It never hurts to review the diet that you usually follow to make sure that it is not only varied and healthy but also includes all the nutrients that your muscles need to grow. Do you want to know what they are and what foods provide them?
Meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, cereals … combining different foods on a daily basis is the best guarantee of ingesting all the nutrients that our body requires for its proper functioning. Proteins, carbohydrates, even fats, are essential to keep us healthy and obtain the necessary energy to train or perform any sports activity.
If you want to develop muscle mass, diet must be an ally of your goal and you will have to give your muscles the essential nutrients for their growth and maintenance.
The nutrients your muscles need to gain strength and volume
Whether your muscles grow more or less depends on three factors: your own genetic characteristics, the training you do and the diet you follow. The first is not up to you, but the other two are. Working correctly in the gym and taking the basic nutrients for muscle development are the two basic measures that you must put into practice if you want to achieve the goal that you have set for yourself. What cannot be missing in a diet aimed at growing your muscles is:
1. Protein
Without it, proper muscle growth is not possible. Proteins, especially those of high biological value, those that contain all the essential amino acids, are essential for the creation and regeneration of our tissues (including muscle mass). Your muscles need these nutrients especially after intense exercise, as a kind of perfect “cement” that prevents their deterioration. Lean meats and poultry, eggs, whey, and vegetable proteins such as those provided by soybeans or legumes must be part of a diet that takes care of your muscles.
2. Carbohydrates
The best carbohydrates to gain muscle mass are found in pasta, potatoes, quinoa, rice, or cereals in general. They are also nutrients that help build muscle because they are what provide the energy you need to be able to train them effectively. It is normal to reduce their presence on a protein-based diet, but you should not eliminate them completely. If you train strength without ingesting the necessary carbohydrates, your muscles will end up depleting their glycogen stores and will enter the catabolic phase, destroying muscle mass, something that you certainly do not want.
3. Fats
Of course, only the healthy ones (olive oil, omega 3 …) and in their proper measure, but they are also basic as an energy reserve for muscle work and as a guarantee of good cardiovascular health. Good general physical condition is a prerequisite for any attempt at muscle development.
4. Vitamins
All are important but some are basic nutrients that are involved in the growth of your muscles. The vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that slows the action of free radicals generated during exercise, vitamin D, critical in the formation of tissues and ligaments and vitamins of the B group (B12), essential for a successful connection occurs between muscles and brain that make it possible for those muscles to contract and stretch while you train, there are three that you cannot miss if you train strength.
5. Minerals
It is the same as with vitamins. Its action is almost imperceptible but essential. The magnesium, also essential for proper muscular contraction, potassium or zinc c, involved in the control of body fluid balance, are also essential nutrients in muscle growth.
6. Water
The hydration is essential to gain muscle and not lose a little time. Sometimes we forget that muscles are made up of 70% water, so being adequately hydrated is a fundamental measure if you want to see how your muscle mass increases. During workouts, the loss of fluids is evident and it must be remembered that a dehydrated muscle will not be able to grow in a healthy way.
