Free Muscle Building & Health

There are a lot of different reasons why someone might want to increase their muscle size. Bodybuilders want to get larger muscles to win bodybuilding contests, other athletes need stronger muscles to improve performance and some people who are too thin want it for more weight. On top of doing weightlifting there are some foods that are important for adding muscle to your body. The key is that the foods you eat contribute to lean muscle and some of those great foods are discussed below.

First thing you should understand is that your muscles are about 70% water and then 20% protein. So this means that if you want to build muscle you are going to have to make sure that you include a lot of water along with the right carbohydrates and more protein. Those who work out will require more calories and protein than those who live more sedentary lives. In fact if you are working out and trying to build muscle you should eat at least 2 grams of protein for each kilogram of weight that you carry on your body. You also will need to increase your calories by eating high protein food, the complex carbs, good fats, veggies and fruits.

As much as some say to stay away from meat, if you want to add muscle you are going to need it because meat contains the essential amino acids that are need to build your muscle mass. The protein in meat contains a high quality of protein and it's going to give your body the muscle tissue it needs and won't burn it as energy.

If you are wanting to stay away from fats then picking a good meat will be a challenge. The reason is that although you need beef and pork for your muscle building diet they are high in fat that you don't want. So you need to look for the leaner choices in these two meats and then make sure to eat a lot of chicken and turkey. Make your beef intake once or twice per week and then fill in the rest with chicken, turkey and fish.

Milk is another great food that will help build muscle. One 8 ounce glass of milk has 20 grams of protein in it. But if you are lactose intolerant this could be a problem. But you can go to the alternatives of soy or rice milk. But the protein is much lower in both of these and you would have to drink a lot more of it to get the same benefit as milk. You can always try goats milk if you are lactose intolerant since it seems to be easier to digest and it has more calcium than cow's milk.

Eggs are yet another great source of very high quality protein. One large boiled egg will give you 2.3 grams of protein and almost 60% of that comes in the white and not the yoke. In fact a lot of bodybuilders will eat a lot of egg whites in order to help them gain muscle because the yolk has a lot of cholesterol, a lot of them just don't touch the yolk.

When it comes to carbs, you need to make sure that you only eat the complex variety, these are the best for building lean muscle and they are the healthiest for your entire body. Food that contain complex carbs would be:

• Whole grain breads
• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Corn
• Peas
• Pasta
• Beans
• Yams
• Potatoes

Eating a lot of these foods are not only going to help build muscle but they will also make you full and will help you to stay away from junk food or other snacks you might be tempted to eat otherwise.