Nothing has the ability to make or break your physique more than your diet. You are what you eat ! Have you ever asked how can I gain muscle and lose fat? Diet is about what goes in your body versus the energy you burn.
- Maintenance levels is the amount of food your body needs
- Eat more than this and your body stores the excess as fat
- Eat less than this and your body strips what it needs at the expense of your well being
If your body needs to wait too long between meals it will start using up the reserves. So remember to not miss meals. By eating five to six smaller meals in a day, every two or three hours, the body doesn’t need to ‘fuel’ any shortage. This achieves balance and consistency that your digestive system and muscles will reward you for. Remember these meals should include protein, fat and carbohydrates.
Protein is used to maintain existing muscle. If you’re trying to grow muscle you’ll need more protein than normal. Without enough protein your body has nothing to build with. Foods like meat, chicken, fish, eggs, milk and milk based products are high in protein. It can also be found in smaller quantities in nuts, seeds, pulses and grains.
Slow Releasing Bioavailability - Casein, or calcium caseinate / Egg albumin (egg white)
Quite cheap, the slow digestion makes it a constant source of protein absorbed over several hours. Use the slow release protein as a meal replacement when looking for longer sustained release to get you through to your next meal.
Fast Releasing Bioavailability – Whey concentrate / Whey isolate
More expensive but also easily digested absorbing into the body quicker. Use the fast release protein immediately after a workout whilst your body is ready to absorb all it can get.
Fat is often under the misconception it makes you fat. Some fats are essential in the diet and in fact help certain vitamins and minerals absorb. You may ask what the link is between dietary fat and body fat. Each gram of dietary fat packs far more calories than the other macro nutrients. Over indulgence in lots of fats which go over your body’s maintenance levels of energy, are in return stores as body fat. So the term eat in moderation is great here. Saturated fats found in meat, butter increase the risk of heart disease. Unsaturated fats are a better choice to opt for, either monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, which are considered good fats. These can be found in vegetable oils, nuts, olives, avocados and fatty fish, as in salmon or tuna.
Carbohydrates are the bodies preferred source of energy and come in two forms, complex and simple.
High GI - Complex are starchy foods i.e. potatoes, rice, white flour and plain white pasta. These are absorbed into the body at a slower rate and need more digesting. This results in a steady more prolonged rise in blood sugar levels.
Low GI - Complex options such as kumera, brown rice and wheat, as well as beans are even better for providing a slower release of sugar over a much longer period than the high GI options listed above and therefore providing much better alternatives.
Simple are the sugars which include sucrose (common sugar), glucose, fructose (fruit), dextrose and lactose. These are absorbed into the body at a quicker rate than complex which results in a sharp immediate rise in blood sugar levels.
Carbohydrates break down by the body, and stored as glycogen. Protein is the material to build your body, glycogens are the fuel to power it.
In Summary
If you eat a lot of fast releasing carbohydrates whilst your muscles are lacking energy after a workout, mostly it will be used to restore that energy and won’t be converted to fat. As an added bonus the insulin response will draw the protein to the muscle which is the key for growth. This is especially so after you’ve ripped the muscle fibres.
However, if you overload on the carbohydrates at a time where there is no need, when your muscles and liver already have plenty of glycogen, then the excess carbohydrates store as fat.
Words of Encouragement
The human body is capable of regeneration. It can't grow limbs or organs but it sure can clean them up after previous damage has been made from things like unhealthy food choices, smoking, drinking, etc. It is never too late to make lifestyle changes. Anyone can do it. It just takes one step at a time to improve your diet, lifestyle and therefore well being. Change one thing a day, a week, a month. It is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
Remember that balance is just that. Do not rule out your favourite junk food, just limit it. A diet is not meant to be set in concrete. It needs to be flexible or balance can not be obtained. Pretty much anything is okay, in moderation. As time goes on you will be in a position to make more changes with very little effort, simply because you will opt to make better choices. Strive to consider a diet being nothing more than choosing balanced lifestyle choices.
