When you have a more than causal relationship with the gym and you
are pushing iron for hundreds of reps every day it is important to fuel
your body correctly. The basics are very simple. Prioritize protein, get
enough water and eat in caloric excess if you are trying to grow
muscle. Meat, eggs, green vegetables, complex carbohydrates and water
should be making up the bulk of your diet and you already know this.
However, there are other things you should consider adding to your diet
that may seem a little strange but will ultimately help you in your goal
attainment.
Yes, you know you should be eating some eggs with your diet. Eggs are
essentially a perfect food. With 6 grams of the highest quality of
protein, a long list of vitamins and a ton of amino acids they simply
can’t be beat for fuel, energy and recovery.
Right now I am in the early stages of my workout program and as such I
will eat 6 eggs a day. 4 of them with breakfast, one with my midday
snack and another one with dinner.
Egg-Cellent Gainz Maker
A four egg breakfast is a very good start. With 294 calories, 29.88g
of (very healthy) fats, 1.54g carbs and a whopping 25.16g of protein
this is a very good way to start your day. As my workouts ramp up over
the next few weeks, my breakfast will grow from 4 to 6 eggs and
eventually to 8 at its highest point.
Unless you have very specific problems with cholesterol, if you are lifting weights you should be eating a lot of eggs.
If you are not on a very strict ketogenic diet in order to cut weight
you will need to take in some carbs post workout to refuel your body
and glycogen stores. The absolute best way to get post workout carbs is
to get something that is very easily absorbed. One way to do that is to
get some waxy maize or some post workout carb powder. However, as is
often the case now that lifting weights is big business, there are just a
bunch of really pricey powders you can mix and hope aren’t filled with
all sorts of shit you don’t want.
Refuel like your inner child.
If you want easily absorbed then why not go to the product that is
made specifically for that, is all natural, is easily available and
inexpensive: Baby Food. If you need a carb refuel after a set of massive
volume deadlifts open yourself a small jar of sweet potato babyfood. At
only 70 calories and with 16g of very easily absorbed carbohydrates
along with 9g of natural sugars, if you want a carb refueling post
workout you can’t go wrong with Gerber.
While we are on the topic of baby food I think it is important to
mention Pedialyte. If you are not already rehydrating with it you should
consider doing so. Plan to go out for a few drinks? Pedialyte. Spent 5
hours in the gym kicking ass and feeling a little headachy? Pedialyte.
Need an intraworkout drink on very heavy lifting days? Pedialyte. Simply
need to up your hydration level? Pedialyte.
Now, don’t get me wrong this is not for every day. Pedialyte is over
kill for most days (if you are getting your gallon of water a day) and
it is very expensive. However, for special occasions where the hydration
is a must this is the stuff to use.
It tastes like shit. Just drink it.
With 6 times the potassium as Gatorade and an off the charts
electrolyte boost, when you really need to up your hydration you should
be drinking this stuff.
This is one I recently learned about. You seriously need to be eating
sauerkraut. High in fiber, vitamin rich and filled with minerals,
Sauerkraut is a true to life superfood. With only 27 calories per cup
and 1g of net carbs with 1.3g protein there is no reason to avoid this.
One of the biggest benefits of Sauerkraut is that it is both a
prebiotic and a probiotic. This means that it will leave healthy
bacteria in the digestive system while simultaneously feeding them with
sugars which are indigestible to humans, but are loved by those healthy
bacteria.
There are a lot of reasons you want this healthy bacteria to flourish
in your digestive system. They aid in the production of serotonin as
well as preventing insulin insensitivity that will help the body burn
fat faster. More than this, sauerkraut helps with inflammation, which is
a problem all lifters encounter.
No
not that kind of Sour Kraut.
Side note, notice the strain and look at
the weight he is lifting. Think about this next time you brag about how
much you curl.
So warm up (do not cook) some nice fresh (refrigerated not shelf
bought) sauerkraut and have a half a cup with your protein 3 times a
week. It will fill you up and deliver a ton of great health benefits.
With a big punch of 27g of protein per cup, cottage cheese is a huge
friend to the body builder. However, the protein in cottage cheese is no
ordinary protein it is Casein protein. Casein protein is special in
that unlike whey protein, which is very quickly absorbed into the body,
the amino acids in casein provide a slow release and steady supply of
the muscle-building nutrient. This is why cottage cheese makes a perfect
before bed snack. While you sleep and your body is in recovery mode
your 27 grams of protein will be slowly and steadily feeding the process
all night.
The next big benefit to cottage cheese is that it is full of
riboflavin. Riboflavin helps to metabolize the protein that is being fed
into your system by the cottage cheese as well as breaking down fats
and carbohydrates into energy.
Miss Muffet knew you needed both curds and whey.
One thing I like to do is mix a tablespoon of almond butter into my
cup of cottage cheese so I get the full gamut of protein. It also helps
with the taste. Another thing you might like is to put a scoop of your
favorite protein powder into your cup of cottage cheese and whip it
until it is like a pudding.
I hope you guys got something useful out of this and will think about adding some (or all) of these foods to your diet.
Let me know below what you think and any off beat food or drinks that you use to fuel your body.
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