tolerance and reduce electrocardiographic signs of ischemia.

For Athletes And Fitness lovers

Arrays of researches have proved that carnitine and athletes are wonderful together. L-carnitine supplementation supports exercise routine and initiates a promising result for athletes. It is evident that athletes need more carnitine as they perform excessive physical activity. As exercise burns fat more rapidly, athletes tend to be in need of carnitine after a tedious workout.

It helps in post-exercise lactic acid accumulation (acidity of the muscle cells, along with disruptions of other metabolites) and increases the output of an athlete. It also helps preserve the loss of glycogen levels in the muscles during workouts. L-carnitine’s is a friend to rehabilitation athletes as it soothes their aching muscles and helps in recovery.

L-Carnitine For Memory, Mood, And Cognition

People who are diagnosed with cognitive malfunctions have a drastically low level of L-carnitine and lack the required mental and physical energy. This reduces the function of the brain and in certain cases causes’ inflammation. In order to improve the brains functionality, L-carnitine is prescribed for relevant patients. This initiates faster brain function and helps in memory retention. It also provides increased blood circulation in the brain thereby eradicating any inflammation or mental fatigue.

Male Fertility And L-Carnitine

L-carnitine is directly related to the sperm count and motility (the ability of organisms and fluid to move or get around). The decrease in L-carnitine causes male infertility. Carnitine supplement of 2 to 3 grams a day for a period of 3 to 4 months helps to improve the sperm count, concentration of the sperm and forward motility of the sperm.

L-Carnitine Helps Regulate Renal Issues

L-carnitine is present in reduced levels in patients undergoing hemodialysis (a procedure consisting of a dialysis machine and a special filter called an artificial kidney, or a dialyzer, are used to clean your blood). However, medical experts have made it mandatory to administer L-carnitine only through an intravenous (medication administered through veins) and not orally.  It also helps to improve the symptoms associated with renal issues such as anemia and inflammation.

L-Carnitine Deficiencies

L-carnitine deficiencies are segregated into primary and secondary deficiencies. Primary systemic carnitine deficiency is a rare condition which reflects autosomal recessive disorder (is one of several ways that a disorder or disease can be passed down through families) induced by mutation in the genes. People who are affected have poor intestinal digestion absorption of L-carnitine and the kidney finds it difficult to reabsorb the same.

A secondary L-carnitine deficiency, it can be contracted from either genetic or any acquired condition. Inherited disorders like genetic defects of amino acid degeneration and alteration in lipid metabolism can lead to an increase in organic acids, which are consequently removed from the body through urine excretion of acylcarnitine.

Systemic depletion of carnitine occurs in increased urinary losses of carnitine and lead to the following conditions, impaired renal absorption, malfunctioning of the kidney leading to increase in excessive loss of carnitine, and patients undergoing hemodialysis tend to develop a secondary L-carnitine deficiency as hemodialysis removes the carnitine from the blood.

Supplements Of L-Carnitine

Intravenous L-carnitine is available by prescription and can be administered for primary and secondary L-carnitine deficiencies. Oral L-carnitine is available both with and without prescription. It is available without a prescription as a nutritional supplement with a stipulated dosage ranging from 500 to 2000 milligrams per day. It is also used to treat primary and secondary L-carnitine deficiencies. Another prominent form of L-carnitine supplement is Acetyl-L-carnitine.

Adverse Effects Of L-Carnitine Combinations

  • Acenocoumarol (Sintrom) and Warfarin (Coumadin) are drugs used to slow blood clotting. Hence care should be taken while administering L-carnitine as it can alter the blood clotting mechanism and make it slower.
  • People under thyroid medication should take care as L-carnitine decrease the effectiveness of the thyroid drug and causes alteration in the thyroid mechanism.
  • Patients undergoing surgery should keep an eye as it has been reported to cause symptoms such as muscle weakness and eye drooping when administered intravenously (by IV) after dialysis.
  • People who have a complaint or history of seizures should avoid taking L-carnitine as it can trigger seizures.
  • The consumption of L-carnitine is considered safe but however, it is essential to consider a physician before you start taking it either as a supplement or a medication. If at any time you develop or experience side effects like stomach upset, nausea, a headache, dry mouth, and vomiting, it is safe to stop it and consult a medical expert.

TL;DR?

 

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