Chicken is one of the most popular protein foods for many body builders and is eaten practically everyday. The protein in chicken notably the chicken breast is of high quality and should be included in your body building meals. Just a piece of chicken breast of about 150-200 grams can give you a high protein value of between 45-60 grams. Its fat content is low and it contains all the essential amino acids for proper body functionment.

Tip: The high quality protein in chicken breast ensures proper protein synthesis and limits the protein to be used as fuel. With lower quality protein, you have more chances in using your protein as fuel which isn't good. Protein is muscles and you'll lose muscle gains. What you need is to use the fats as fuel not muscles.

Chicken is easily accesible on the market. Even people who don't do weight training eat chicken on a regular basis, so chicken is a staple food.

For body builders, eating chicken becomes a routine with time and can become quite boring since usually it's eaten with practically no pleasing taste or flavor whatsoever like just bland. By avoiding fats in their meals, body builders tend to eat less tasty meals. Usually when there are more fats, the food tastes better but it's not healthy. But you can prepare tasty chicken dishes like a grilled chicken breast with very low fat. Some of the ingredients that can be used are olive oil, pepper, salt and low fat barbecue sauce. Another tasty cooking method is to cut the chicken breast in small pieces and stir frying lightly(not deep frying) in olive oil, chopped garlic and onions, diced tomatoes and adding pepper, salt, chillies to give more flavor. Barbecue is also a good option but should be done in moderation since it's not too healthy.

Tip: Note that fats are important too in your body and should not be completely removed from your body building diet. But healthy unsaturated fats like olive oil are the way to go not animal fats.

Try to be more creative when eating chicken breast and make your chicken dishes mouth-watering. It's not very difficult.

About the author

Jean Lam is the webmaster of Body Building Resource which provides articles on weight training, nutrition and fitness, body building book and DVDs.