Put a 20-oz. ribeye steak in front of a hungry bodybuilder and he'll go through it like ex-lax^TM through a sick cat. Add some carefully rationed grilled chicken breasts, a few containers of wild rice, some protein shakes and a jug of distilled water to schlep around and he'll be in heaven. This all-too-familiar scenario has been the cornerstone of the serious muscle builder for many generations of competitors.

            Admittedly, while this high protein, low simple-carbohydrate approach has stood the test of time in terms of building slabs of lean mass, it has classically been bereft of critical phytonutrients. There's a reason: bodybuilders have traditionally believed that ingesting natural greens is pointless. Since they do not contain a wealth of Amino Acids, they don't count as protein. They don't contain much in the way of carbohydrates, so they don't fill you up. And since bodybuilders tend to take loads of vitamin supplements, they don't see the benefit because they figure they are getting everything they need from the pills they are taking. With the exception of the occasional salad, phytonutrients have long since fallen out of favor with the traditional bodybuilder.

            The truth is that this classification of green nutrient contains massive amounts of naturally-occurring minerals, trace minerals, ultra-trace minerals and rare earth minerals, which can only be found in natural greens. Research shows that the standard minerals are critical for growth, recovery and testosterone production (like iron and zinc)- but science has examined very little beyond the obvious.

            The subclassifications of trace and ultra-trace elements have been left virtually unexamined and thus are completely overlooked by many nutrient scientists. Not only do these elements remain a mystery, the names are even difficult to pronounce. Hafnium, thorium, dysprosium and antimony are just a few and there are so many more. We don't see them often because you can't mine the stuff efficiently and encapsulate it- plus we have no idea what they would do to the body in that form. So, for now, these vital and mysterious nutrients remain in our food supply, but are largely undiscovered and ignored in terms of importance, even though many of them have been shown to be essential in the diet for various animal, plant and microbial species. But since we have little or no evidence of their ‘essentiality' in humans, scientists are very quick to reject a more careful study of these mysterious elements.

            In my estimation, they are profoundly interesting. The fact that few of us eat enough roughage and that as a society we are quite sickly, is proof positive that something is missing. While they are certainly not the only focus, natural green botanicals are an obvious first stopping point. These plant-derived minerals strengthen body cells and repair damage. As the increased breakdown of calories from dieting, stress and training overwhelm the healing process, the body requires nutrients that transcend the traditional macronutrients, standard vitamins and basic minerals. When this happens, the essential nutrients in high-quality protein and leafy greens can be the missing link in getting past plateaus and spurring stubborn muscles to start growing again.