One
of the most popular protein sources for bodybuilders is chicken.
Whether you prefer the chicken breast, the drumsticks, the thighs
or the wings, chicken is a really great protein for building muscle.
Here are 4 reasons why you should eat chicken:
High
amount of quality protein
As
you might know already, to build muscle, you need to consume enough
protein for muscle growth and for maintenance as well. Talk about
1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, so if you weigh let's
say 180 pounds, you'll need roughly 180 grams of protein per day.
If you eat 6 meals a day, that's 30 grams of protein per meal.
Protein should be included in your daily diet. An easy way to
get your protein intake is from chicken since the latter is high
in quality protein. Here are some protein values of different
chicken parts based on 100 grams.
Roasted
skinless chicken breast - 31 grams
Roasted chicken thigh - 27 grams
Roasted chicken drumstick - 28 grams
Roasted chicken wing - 30 grams
Low
in saturated fat
Even
though chicken is high in protein, you should be aware of the
saturated fat content values as well and fortunately chicken contains
minimal saturated fat as compared to beef or pork for instance.
Saturated fat is not really healthy and should be limited whether
your goal is to build muscle, lose weight or simply keep fit.
Based
on the roasting cooking method, chicken thigh contains 3.4 grams
of saturated fats for a 4 ounce(113 grams) serving while chicken
drumstick has 1.7 grams and chicken wings 2.3 grams for the same
serving size. The leanest is definitely the chicken breast at
only 1.1 grams of saturated fat per 4 ounce grilled, this is why
it's so popular among bodybuilders. Your cooking method is definitely
important as well if you want to keep your chicken the healthiest
possible. If you deep fry, you're going to add more fats and calories
to it as compared to if you boil, steam, roast or grill.
Good amount
of unsaturated fat
We
all need fats in our diet for proper bodily functions and our
fat intake should mostly be derived from unsaturated fats like
omega-3 monounsaturated/polyunsaturated. These are healthy fats
which are good for the heart and also help in the muscle building
process like protein synthesis. If you're bulking up, you need
some good fats in your diet as these will make your muscles fuller,
bigger, denser and harder.
In
100 grams of chicken meat, you have a total of 13 grams of fat
of which 3.5 grams are saturated, 2.7 grams polyunsaturated and
4.9 grams monounsaturated. As you can see, more than half of the
fat are unsaturated, to be exact that's 7.6 grams. Here is a small
breakdown of unsaturated fats from these 3 chicken parts:
Roasted
skinless chicken breast - 2 grams
Roasted chicken leg - 5 grams
Roasted chicken wing - 4.4 grams
Chicken
with the most healthy fats and the least unhealthy fats are usually
free-range and organic chicken. Hens which are raised by allowing
them to roam freely provide the most omega-3 fats as compared
to hens raised in battery.
Versatile
protein
Chicken
is highly versatile as you can cook it in so many different ways
like grilling, barbecuing, roasting, boiling, steaming, stir frying,
deep frying. You can also make use of the leftovers to add to
other meals like making an omelette and tossing some diced chicken
pieces to boost the protein intake. You can also make a chicken
salad with the breast or other chicken pieces or simply add chicken
drumsticks or thighs to a paella dish.
Whatever
you do, being creative with the chicken can really produce amazing
dishes that you can add to your muscle building diet and make
it more enjoyable. Being on a bodybuilder's diet doesn't mean
you need to eat bland chicken every time.