Bodybuilding Forums

I'm prepping for Mark's TSPA program in about 2 weeks, planning to go from 14% to 9% body fat. He recommends taking 5g creatine every day but this probably isn't an option for me - I took Optimum Nutrition's Micronized Creatine Powder for a week and developed an itchy rash on my chest that took a month to disappear after I stopped taking creatine. I have some questions:

1) Has anyone experienced this, then switched to a higher quality creatine that did not produce the side effect?
2) Creatine is found naturally in meat. Since I'll already be eating red meat frequently can I just go without?
3) I know what creatine does, but it is any more valuable on a low carb diet than it would be otherwise? Am I really missing out on that much benefit?

Thanks for your expert opinions!

You can do TSPA without creatine, it just helps a bit when you're lifting. Most of the fat loss from TSPA is getting you're diet right rather than the workout.

At www.ergo-log.com there are some articles/studies that suggest beta-alanine can be used instead of creatine.