10 Foods That Are Great For Building Muscle
People often think packing on muscle is a simple as working hard in the gym and eating as much as humanly possible. While this method will hold some merit, it by no means the best way to go about it.
This is ultimately because increasing our caloric intake by too much (or increasing through the consumption of ‘junk’ foods) can lead to the mass accumulation of fatty tissue in conjunction with muscle mass – effectively destroying what we were trying to achieve in the first place.
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As a result, it is incredibly important that we focus on food quality in conjunction with quantity.
It is often a forgotten factor, but the quality of your food can play an integral role in your ability to put on lean muscle mass.
In fact, it could actually be the most important factor when trying to build lean muscle tissue.
By ensuring we consume foods that are of a high quality, we also guarantee the intake of a huge number of vitamins and minerals. These micronutrients play a number key roles in the efficient function of the body’s systems at a cellular level - and by ensuring we consume enough of them we can ensure our body is running optimally.
This in turn can limit the accumulation of fatty tissue, while also improving the repair and development of muscle tissue, leading the overall growth of lean muscle tissue.
Similarly, by eating high quality foods we can limit our intake of both Tran’s fats and highly processed carbohydrates.
The consumption of Tran’s fats has shown strong associations with the development of cardiovascular risk factors, and has even been suggested to lead to the growth of cancerous cells.
Equally, the consumption of highly processed carbohydrates is known to lead to weight gain, has shown strong associations with metabolic diseases such as diabetes, while also leading to systemic inflammation throughout the body (which can further limit the body’s ability function at an optimal level).
Limiting the consumption of these low quality foods is a great way to maximize the development of lean mass by maintaining the optimal health of the body in its entirety.
With this in mind, there are a few simple tricks that can help guarantee you are picking foods with high food quality.
- Pick foods that have undergone no processing. If it looks like it was made in a factory, or comes with a wrapper, its probably not a good option.
- Opt for foods that register lower on the GI scale as they are absorbed at a slower rate into the body.
- Choose foods with a high protein content – animal products are often you best bet here.
- Choose foods that have high nutritional value and contain a host of vitamins and minerals – this includes vegetables, fish, beef and chicken.
- Steer clear of fast food.
If you want to start introducing some decent food into your diet, the following guide outlines the ten most effective, high quality, foods that can contribute to the growth of new muscle tissue.
