When trying to build muscle, it is important to watch what you are eating – not just train like a beast and eat sugary foods. In order to gain lean muscle, you need to eat foods that are rich in protein and good carbohydrates – the nutrients your body needs for strength and muscle building and maintenance. Lucky for you, these foods are possibly already on your list of favorite foods and you will find a way to make all of them tasty and satisfying. The best thing is you’ll never have to be hungry or make significant sacrifices. Of course, junk food is out of the question. Here are 10 foods that will help you add lean muscle mass.
1. Eggs
There have been many contradicting opinions about how healthy eggs actually are, and since many thought that the cholesterol contained in them is to be blamed for artery clogging, this protein food was wrongfully made a villain. However, a link between heart problems and eggs hasn’t been clearly made, which lead to the return of eggs as one of the primary breakfast foods in many diets and especially those for muscle building and losing fat. However, if your cholesterol levels are high, you can just eat egg whites and eliminate the risk. Anyway, most of the protein from eggs is contained in the egg white. You can prepare this food in many ways, but if you want to avoid piling up fat, don’t use oil or any other additional fats.
2. Beef
Beef is a very good source of protein, especially the one from grass-fed cattle. It also contains zinc, B vitamins and iron, as well as cholesterol because of which it should be eaten in moderation. This type of meat will help you lose that excess fat from your body and at the same time will build lean muscle, because this meat is usually very low in fat and contains very high protein levels.
What makes meat, and especially beef, different from foods rich in plant based proteins is that it is rich in those kinds of proteins that the human body is made of, including skeletal muscle proteins and connective tissue proteins. In order to take the best out of beef choose loins or rounds – those are the leanest parts and you will achieve a good muscle building reaction with as little calories as possible.