I am not someone who necessarily believes in making a top 10 muscle building foods list. But it is good to know what these foods are. You need to be eating quality sources when you’re trying to work on your body and your muscular composition. It’s more than what you eat. It’s the timing of what you eat as well. Food does in fact impact your ability to build muscle and add muscle. Contrary to what some believe, it’s not all about JUST cutting carbohydrates, or JUST cutting fat. It’s not even about how much protein you can stuff yourself with in a day - it ALL plays a part.
Check out your own kitchen pantry and fridge for these muscle building foods
Yogurt: This is a dairy product that many people eat and enjoy. Yogurt has many benefits. It has the healthy cultures to promote proper amounts of certain necessary bacteria in your system to help digest all your daily intake. To be honest, I really feel that yogurt is nearly a REQUIREMENT in the way of muscle building foods. Pair some yogurt with some delicious fruit and this will stave off cravings for sweets. I enjoy yogurt and fruit to start my day every morning. Use in place of ice cream if you are craving sweets.
Next are eggs. When it comes to the breakdown ratio of protein into the body, there’s NO GREATER natural source on earth! Another one of the must have muscle building foods. Get tired of cooking up protein meals? Omelets are a quick and simple way to infuse more protein into your diet. Four to six eggs will do. Add veggies and possibly some onions or salsa and you are set to go. Eggs are packed with protein and not much fat at all. They’re a great building block for the rest of your diet. The body needs some fat to make foods absorb more gradually, thereby eliminating drastic blood glucose elevations.
Chicken Breasts: Yes, we all know animal flesh has a lot of protein in it, but chicken has it all beat hands down. Chicken is the top muscle building foods in the animal product department. For one thing, boneless skinless chicken can be incorporated into SO MANY different meals, you really can’t afford NOT to have it on hand. Chicken fajitas and enchiladas are two of my very favorites. For all-around muscle building foods, this Mexican favorite has EVERYTHING you need.
Rice, Potatoes, and Yams: Surprised to see these listed here? Lots of people have thrown carbs under the bus in the news recently. What people forget is that carbs such as these have a protein sparring effect. Without adequate carbohydrates, your system with not utilize protein as a building block, but rather it will be wasted basically as a source for your body’s fuel. The problem with burning protein is that it is an expensive energy source compared to simple carbs. Carbs are especially crucial for naturally skinny hard gainers. If you’re trying to gain muscle and you tend to be slender, then you really have to ramp up your carb consumption.
Better Nutrition requires post-training consumption of simple carbs and fat-free meals
Basically, post-workout is the time for carbs that break down quickly. Remember, do NOT eat or drink fatty foods following your workout. As previously mentioned, fat slows absorption of vital nutrients into your muscles. So, you obviously you would do well to eat foods that break down faster at this critical time.
Add Fat to All Other Meals or Snacks
Post-training, you don’t want your body’s ability to soak up nutrients to be compromised. But the rest of the day, you actually do. If you don’t eat fat, then your body will soak up what you eat very quickly. As a matter of fact, your body’s pace will beat the rate that you can actually use them. So then your blood sugar rises and drops. This isn’t good for your dieting efforts overall. Proper fat intake at proper times of the day can help you avoid this. This fat will help you slow your absorption rate and you won’t have that spike and crash you will get otherwise.
Summary: Obviously there are a lot more muscle building foods than what I mentioned here, but this is a great start.