Why do I need a Muscle building diet

The human body is beautifully robust and efficiently equipped to meet our daily demands.

The human cell is a miracle in itself, every minute of every day your body replaces nearly 300 million cells and incredible self re-newing ability that enables us to live long lives.  However this capacity for regeneration itself is wholly dependent upon the air we breathe, and the availability of raw materials, water, and other vital nutrients which must be supplied by the diet!

Muscle building diet

If you don’t drink or smoke excessively the single most important factor determining your health is NUTRITION.

This is because nutrition does more than provide raw materials for growth & repair.

Eg. Bioenergic nutrients are required for the transformation of food into energy.  Other  provide the essential building blocks that enables us to build strong bones.

Others provide nutrients that build and repair healthy connective tissue including the cartilage and joints, and antioxidant nutrients provide critical protection against environmental and metabolic toxins known as free-radicals.

Lets look at the importance of a muscle building diet….

NUTRITION IS LITERALLY  A MATTER OF LIFE & DEATH because most cells in the body have to withstand thousands and thousands of  free-radical attacks each day, and because our exposure to dangerous substances increases with air-pollution, illness, injury, allergy, smoking & high fat diets.

It’s easy to understand why so many of us don’t experience the level of vibrant health we desire, unless we ensure that our nutritional efforts are kept up free-radical damage can destroy vital tissue, accelerate aging & promote disease.

But unfortunately few of us enjoy a completely balanced lifestyle with optimal nutrition and regular exercise.  The more common fast-paced, high pressure, stressful lifestyle places extraordinary demands on the body and research has shown that nutritional supplements can provide valuable support in counteracting and protecting from the damage caused by our lifestyle.

It is not an easy task to balance all your intake of vitamins & minerals.  Indeed you would need to be an expert in this field (like a naturopath or nutritionist) to understand the complex interaction between vitamins & minerals and their benefits.

Thus as a basic measure I would highly recommend the use of ‘good quality’ supplements.

Unlikely to experience peak performance and health from the foods we eat due to the harvesting of plants before they are ripened, depleted soils, acid rain, transportation and storage of food and the creation of highly processed chemicalised food.

Supplements in addition to exercise can maximize our genetic potential in the most positive sense.

Now is the time to exit out of the dark ages of sports nutrition and enter into the scientifically based renaissance of high-tech performance nutrition.  This is your chance to do things right and get the competitive edge you need to win in sports & in life.

This is your muscle building diet…

 muscle building diet

 

NUTRITION OVERVIEW

All food can be divided into three parts – carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

The first two provide most of the fuel for the body to run on, while the third also provides the raw material for the cells and tissues.

Carbohydrates

  • Carbohydrates have four calories per gram
  • The brain and nervous system run on the glucose provided by  Carbohydrates
  • Carbs fuel the muscles during exercise
  • Carbs help maintain tissue protein
  • The body converts protein to carbohydrates when carb stores are low
  • 100 to 150 grams of carbohydrate are needed to prevent drawing on the body’s proteins
  • Carbs aid in the breakdown of free fatty acids
  • Complex carbohydrates – fruits, vegetables, whole grains – are good because they convert to blood sugar more slowly and provide energy longer.  They are also excellent sources of vitamins, minerals and fiber.
  • Refined carbohydrates – sugar, chocolate, soft drinks, white bread, etc. – are bad because they have zero nutrition value, they pack a load of calories, and their quick energy jags are rapidly depleted.

Fats

  • All fats have nine calories per gram
  • Fats are the main form in which energy is stored
  • They are the energy source for prolonged low-to-moderate intensity exercise
  • Fats are the ‘’shock absorber’’ for vital organs
  • Fat provide insulation from hot and cold
  • Fats are a source of vitamins A, D, E, and K.
  • Simple fats are triglycerides (95 percent of body fat), which are divided into saturated fatty acids, and unsaturated fatty acids.

Saturated fatty acids, which are solid at room temperature, are obtained from animal fats and include meat, egg yolks, dairy products, and shellfish.  Unsaturated fats, which are liquid at room temperature, come from plant sources, including corn oil, safflower oil, olive oil, and peanut oil.

  • Compound fats are simple fats combined with other chemicals.  The main ones are phospholipids, which are a key component of cell membranes, and lipoproteins, which transport fat in the blood.  These are HDLs (high density lipoproteins), LDLs (low density lipoproteins), and VLDL (very low density proteins).  HDLs, the good cholesterol lipoproteins, ferry cholesterol away from the walls of the arteries to the liver, where it is broken down into bile and excreted through the intestines.  The LDLs, the bad lipoproteins, carry the fat throughout the body, where they can form deposits in the arteries, causing atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries).
  • Derived fats combine simple and compound fats.
  • The best known of the derived fat is cholesterol.  Despite its bad reputation, cholesterol is essential for many body functions, including the synthesis of vitamin D, and male and female sex hormones.  The liver produces about 500 to 2000 milligrams of cholesterol a day regardless of how much you take in from food.  The main dietary sources of cholesterol are egg yolks, organ meats, shellfish, and dairy products (not the low or no fat kind)

