Nutrition
is key for muscle-building such that in the bodybuilding world,
there are many different views as far as eating whole foods vs
supplements are concerned. There is a thorough debate going on
but in my honest opinion, I think whole foods and supplements
can be used as part of your bodybuilding nutrition but your primary
focus should be on whole foods. If you can't get your nutrition
right, supplements won't do anything magical for your progress.
Supplements are just that, just to supplement an existing nutritional
plan not to replace it although they can be used as meal replacement
at times notably when you don't have enough time to prepare a
real meal. To resume, supplements are rather handy and convenient
and can help you in your goals but should not be relied upon mostly.
Eating real solid foods should be your primary objective.
First
and foremost, what you need to do is have a proper nutrition routine
in place then you can start adding supplements. You should try
having 4-6 meals per day. The portion of your meals should not
be too big, rather a fist-sized portion for each food item will
do. Your goal is to have small quality meals every 3 hours or
so to keep your metabolism active and making your body anabolic.
Usually some brown rice, chicken breast, broccoli florets and
a drizzle of olive oil is an example of a quality bodybuilding
meal packed with nutrients for muscle-building. Here you have
complex carbs, protein, fiber and healthy fats.
The
difference between whole foods and supplements is the nutrients
like vitamins, minerals etc
you get from whole foods can't
be compared to supplements. If you rely only on supplements, you
will be lacking some essential nutrients from real whole foods.
It's true that supplements are derived from foods like milk(80%
casein, 20% whey) but nutrition-wise, your diet will be lacking
some important vitamins and minerals from other food sources.
But can you rely on whole foods alone? Sure you can and your progress
will be impressive even without supplements.
Having
said all that, one critical time when supplements can play a key
role is for post-workout and I believe this is the best time to
have supplements. Other than that, you can stick to whole foods.
Why post-workout? It's true you can have a solid meal after training
with fast-acting carbs like white rice and a lean protein like
skinless chicken breast but frankly it isn't the best time to
have a meal from whole foods. Why? Honestly, it's rather a personal
choice but for me I don't think I'll be able or want to eat a
real meal within a few minutes after my training. Here are 2 reasons:
The
first and simple reason is I'm rather thirsty not hungry and I'll
gladly gulp down a cold protein shake to alleviate my thirst.
There is nothing better than a refreshing drink right after an
intense workout.
The
second reason is I want to refuel my body fast and a liquid meal
digests faster than a solid meal and this is what you want at
this critical point in time. Many people call it the "window
of opportunity" whereby you need a fast-acting carb like
dextrose
or waxy maize and a fast-digesting protein like whey protein isolate
as soon as you finish working out. It's not a myth as some think
because refueling your body as soon as possible post-workout really
makes a difference in keeping your body more anabolic(building
muscle) as opposed to catabolic(losing muscle).
What I recommend is have a cold whey protein shake within 15 minutes
post-workout then have a solid meal one hour later, this truly
works best.
For
a large variety of whey protein supplements, go to the whey
protein store.