If your goal is to build muscle, your diet must reflect that objective. A good way to do this is by avoiding highly processed foods.
Protein is essential when building muscle, but you also require carbohydrates and fats. Avoid foods full of empty calories such as candy, soda and chips.
Protein
Protein gets much of the credit when it comes to muscle development, but getting enough calories also plays an essential role. To build muscle effectively, strive for a positive calorie balance by eating more than your body uses up in calories burned through activity.
Fad diets that emphasize protein over carbohydrates or fats should also be avoided, since they can add unnecessary calories without providing beneficial nutrients. Hunnes suggests opting for low-fat animal proteins like chicken breast, skinless turkey and lean cuts of beef as well as dairy products like milk, cottage cheese, yogurt and kefir as sources of vitality and nourishment.
Plant-based foods rich in amino acids such as beans and legumes (lima beans, lentils, chickpeas), soy and quinoa make excellent sources of plant-based proteins. Salmon, trout or catfish provides essential omega-3 fatty acids while avocados, mixed nuts, olive oil or peanut butter offer healthy unsaturated fats for healthful unsaturated fat profiles. Before going to sleep for optimal performance consume slow digesting sources like micellar casein protein shakes or one cup of low-fat cottage cheese that digest slowly over time for optimal performance.
Carbohydrates
carbohydrates should also play an integral part of any muscle-gaining diet; they provide you with energy to get your workout in and stimulate insulin, helping build muscles. Therefore, carbohydrates should make up a substantial part of any training diet plan.
After you complete a workout, it is essential that you consume carbohydrates within an hour to replenish your glycogen stores and ensure a productive training session. Carbs derived from whole food sources with plenty of fiber such as fruits, berries, starchy vegetables, brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, barley buckwheat cereals are particularly suitable.
Carbs can also be obtained from low-fat or fat-free dairy products like milk and yogurt, providing you with an ideal combination of proteins and carbohydrates for muscle gains.
Fats
Many people mistakenly associate protein with muscle building. A balanced diet requires including both carbohydrates and fats for fueling physical activity. Furthermore, you should limit consumption of foods high in saturated fat as this increases risk for heart disease.
Diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids can be an effective way to build muscles. When selecting foods such as fish, nuts, seeds and avocados for inclusion in this category. On the other hand, trans fats found in store-bought cakes, biscuits and processed baked goods such as pizza, burgers or French fries must also be avoided to remain health.
Animal proteins provide your body with essential protein sources, but plant-based alternatives like tempeh and quinoa can provide equally satiating nutrition. Furthermore, eggs boast high amounts of leucine as well as multiple forms of vitamin B that support muscle development.
Vegetables
Protein may get all the glory when it comes to building muscles, but eating plenty of nutrient-rich vegetables also plays a crucial role. Leafy greens in particular may help increase strength – according to one study, participants who consumed more leafy veggies had 11 percent greater leg strength than those who didn’t consume as many leafy greens.
Other vegetables, like beets, contain high concentrations of nitrates that help produce nitric oxide and increase blood flow and oxygen delivery to muscles during physical exercise, helping you push harder during workouts and make greater gains in strength gains.
Vegetables such as lentils are an excellent plant-based source of protein that can help you build muscle. One half cup of lentils provides 9 grams of protein plus carbohydrates and essential vitamins and minerals. Beans and soy products like edamame provide complete amino acid profiles; nuts are another excellent plant-based source.