Proteins

  • Proteins have four calories per gram
  • Primus inter pares: The first among equals, proteins are the foundation of all life.
  • Proteins make up one-half of dry body weight, including muscles, skin, bone, hair, teeth, eyes, nails, and scar tissue.
  • Hormones and enzymes, which orchestrate all the activities of the body, are proteins.
  • Proteins help maintain water and acid base balance, confer resistance to disease, carry oxygen in the blood, maintain growth, and repair of cells and tissue.
  • Proteins provide 10 to 15 percent of total energy expenditure during exercise of long duration
  • Protein stores are drawn from muscle and liver for energy when there is not enough carbohydrate or protein available from the daily diet; when people diet without exercising or maintaining adequate physical activity; during extended periods of bed rest or immobilization after injury.  This is known as negative nitrogen balance.
  • Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.  There are two kinds of amino acids, essential and nonessential.  Essential amino acid cannot be synthesized by the body and must be supplied from the outside.  Nonessential amino acids can be made from essential amino acids.  Complete proteins are composed of essential amino acids.  The absence of even one essential amino acid in the right amount will stop protein synthesis.
  • Protein comes from animal and plant sources.  Animal proteins – meat, milk, milk products, fish poultry, and eggs – contain all the essential acids in the correct proportions.  Plants proteins – grains and beans – usually lack one or more essential amino acid, but can be combined to form balanced proteins.
  • Excess protein is converted to fat and stored in fat cells.

The Four Other Vital Components

Foods and liquids supply four other essentials required to operate and maintain a healthy body – vitamins, minerals, fiber and water

Vitamins

  • Vitamins are organic substances in foods that are essential in small amounts for body processes
  • Vitamins facilitate energy release from fat, carbohydrate and protein.
  • Vitamins are vital for formation of red blood cells, connective tissue, proteins, and DNA
  • Deficiencies cause malfunction of body processes
  • Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in body fat an are not required on a daily basis. There are four – A,D, E, and K.  Deficiencies are rare, while excesses of A and D can be toxic
  • Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in fat and deficiencies can occur within two to four weeks.  Excesses are eliminated in the urine, making toxicity rare.  There are nine – C and B complex, which includes thiamine (B-1), riboflavin (B-2), niacin, pyridoxine (B-6), cyanocobalamin (B-12), folic acid, pantothenic acid, and biotin
  • Certain vitamins, such as C and E, and beta-caroteine, which is mobilized as A, are potent antioxidants, protecting the cells against free-radicals.

Minerals

  • Minerals are inorganic elements essential to life.
  • Minerals are involved in cellular and energy metabolism
  • Minerals act as enzymes or co-enzymes to regulate chemical reactions
  • Minerals are important for muscle contraction
  • Minerals maintain water balance, acid-base balance, and body fluids
  • Minerals are involved in nerve transmission
  • Minerals are involved in formation of teeth, bone, hemoglobin, protein synthesis, and development of hormones
  • Major minerals have a daily requirement of more than 100 miligrams per day. There are six – calcium, phosperous, magnesium, potassium , sodium and chloride.
  • Trace minerals are needed in quantities lesss than 100 milligrams a day and are present in small quantities in the body.  There are fourteen – choromium, cobalt, copper, flurine, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, silicon, tin, vanadium, zinc.

While theoretically it is possible to obtain all the vitamins and minerals from a well balanced diet, as a practical matter, unless you eat fruits and vegetables straight from your garden, a great deal of the nutrition is lost in the packing, storage, shipping, and cooking of foods.  As a result, we advise taking a high-potency daily vitamin and mineral supplement, especially if you are on a weight reduction program.

FIBER

  • Fiber forms the structural wall of plants
  • Fiber is technically not a nutrient since it is not digested
  • Fiber is found in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes
  • Fiber bulks the stools and speeds the removal of waste products through the intestinal tract and out of the body.
  • Fiber soaks up fat, fills the stomach, cuts the appetite
  • Fiber may reduce risk of colon cancer and other gut cancers
  • Water-soluble fiber comes mostly from whole wheat producs and increases the bulk in the digestive tract for faster elimination
  • Water-soluble fiber , which includes beans and oat bran, has a high binding activity and is believed to lower serum cholesterol.
  • The National Cancer Institute recommends 25 to 40 grams of fiber per day as opposed to the typical American intake of 18 to 20 grams per day. You need both water-soluble and water-insoluble fiber.
  • Overuse of bran fiber may result in leaching of calcium, magnesium, and zinc

WATER

  • Water is the most essential nutrient for life
  • We can survive weeks without food but only for a few days without water
  • Two- thirds of the body and 85 percent of the brain is water
  • Water is vital to almost every biological process, including digestion, absorption, circulation, and excretion.
  • Water is the main constituent of blood and lymph
  • Water regulates body temperature
  • Water lubricates joints and organs
  • Water moisturizes skin
  • Water maintains strong muscle
  • Dehydration, especially in heat and during exercise, causes loss of electrolytes, such as potassium and sodium, and can be life-threatening in advanced stages
  • We need over 8 to 10 eight ounces glasses a day / more in warmer cimates a day.  Replenishing water is especially important after exercise
  • Drinking a glass of water before meals cuts the appetite
  • Drink steam-distilled water, for its benefits of absorbing and elimination toxins from the body

The key to losing fat and gaining muscle is by taking growth hormone releasers.  By stimulating higher levels of endogenous growth hormone  and IGF-1, you will prime your body to do naturally what it did when you were younger-burn fat for energy and use the amino acids to build muscle.

THE KEY PRINCIPLES TO EATING

  • Eat six small meals a day, one every two to three hours.
  • Eat a portion of protein & carbohydrates with each meal
  • Add a portion of vegetables to at least two meals daily
  • A portion is the amount of an authorized food approximately the size of the palm of your hand or your clenched fist.
  • Consume one tablespoon of unsaturated oil daily or three portions of salmon per week
  • Drink at least 10 cups of water a day
  • Use protein shakes included if necessary to make sure you’re consuming optimal levels of required nutrients
  • Plan your meals in advance, and use your food diary to record what you eat
  • Plan your grocery list
  • Once a week, on your reward day, eat whatever you want

 Now you know how to create the perfect Muscle Building diet!