Creatine is a naturally occurring crystalline molecule that is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen this substance is found stored in the muscle cells. Where meat is muscle, to intake creatine outside of the supplemental forms which we will talk about later, the one must eat meat. Meat also includes fish. But here I the rub. To get only one gram of creatine a large portion of meat needs to be consumed. On top of that, when meat and fish are cooked much of the creatine is altered in form. So, if you enjoy sushi like I do, you're god to go, even though to get a maintainer dose of 5 grams, you would have to consume quite a bit of this stuff.

The liver in unison with the pancreas and kidneys does quite a god job at manufacturing required creatine. This through certain amino acids. These building blocks of creatine phosphate, the complete form of what the muscles required in order to constrict and relax, are known as glycine, arginine, and methionine. More about these amino acids later.

Creatine phosphate is broken down in the digestive tract and therefore con not be consumed in food or supplement form, and have the same effect. For supplemental purposes, creatine monohydrate is ingeted and then converted easily by most bodies into the form needed to supply what the muscle needs to do it's work.

A good food source of the amino acids mentioned in the previous chapter, would be the following:

Arginine- Peanuts, cashews, water melon seeds, and walnuts. This amino acid is found in most vegetables, especially green and root vegetables. Arginine exists in a free state in such plants as garlic and ginseng.

Glycine- Can be found in geletin and meat proucts.

Methionine- Fish and Egg whites are a good source of this amino acid.

Because these foods are a major part of anyones diet, proper or otherwise, it is not difficult to find what is needed in nature. But, for the athlete who wants to try the supplement, for whatever reason, here is the first bit if advice; Be careful. Creatine Monohydrate is a very useful supplement, however be warned about a couple of things. First, although thorough testing and studies have proven that this supplement can increase the muscle's strength, stamina and endurance by about 10%, but this I not the case for all people. For some reason the metabolisms o certain people do not respond to this supplement. If you are of the 70% or so of people who respond positively to creatine, you will know it within two to three weeks.

More importantly, this is a supplement that can in fact be dangerous, even deadly. A combination of large doses of creatine with insufficient hydration can cause major problems with the pancreas and make the athlete violently ill. Make sure to drink plenty of water when using creatine. Also keep with the recommended doses. Any overdos will only be passed out with the urine anyway.