Building
muscles has always revolved around eating more and more protein
such that your diet is always focused on chicken, beef, fish and
eggs. While protein is vital for gaining and sustaining muscle
mass, carbs should not be neglected too. One type of carb which
is not often talked about is pasta. Most people focus on oatmeal
and brown rice but what about pasta? There are several types of
pasta like spaghetti, capellini, macaroni, penne and the healthiest
ones include whole-wheat and 100% durum wheat semolina. Pasta
are considered great foods for bulking for the following reasons:
You
can't really bulk on protein alone
Eating
only protein to bulk up will not be very effective as you'll also
need carbohydrates to reach your goals. Bulking up requires an
overall surplus of calories so that you can gain weight. Protein
for sure builds muscles but eating only that will not be enough
to increase your calories and also going overboard with protein
doesn't mean you'll gain more muscle mass. In fact, you can be
jeopardizing your health as excess protein cause undue stress
on your liver and kidneys as these filter the excess amino acids
and excrete them into your urine.
This
is why consuming carbs along with protein yields much better results.
Carbs will not only boost your caloric intake but they also give
your muscles a fuller and denser look as compared to a flatter
look with just protein. Physically active people should consume
2.5 grams of carbs per pound of body weight, so if you weigh 180
pounds, you should eat 450 grams of carbs daily. Here are some
nutritional information for pasta.
In
140 grams of whole-wheat spaghetti cooked, you get 174 calories,
37.2 grams of carbs, 6.3 grams dietary fiber and 7.5 grams of
protein.
In
140 grams of 100% durum wheat semolina spaghetti(dry), you get
498 calories, 101 grams of carbs, 4.07 grams dietary fiber and
16.5 grams of protein.
As
you can see, you can increase your calorie intake considerably
if you eat pasta regularly in your meals.
Pasta
is not only carbohydrates
One
great thing about eating pasta is it's not only carbs, it has
a decent amount of protein as well although the amino acid profile
is not complete. This isn't a problem as you can simply toss a
few pieces of chicken, beef or fish and a drizzle of olive oil
and you get a solid carb/protein/healthy fats meal.
While pasta is a great bulking food, it's also very effective
in providing sustained levels of energy for your workouts, so
it's basically a good pre-workout meal. You can also eat a pasta
meal one and a half hour after your post-workout protein shake.
The good thing about eating high-quality pastas is you'll limit
fat storage as these pastas are low glycemic index(GI) foods,
meaning they release energy gradually and don't trigger an insulin
spike, so they maintain stable blood sugar levels. Even on a bulking
phase, you can still limit fat storage with pasta due to the slow-digesting
carbs and fiber content.