If
your objective is to pack on hard and lean muscle mass, you can't
rely only on high protein foods. You will need to eat carbs as
well but not any type of carbs. Complex carbs food is the way
to go. You absolutely need to take in the good carbs and complex
carbs will meet your needs. Complex carbs are rich in fiber, vitamins
and minerals and are slowly digestible. Why is complex carbs an
ideal food for your bodybuilding workouts? Simply because since
they are digested slowly, you can be sure to be able to fuel your
workouts properly. Don't forget carbs are sources of energy which
you will need during training. But you should avoid simple carbs
like cakes, plain biscuits, table sugar, jam, honey, chocolate
as these are empty calories meaning they are not of much nutritional
value. For people who wish to lose weight, this should be avoided
as well. If you want to gain muscle mass, your focus should be
on complex carbs.
There are
various sources of complex carbs and be sure to include some of
them in your daily meals. Oatmeal is a really good complex carb
food with high fiber content and healthy as well. A good time
to include oatmeal in your nutrition is for breakfast. Other sources
of complex carbs are wholewheat pasta, brown rice, brown bread,
wholemeal bread, sweet potatoes, potatoes, yams. You should also
have fibrous carbohydrates like green beans, asparagus, cauliflower,
broccoli amongst others which are also good sources of complex
carbs. Since complex carbs are rich sources of fiber, they help
in preventing constipation and regulate bowel activity much more
effectively. Overall, they help in promoting good health for the
individual.
During the
day, eating sufficient amount of complex carbs is vital for your
muscle mass goal. If you don't give your body enough complex carbs,
you won't be able to fuel it properly for your workouts. Complex
carbs give your body energy so that you can exercise effectively.
So the downside of not having enough of these can result in protein
catabolism for your body which is the breakdown of proteins. The
reason is that if your body can't get enough of its energy sources
from complex carbs, it will take it from others sources like proteins
and fats. While it's a good thing because you will be using fat
as energy, protein will also be used up and the end result is
muscle tissue breakdown. Even though you are eating high protein
meals throughout the day, you will lose some of your protein which
will be converted as energy in your workouts.
So to prevent all this, you should eat adequate amount of complex
carbs. What is important to note is that the amount of complex
carbs consumption is enough to fuel your body during your workouts
till your next meal. With high levels of protein in your body
as well and enough carbs, you will be able to burn fat too. Too
much complex carbs isn't good either because remember, your body
will use fat as energy sources after the complex carbs are used
up so if you eat too many complex carbohydrates, you will never
be able to use the fat as energy. Definitely, your body will metabolize
very few protein if you have adequate amount of complex carbs
in your body hence preventing muscle depletion. To give you an
idea how many carbs, protein and fat you need, here it is: 50%
carbs, 35% protein and 15% fat.
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.