When the subject of the best muscle food comes up, we have to remember that protein is the body’s main building blocks for muscles and tissues. Proteins, along with carbohydrates and fats, are the body’s three fuels necessary to sustain life. However, proteins are the more important fuel for building muscles as will be explained later on.
Types of Proteins
There are two types of protein that the body needs: essential and non essential. Lest you think that one is more important than the other, the designation is usually made to distinguish between what the body can produce (non essential) and what the body needs from the diet (essential).
Just for educational purposes, the 11 non essential amino acids are alanine, arginine, asparagines, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, praline, serine, and tyrosine. The 9 essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, valine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine and tryptophan. At the very least, you will know what to look for in protein supplements.
Importance of Eating Protein Rich Foods
Proteins are necessary to achieve the desired fitness level especially in terms of building muscles. This is because once your body is deprived of any of the amino acids, it will turn to its own muscles and tissue for fuel consumption. Basically, your body ends up eating itself just to sustain its life and, hence, you end up little more then skin and bones if and when you continue to deprive yourself of high protein food sources. It’s definitely not the way to go for bigger muscles.
Plus, keep in mind that the body cannot store protein in large quantities, unlike in the case of fats and carbohydrates. What little that can be stored in the bloodstream is quickly used up. Thus, you have to eat protein from the right food sources in order to build muscle safely, efficiently and quickly.
Sources of Protein
Generally speaking, proteins from animal sources are considered higher in quality than the proteins found in plants. This is because animal based food sources contain almost all, if not all, the essential amino acids necessary for muscle growth.
However, you still need to take both animal and plant based protein sources because you do need your fruits and vegetables for their vitamins and minerals. After all, muscle building is not just about bigger muscles it is also about being healthy to sustain your muscle building activities.
Thus, do take your legumes, beans and whole grains to supplement your animal based proteins. These include chicken, turkey, fish and shellfish, eggs, red meats, and dairy products like yogurt, milk and cheese. However, do beware that these foods can contain fats so opt for their low fat varieties.
Many bodybuilders also take protein supplements to improve on their muscle building activities. It must be noted that these supplements should never ever replace foods since your digestive system is designed to process foods, not just supplements all the time. You cannot sacrifice your health in favor of muscles, can you?
Needless to say, not even the best protein packed foods in the world will be able to achieve bigger muscles for you. Exercise is still a very important component of any muscle building program, which often means that weight training is in your near future.
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