Muscle Building Foods

Build Muscle, Lose Fat with these key foods

Muscle Building Foods: Two major benefits of adding muscle to the body is a lean, toned appearance and an increased metabolism. A lean, toned appearance means better fitting clothes and the confidence to wear a bikini when you want to. And, having an increased metabolism helps you burn fat, unwanted calories, improves circulation, and gives you more energy.

Specific foods that help build muscle:
*Sheep and Goat Cheese
Rarely do I advocate eating cheese, yet, when adding muscle mass is a goal, I assume exercise is steady and active. As well, specific fatty acids in grass-eating sheep and goat cheese stimulates metabolism.

*Sweet potato
Sweet potato protein is made of sporamin which is a protein unique to this potato. Studies show that the amino acids in sweet potato rival that of eggs and assist in building muscle tissue.

*Eggs
Speaking of eggs, natural, organic eggs contain, on average, 100mg of cholesterol which is a precursor to muscle building hormones such as testosterone. As well, eggs are a good source of protein with an average of 6g per large egg.

*Celery
Snack all day on celery, if you want to. This crunchy, satisfying vegetable is highly anti-estrogen. In general, when estrogen is decreased, fat loss and muscle mass increase.

*Oysters and Shellfish
These foods are naturally high in zinc which stimulates testosterone. Another food high in zinc… pumpkin seeds.

*Brussels Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts are packed with Indole-3-Carbinol which is highly anti-estrogen. Add baby cabbage to the list as an anti-estrogen, too. Anti-estrogen supplements are commonly taken by bodybuilders to help offset increases in testosterone. These foods lower estrogen naturally.

There are a plethora of health benefits that come with eating these foods as well, but if muscle gain is your goal, place these foods on your menu each week. For maximum benefit, eat them as soon as possible AFTER your workout. Easy to keep on hand are celery, keep steamed, lightly roasted or sautéed Brussels sprouts in your refrigerator as well as sweet potatoes both of which are easily prepped ahead of time and keep for 4 days.

Many are advocates of protein powders. I recommend protein and muscle building foods from natural sources, such as these, but if you do add protein powder to your diet, I suggest vegan powders such as brown rice, quinoa or green pea powders over whey-based powders as vegan powders edge out whey when it comes to digestive and overall health.