Nutrition

Nutrition for Body Builders


Bodybuilders need to fuel their body with the appropriate foods for energy as well as protein for the build up and reparation of muscle tissue. Starving yourself will NOT help and might prove more detrimental than most of you realize. By eating small, low-fat meals throughout the day incorporating a protein source with good sources of fibrous and complex carbohydrates you will be able to stabilize your insulin levels and sustain your energy levels. This will prevent your body from going into starvation mode while giving you all the building blocks you need for developing and shaping your muscles. Plus, you actually get to eat more!

Stay away from the super-high calorie diets unless you're a genetic freak, or you're woefully lean and don't mind putting on fat

 

 Article of the Week

Nutrition - Article of the Week

Calorie Cycling: Idle for Body Builders

May, 26 2015

Calorie cycling is a systematic method of raising and lowering daily calorie intake. The main way this diet works is the zig-zagging of the starchy carbs, where we avoid starchy carbs (like bread, pizza, pasta, potatoes, rice) during the low days and only eat them during the high days, this enables your metabolism to run smoothly all the time (even during the low days). More>

 

Related Article

  • Top 10 Food Trends to Watch in 2016  

    Drawing on more than 100 years of combined industry experience, Whole Foods Market’s product experts (WFM), a dynamic leader in the quality food business have pinpointed 10 top food trends to watch in 2016.

  • High Protein Diet: Pros & Cons  

    A High protein diet consist of at least 20% protein and very high protein diets contain at least 30% protein. With this plan, you are basically consuming between 30 to 60 % of daily calories in the form of protein, and the rest from carbs, fruits, veggies, and fats. In a typical diet only about 10 to 15 percent of calories come from protein.

  • 5 Nourishing Smoothies to Fire Up Your Muscles

    Smoothies make great breakfast and post-workout snack. Evergreen Protein Shake Serious nutrition and energy from this shake; it combines spinach, good saturated fats, a trio of delicious fruits, sweet honey, and a huge hit of protein.

  • Five Popular Diet Supplements & their Side Effects

    Some people are naturally thin and would like to be larger. Exercise is important for good health and the right type of exercise can help you gain muscle, which will give you more body mass. Weight-lifting exercises that are designed to build muscle should be included with your weight-gaining diet and perhaps aerobic exercise should be cut back a bit.

  • Gaining Weight the healthy way

    Some people are naturally thin and would like to be larger. Exercise is important for good health and the right type of exercise can help you gain muscle, which will give you more body mass. Weight-lifting exercises that are designed to build muscle should be included with your weight-gaining diet and perhaps aerobic exercise should be cut back a bit.

  • Protein Powder: how far are they safe?

    High protein shakes are instantly becoming identified among the athletes as well as individuals who hope to eat up healthy as well lose weight. They are easy to prepare, tasty and healthy. All these powders do is provide your muscles with protein to rebuild and they are in no way superior to a well balanced meal!

  • Chokeberries: The New Power Food?

    The bright red and deep purple berries have been used by Native Americans for centuries. But now, the chokeberry can be found in the form of dietary supplements in local pharmacies and health food stores.

  • Whey Protein: the ultimate nourishment

    Whey is the ultimate protein in terms of bioavailability (around 100) and content of essential amino acids, which the body needs on a daily basis to promote a healthy body and assist in maintaining muscle tone.

  • Low Carb Diets: The Best for body builders

    Even though there has been a huge resurgence in the interest in low carbohydrate/high protein diets, the low carb vs. high carb issue is still the subject of much controversy. Is the low carb/high protein diet the best way for bodybuilders to get ripped or just another fad?

  • Women & Nutrition

    Once physical and sexual maturity have been reached during adolescence, a woman’s size, strength, and general health have to be maintained. This can be difficult given the wide variety of physical, psychological, social, and environmental pressures encountered throughout life.

  • Carbohydrates: Do they cause weight gain?

    The fact that carbohydrate cause weight gain is misleading. Weight gain is caused by consuming too many kilojoules (or calories) whether they are from carbohydrate, protein or fat.

  • Meal Replacement Shakes - A Healthy Choice

    Meal replacements came into prominence several years ago, when a company called Met-Rx introduced a unique formula that was unlike anything else on the market. This revolutionary product was billed as a means to build muscle and reduce bodyfat.

  • The Power of Protein

    Protein is essential for building and maintaining muscles, as well as repairing the muscle damage that occurs during training.

  • Keep Your Fat Furnace Working

    One problem for the increase in body fat % with advancing age is that 'basal fat oxidation' - the rate at which fat is broken down inside the body tends to drop as we get older.

  • Top 10 Healthiest Snacks: You Can Just Keep on Eating

    Grazing can also keep your metabolism, or calorie-burning mechanism, running high.  Your body uses calories when you eat and digest food.

  • Top 10 to increase Fiber Power

    Fiber generally refereed to as 'roughage' is essential for the healthy functioning of your body. Even though research continues to prove fiber’s power, statistics show that many people still aren’t taking this nutrient seriously enough. According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), most adults consume less than 15 grams (g) of fiber daily, and yet the recommended intake for optimum health is 20 to 35 g. Here are 10 facts to help you fuel your health with fiber.

  • Top 10 Protein Options in a Vegetarian Diet

    Protein intake in both lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans can be made adequate by careful planning and smart cooking.

