Five Super Muscle Foods

Even novice trainees know that a diet rich in protein helps for the maximum muscle growth, improves metabolism and in combination with reduced intake of fat and carbohydrates can be a catalyst in reducing body fat.
After any form of vigorous exercise a certain number of muscle fibers is destroyed. To reconstruct them again, you must take a sufficient amount of protein in the post-lunch of your exercise, and a certain amount of carbohydrates in order to compensate your muscle glycogen, which also decreases after intense exercise. To sum it up, a meal rich in protein and carbohydrates is the ideal choice.

There is no reason to resort to the easy and often expensive option of protein supplements. Nature has… foreseen this problem, giving us a wide variety of foods that exceed the needs of our protein. Here the five “most valuable” are distinguished.

“Fresh fish! Get your fresh fish here!!”
The “king” of protein foods, stands in first place of our choices for several reasons. Except that it contains a sufficient amount of protein (about 20% per 100 grams) and almost no fat, is equally rich in “famous” nutrients you look for every day in your diet, meaning the famous omega-3, vitamin D, iodine and a lot more. Fish also help reducing your cholesterol and the nutritional substances provide protection to the red blood cells. For higher nutrient content, choose salmon, tuna, sardines, anchovies and cod fillet.

Run like a chicken (and then eat it!)
Many things are said about this bird. If there were no fish, then it would have deserved the first place in our list of protein foods. A “dry” portion of one hundred grams gives you about thirty grams of high quality protein (which is 100% absorbed by the body) with only four grams of fat – this if you remove the skin and cook on the grill. It may not have the nutrients of red meat, but it certainly excels in terms of total cholesterol. Not to mention its excellent taste, which fits with everything: salads, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.

“Easter Bunny bring me eggs!”
It’s quick and easy to cook, delicious and can be eaten at any time as a snack or main meal. Each medium egg contains about seven grams of protein with the ???? and five grams without it, giving you about sixty calories. It is considered to provide proteins of high biological value, so it is a measure of comparison and evaluation for all the other foods in concern for their protein content. It is also a good source of selenium, iodine and vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and also contains molybdenum, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid and vitamin D. Its only minus is the high content of cholesterol, which does not affect significantly the total cholesterol in blood, if you follow a careful diet.

‘‘Got milk?’’
There isn’t anybody who doesn’t have ‘‘painful’’ memories of the time his mother and grandmother made him to drink his whole milk. If you knew then how nutritious milk is, it would be more likely to… order a second glass. The protein found in milk (casein) has a very high biological value and has the ability to be absorbed slowly from the body, thus “feeding” the muscles for a long time. Even peptides derived from casein enhance the body’s natural defense when you train and regulate proper blood pressure.

“She has the most beautiful almond eyes…”
Even if it sound nuts, nuts like almonds are rich in protein. A handful of almonds gives you about eight grams of protein – nearly two grams more than an egg and it contains a significant amount of magnesium and calcium, two minerals necessary in many operational processes of the body including muscle constraction and heart function. Finally, note that almonds are high in dietary fiber, which is important for regulating the absorption of lipids and glucose in blood, as well as the proper functioning of the colon.