Let’s Start Out With Nutrition Basics

Proper nutrition is one of the key elements in putting on massive muscular body size. Some people think that it may be the most important element.

The diet of a bodybuilder and the diet of the average person are vastly different. For example, the average person derives most of his or her caloric intake from processed foods. “There is a problem with the average diet in that two-thirds of the food Americans eat is processed, and processing almost always depletes nutrient content. Government surveys continually find vast numbers of Americans deficient in many nutrients critical to health. Sugar and highly processed refined carbohydrates comprise an estimated 60 percent of our total dietary intake. These are the “empty calorie” foods, poor in nutrition, high in fat, that force the body to borrow from nutrient reserves to digest the junk.”

If you try and build a big and muscular body on junk food you will almost instantly flop. The diet of the average person just won’t cut it when it comes to making your muscles massive. Processed food will make your stomach massive instead of your muscles. The difference a proper diet makes is seen in the contrast between a bloated belly as opposed to bulging muscles. The two are opposites. Each comes about through different dietary approaches.

The bodybuilder’s dietary approach could well be called “nasty nutrition.” The bodybuilder doesn’t eat all of the junk food that the average person does. To successfully control the shape of the physique you have to eat nutritious foods. That means very little junk food. Of course junk foods taste great, but they have the unfortunate ability to pack fat onto the body – exactly what you don’t want if you are trying to make your muscles more massive. Instead of processed foods and tons of refined sugar and fats, a bodybuilder eats high-quality proteins, complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, and nutritious supplements. That probably doesn’t sound too tasty, but that is what builds bigger muscles.

Frequency

The average person eats 2 or 3 large meals a day. However, this approach won’t work if you want to pack muscle size onto your body. The best manner in which to provide the body with the material needed for larger is to eat several small meals throughout the day. It is interesting to see how this dieting approach, though customary for bodybuilders for quite some time, is now gaining support in the nutritional and medical communities. The “feast and fast” approach of the average person has been found to not be as effective nutritionally as the several smaller but more frequent dining periods. The idea is to provide the body with a low, consistent flow of nutrients rather than stuffing it with so much food and then leaving it empty afterwards. One of the basic fundamentals of dieting for super-size is to eat several smaller meals on a frequent basis. The body will have an easier time digesting the smaller meals and the frequency will keep insulin and nitrogen levels in a positive state.

Make Sure You Are Taking Quality Protein

It is important to make certain that the protein you are taking is high-quality protein. A protein is a chain of units called amino acids. There are 22 amino acids, and of these, eight are essential. They are labeled essential because the body cannot manufacture them on its own and the body desperately needs them. The essential amino acids are valine, leucine, isoleucine, threonine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan. A protein source is considered complete if it contains all eight essential amino acids. Incomplete proteins are proteins that do not contain all eight – they lack one or more of the eight mentioned. Plant proteins are incomplete proteins. To get enough quality proteins from plants you have to go through an elaborate mixing situation. It is far better to obtain most of your protein from quality complete sources. Arnold Schwarzenegger notes that “the highest-quality proteins come from animal sources – eggs, fish, poultry, meat, and dairy products. Much lower in value (because they are not readily assimilated) are proteins of plant origin – beans, rice, corn, peas, and nuts. To make these more readily available for use in the body they should be taken with animal proteins. Generally speaking, the bodybuilder will experience the fastest growth by choosing protein from animal sources.”

As noted by Arnold, the protein from animal sources is of the best quality. Get most of your protein from animal sources to make the quickest progress in attaining supersized muscles.

All proteins are not created equal. The way you can tell which protein is best for your body is by checking the biological value (BV) of the protein in question. The higher the biological value, the better the protein source for your body. What is the very best? Egg protein is, with a BV of 100. Fish comes in high in the 75 to 90 range (depending upon the type of fish you eat). Rice has a surprisingly high BV of 86, but corn only has a BV of 40. Generally speaking, a biological value of 70 or better indicates acceptable quality. For the quickest gains, choose protein-rich foods which are of acceptable quality (meats, eggs, dairy products, rice, fish, poultry).

Keep Track

Keep track of the amount of protein that you take in per day. If you have to, carry around a small notebook and mark down the amount of protein that you are getting. At the end of the week check your daily average and see if it is up to the level indicated earlier as being necessary for your body size. A good source is the labels listed on the food items in the stores. These labels indicate how much of each element you are receiving in each serving by serving size.

King Protein

For the person who wishes to pack on real muscle mass, protein is king, the crucial nutrient that repairs the muscle and brings about the massive size desired. If you find that your workouts are complete but you are still not growing, recheck your protein intake. You may need more than you are currently getting.