     

Carbohydrates

A large proportion of calories should come from carbohydrates is so that the body has enough energy to deal with the rigors of training and recovery. Bodybuilders require complex carbohydrates as they release energy more slowly than simple sugars. This is important as simple sugars cause an insulin response which places the body in a state where it is likely to store additional calories as fat rather than muscle, furthermore frequent consumption of simple sugars can lead to Type II diabetes. However bodybuilders do ingest some simple sugars post-workout to replenish glycogen stores within the muscle.

Poor quality carbohydrates are those that contain sugar or are highly processed. These would include most breakfast cereals, breads, snack foods, candies, and even fruits and juices. Eating these foods immediately prior to bedtime will likely result in increased fat deposit and will prevent your body from maintaining a successful fat-burning mode.

 

Top

Protein

 

It is recommended that bodybuilders receive 1 to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to help the body recover and build. These protein sources should be of a high biological value such as steak, chicken, fish, soy, milk or whey, and egg whites. Chicken, whey, and egg whites are often preferred due to their relatively low fat content. Some Bodybuilders prefer to get their daily protein requirement from foods first and then from supplementary protein powders.

 

Top

Vitamins & Minerals

Also, adequate intake of vitamins and minerals is necessary; Bodybuilders almost universally take a multi vitamin each day. Essential fatty acids, especially omega-3s, are consumed as well.

Top

Supplements

 

Supplements can help muscle gain, although some are unproven and many are ineffective. Creatine however, is one which has been proven to help bodybuilders. Although creatine only helps if used in conjunction with a solid nutritional base and weight training program, this is true for all supplements.

Some bodybuilders may use drugs to gain an advantage over results due to natural hypertrophy, especially in professional competitions. Although many of these substances are illegal in many countries, in professional bodybuilding the use of anabolic steroids (a class of natural and synthetic steroid hormones that promote cell growth and division, resulting in growth of muscle tissue and sometimes bone size and strength) and precursor substances such as prohormones (a chemical compound that is a precursor to an actual hormone) are essential to competing in world-class competitions. Steroids increase levels of free testosterone and result in muscle hypertrophy (increase of the size of an organ). Significant negative side-effects accompany steroid abuse, such as liver damage as well as negative feedback leading to a decline in the body's own testosterone production and possible infertility.

Top

More Diet tips

 

 

  • If you want to build muscle, you need to consume quality calories. How much calories? You need to consume more total calories in your weight lifting diet than your body uses each day. It is very important to understand that the human body is constantly working, using and storing energy day and night.

  • It is also very important to understand that in order to keep the machine rolling, you need to know what and how much to feed it. This is the single most important element in the muscle building process.

  • You need to feed your body a correct balance of calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat. Complete muscle building nutrition is the key. If you can find this key, I'll guarantee you that your muscle building efforts will sky rocket.

  • Complete muscle building nutrition leads to optimal nutrition. Over supplementation of certain nutrients will lead to imbalances in overall nutrition and is damaging to your weight lifting diet and health.

  • If you want to build muscle you need to prepare a well balanced weight lifting diet that is rich in quality calories. Most people who start out weight lifting usually overlook the importance of a well balanced weight lifting diet when they are trying to build muscle.

  • The sooner you understand that you need an optimal weight lifting diet, the sooner you'll achieve your goals and objectives.

  • It is very important that you understand the importance of nutrition when building muscle. Without a good weight lifting diet, your muscle gains will be non existent and at best, poor.

  • Sugars, for the most part, have no place in your diet. Sugars in dairy products are all right, as well as some simple sugars post workout (I myself enjoy some no sugar added ice cream after dinner occasionally, where the only sugar in it comes from the milk).

Top

Meal Frequency


Serious bodybuilders should be eating 4-6 times per day, period. Three meals per day simply will not cut it for mass gains. The biggest part of this is because it's difficult to consume sufficient calories for mass gains in only three meals. As well, multiple smaller meals keeps a steadier flow of nutrients into the body. Studies have also shown positive benefits of multiple, smaller meals on cholesterol and bodyfat levels (and I'm sure other indices of health). If nothing else, multiple meals typically makes it easier to consume the kind of high-calorie diets needed to sustain mass gains.
 

In practice, lifters should be putting something in their mouths food-wise ever 3 hours or so.  That's about how long you'll maintain blood glucose, insulin after a meal. Most proteins take 2-3 hours to fully digest (if not longer) so I see little need to eat protein more often than that.
 

Beyond that, arguably the most important meals are breakfast (to halt overnight catabolism) and post-workout. Post workout nutrition is a place I see lifters making major mistakes. I've watched guys at my gym finish their workouts and hang out talking (or flirting) for another 30-60'. There is a window of opportunity where nutrients are more effectively absorbed after a workout. By the hour mark, you've already lost some of the benefit. In my opinion, you should take something with you (or buy it there) to drink right after your workout. As I'll discuss in a subsequent article, there may be some benefit to consuming nutrients before or halfway through the workout as well. Although guidelines are sparse, typical recommendations for post-workout are 1-1.5 g/kg of carbs and about 1/3rd as much protein.
 

A final place to consider meal frequency is right before bedtime and in the middle of the night. Between your last meal and breakfast can be a long time to go without nutrients and anabolism might be better maintained if nutrients are consumed. There is also some data that the gut needs time to 'rest' itself and that round-the-clock eating may hamper that. Another consideration is that sleep should not be compromised to get more nutrients into the body. Since I usually wake up in the middle of the night anyhow (to go to the bathroom), I'll usually have some milk or something while I'm up. If you don't usually wake up in the middle of the night, a shake before bed (containing protein, carbs, fat and fiber) will help to keep a continuous flow of nutrients into your bloodstream.

 

Top