Fitness Foods- The Best Foods To Use In Body Building

For bodybuilders, a food counts as “good food” if it provides many protein-rich nutrients for muscle building and protection. On the other hand, a “bad food,” such as pure sugar, only provides so-called empty calories. This means that although this food is very high in calories, it ultimately receives few nutrients for natural muscle building. Most of the time, foods that are high in empty calories make you fat and, especially with a soft gainer, promote fat accumulation to a large extent.

Good Food : Soft Gainer Vs. Hard Gainer

In general, one can say that a hard gainer can cope with a nutritional sin much better than a soft gainer could. The reason is simply that the hard gainer usually has a slight tendency to build up fat. Nevertheless, these foods are less suitable for promoting good muscle-building since the calories matter and their quality. On the other hand, the soft gainer should eat “clean” as much as possible, since the bad food here impacts the weight very quickly, mostly only in terms of unwanted fat build-up.

Another Disadvantage Of Bad Food

The body measures the degree of satiety from the number of calories consumed and the quality of the food. The body needs the macronutrients, including fat, carbohydrates, and protein, and many co-substrates for the metabolism, such as valuable micronutrients and various amino acids such as glutamine BCAAs and arginine. Bad foods usually provide a lot of empty calories concerning few micronutrients. The disadvantage is that you can eat a lot of it and only experience a low satiety level concerning calories. 

Chocolate, for example, only supplies the body with a considerable portion of sugar and fat. Micronutrients are few and far between in light chocolate. If it should be chocolate, you should go for dark chocolate with a cocoa content of around 70%. This chocolate provides a relatively large amount of nutrients and far less sugar. Even in this case, the amount of chocolate should not exceed 25g per day.

Also Read: THE BEST DIET FOR ATHLETES TO EAT

The Macro Nutrients In The Diet

Food is always made up of the three primary macronutrients, carbohydrates, fats, and protein! In the following, we would like to introduce you to these three macronutrients in more detail:

Carbohydrates

Today, carbohydrates are both friend and foe in nutrition. There are many stories and myths about carbohydrates. Some of them are now entirely avoiding carbohydrates. In general, however, one can say that carbohydrates have replaced fat as the “devil in nutrition” for the most part at all levels. On the other hand, we are generally to be demonized across the board. Then there are not only two sides of the same coin, but always mediocrity. 

Above all, a distinction must be made here in 3 situations, instead of simply generalizing:

a) Who supplies the carbohydrates? (Metabolism, goal, etc.)

b) When are the carbohydrates supplied? (Time of intake)

c) Which carbohydrates are consumed? (long-chain, short-chain)

One likes to differentiate carbohydrates into good and bad carbohydrates. Bad carbohydrates include all carbohydrates that are only very short-chain. The downside to these carbohydrates is that they break down quickly. These carbohydrates include dextrose, wheat flour, and table sugar. Long-chain carbohydrates, on the other hand, are seen as a good source of energy. These carbohydrates can be found in whole grain products, sweet potatoes, vegetables, fruit, and rice. The advantage of long-chain carbohydrates is that they provide the body with extensive energy. The brain only feeds on carbohydrates, so these are of the utmost importance for concentration. 

Furthermore, the muscle glycogen stores, which have a volume of approx. 400-600g, consist exclusively of converted carbohydrates. So if you want to build up, you would do well to use good carbohydrates in an “optimal” amount. Everyone has to find out the optimal amount for themselves in a self-explanatory manner, but this is primarily based on the metabolic type. However, this is not always a 100% measurement marker.  For example, the hard gainer is also very sensitive to carbohydrates and thus accumulates a lot of fat. Of course, generally typical for this type, in the abdominal area.

Protein

Protein should not be a foreign word to any bodybuilder. No life is possible without protein. Everything in the body consists of amino acids (broken down proteins) formed from this important vital substance. The proteins are essential for the development of all tissues, especially the muscles. When it comes to protein, it is essential that the amount and, above all, the value of the protein. Vegetable proteins, for example, are usually quite inferior. The protein value is measured as a reference in the biological value. 

The egg protein was taken here as the basis with a value of 100. The vegetable proteins mentioned above sometimes make it into the 50 range, while a combination of egg and potatoes makes a gigantic 136. In bodybuilding, isolated proteins are used that all serve different purposes. There is, for example, the short-chain whey protein from whey and, on the other hand, the long-chain, thick casein protein, which is very suitable as a “night-time protein.” The egg protein contains sulfurous amino acids and is particularly popular in competitive bodybuilding. 

In the diet itself, there are also many differences in terms of protein quality. We recommend that you use high-quality protein sources for your essential nutrition. Above all, possible sources are low-fat beef and poultry meat, eggs, fish, and dairy products. The intake of protein for the bodybuilder should be up to 2g per kg of body weight per day to supply the normal metabolism and provide an excess of protein for important muscle building.

Fats

In the past, fats were very often demonized and downright banned. When it comes to fats, a distinction is made between saturated and unsaturated fats, while unsaturated fats are further divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The majority of the diet should consist of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, but avoiding saturated fats is fatal. It is primarily the mixture and the intake between 60-80g per day when it comes to fats. Particularly noteworthy is the area of ​​fats is the often neglected  omega-3 fatty acids that are found in high-fat sea fish.

Beware Of Trans Fats

The so-called trans fatty acids should be eliminated from the diet, as they are generally very harmful and useless. Once established in the body, trans fatty acids are difficult to remove. The trans-fatty acids can be found in many cheap foods, baked goods, and some inferior kinds of margarine (please note the reverse side/list of ingredients!) And also, in fast food, low fat is often used for frying here.

The Essential Foods For Body Building Training

Now we would like to introduce you to our top 5 for each category of macronutrients. You should not lack these foods in your diet to have a balanced diet.

The top 5 carbohydrates

1. Whole grain rice
2. Whole wheat pasta
3. oatmeal
4. Sweet potatoes
5. Whole grain bread

The top 5 sources of protein

1. Low-fat beef and turkey meat
2. All high-quality fish
3. Several egg whites together with a few egg yolks
4. Quark dishes, cottage cheese
5. Low-fat cheese

The top 5 sources of fat

1. Omega-3 fats from sea fish or supplements
2. Olive oil and rapeseed oil
3. linseed oil
4. Walnuts, almonds
5. Butter (provides valuable CLA)

As you can see, the valuable suppliers of essential macronutrients also count as very high quality and nutrient-rich in general nutrition. Make sure that you incorporate as many of these high-quality foods as possible into your diet while at the same time avoiding more and more bad foods such as trans-fatty acids, sugar, and white flour.  Not only will this be a boon to your shape, but it will also boost your energy level and mental mood a huge chunk at the same time.

Also Read: HIGH PROTEIN FOODS FOR FITNESS & BODY BUILDING