Bodybuilding Foods
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Good Foods for Bodybuilding
In bodybuilding terminology it is called your food stack but basically what it means is the combination and types of protein that you eat every day as a bodybuilder. Whether you are just starting out or you have been pumping iron for many years your food stack is without a doubt the most important piece of the puzzle.
When any well-built man is seen without clothes on like on a beach or at a pool side people will always think of the results of hard work, discipline and some good eating habits and supplementation. There is no doubt many people also think steroids and how you got that way.
The bottom line is that whether you are taking steroids, fancy supplements like glutamine, fish oil, BCAA's, or creatine it all comes down to the food that you eat. You need to eat at least six times a day on well planned well thought and well prepared foods.
Protein is vital and the cheapest and best source of protein is going to come from egg whites. Here is what you will get from only one large egg.
16 Calories, 3g of Protein, .5g of Carbs and 0g of Fat
Egg whites are your best bet first thing in the morning. You only want the egg white because the yolk has the fat of the egg and you want to build lean mass, not fat mass. Since you need protein, 10-12 egg whites a day will suffice for a meal. That means you will have 160-192 calories and 30-36 grams of protein first thing in the morning. That may seem like a lot to you, but it really is not that expensive, especially if you buy your eggs in bulk.
The next is your carbohydrates which is where you are going to get your energy from to get through your intense workouts. A good complex carb is oats and here is what you get from one cup of oats. 120 Calories consisting of 3g of Protein, 25g of Carbohydrates and 1.5g of Fat.
Oatmeal is a great idea for a carbohydrate source in the morning because it is a complex carbohydrate that will help you get your energy levels up for the day. It is low in fat and also high in fiber. Like eggs, if you buy your oats in the bigger containers instead of the ten packet boxes you will save money. Also, the carbs in oatmeal are low glycemic so they will slowly be absorbed by the body over time. The energy you get from the oats will last a while which helps later in the day. Now that breakfast is covered, let's move on to lunch.
Lunchtime you need to think protein again and tuna is a great source of protein full of essential nutrients. From one cup of drained tuna in water you will get 180 Calories with 39g of Protein, 0g of Carbs and 1.25g of Fat.
Tuna is one of the best sources of protein that bodybuilders can possibly have in their food arsenal. It is rich in protein, it requires little or no effort to fix depending on how you like to eat it and the best part is that it is cheap. You can get tuna for less than 75 cents a can in most places. Make sure you get the tuna that is stored in water.
Looking at the carbs that needs to be mixed with your tuna there are many options but brown rice is probably the best. With one cup of brown rice you get 220 Calories consisting of 4.5g of Protein, 45g of Carbohydrates and 1.5g of Fat.
Just like your oatmeal at breakfast, Brown Rice is a complex carbohydrate that is rated low on the glycemic index scale. Whether you workout in the morning or afternoon to early evening, taking rice at this point in the day is smart because if you trained in the morning, you will recover better.
If you are training later then your energy will be high despite what all you have planned in your day and you can still give it your all in the gym. So now lunch is taken care of and at this point in your day you should be running on all cylinders. Let's go ahead and focus on dinner because after a long day, you want to make sure you get what you need before going to bed.
For dinner you should look at chicken as a good source of protein. In one cup of chicken you get 215 Calories consisting of 38g of Protein, 0g of Carbs and 6g of Fat.
Chicken is a bodybuilder's best friend. They provide your protein for breakfast in the eggs and they are the protein source for dinner at the end of the day. There are different ways to prepare your bird so having this variety will be good if you need to break the monotony of having it every day.
The only thing that may not be a good idea is frying it. However you choose to fix it, it is very affordable and awesome to have to ensure your protein needs for the evening are met. The last serious bodybuilding food we are going to look at is dried black beans, which is a great source of protein as well as carbs.
In one cup you get 225 Calories consisting of 15g of Protein, 41g of Carbs and Less than 1g of Fat. Although it is high in protein as well, Black Beans are awesome carbs for the end of the day. Combined with your chicken, this is a tremendous muscle building meal to cap off your muscle building nutrition stack.
Now if you are more focused on fat loss, then you will not have a carbohydrate source at the end of the day. You don't want any extra calories that may go unprocessed and be stored as body-fat while you are sleeping.
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