3 Basic Nutrients
Protein is one of the basic nutrients, to be sure. After all, your muscles are made of protein, and your body requires adequate protein in the diet in order to have the building blocks it needs to build up muscle mass.
But protein alone won’t do. You need to pay attention to the rest of your diet as well.
3 Basic nutrients
Carbohydrates
Many bodybuilders see carbs as the enemy, and that can be a mistake.
Yes, highly refined carbohydrates and sweets hardly do the body good. But the right carbohydrates found in vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains help to fuel activity, including working muscles.
Without adequate carbohydrates to fuel your exercise, some of the protein you’re eating might get burned for fuel. So, to avoid “burning the candle at both ends,” make sure to include enough high-quality carbs in your diet.
Fat
Dietary fat is sometimes underappreciated by some athletes. Like carbs, fats may have an undeserved bad reputation. Small amounts of the right kinds of fats are really important. That’s because certain fatty acids, the building blocks of dietary fats, are essential because the body can’t make them.
Fatty acids are a vital structural component of every cell membrane, including muscle cells. The body relies on fat to fuel moderate-intensity, longer-term exercise. That’s just the type of exercise that might be coupled with a strength-training regimen to build mass and lose body fat. Focus on the “good” sources, like avocado, nuts, fish, olive oil, and seeds.
Protein
Eating the right amount of protein is important for stimulating muscle development, and so is the timing of protein intake. The process of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) is stimulated by strength-training activity. But it’s also stimulated when you eat protein.
This is one reason that strength-training athletes should aim to spread their protein intake fairly evenly over meals and snacks throughout the day. MPS is greater under these conditions than it is under a more typical pattern in which little protein is consumed in the morning, a bit more at lunch, and then a large amount at dinner. And a bedtime snack containing about 25g of protein can help to stimulate MPS during the night.
