Every time you take a bite, you are doing something to burn fat and build muscle, or burn muscle and build fat. It may sound melodramatic, but it’s true, so significant is the impact of nutrition on your physique and overall health. If you learn how to eat right and defend yourself from nutritional saboteurs, you can double the benefits of your training, crafting that body you want in half the time. However, you may be unaware of some lesser-known but vital nutrition precepts.
You need more than protein to put on muscle
There’s no getting away from it. Even if you care only about your biceps—and spare no thoughts to such trivialities as health and longevity—vegetables are still an absolute necessity, for several reasons.
Vegetables provide carbohydrates, which not only give you energy but when combined with water provide a fullness to your muscles. And vegetable carbs take longer to convert to sugar than do starchy carbs [e.g., pasta and rice]. This allows a greater amount of fats to bind with fiber and be transported out of your system, rather than being stored.
Fiber isn’t just for your grandparents; it’s crucial for anyone looking to make gains in the gym. The fiber in vegetables helps keep food moving through your digestive tract, eliminating toxins from your system and allowing you to recover more quickly from your workouts. Better recovery leads to more muscle growth. You can get fiber from other sources, like oatmeal and brown rice, but vegetables are low in calories, alkaline forming and high in fiber.
If the energy and fiber don’t convince you to put more produce on your plate, try this: Vegetables are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, which give plants their colors, flavors and aromas and act as antioxidants, helping to reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease. I also recommend eating plenty of cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnips and kale, which are high in antioxidants and promote detoxification, which can help with fat loss.
For you vegephobes, try to eat a variety of fruits every day, which are higher in sugar but are still a good way to get nutrients and fiber. Also, vegetable juice, while not as good a source of fiber as vegetables, is another alternative. Because your body isn’t accustomed to the equivalent of eight to 10 vegetables (or fruits) at a time, drink vegetable juice, as well as fruit juice, in moderation (the ones with pulp are better), and dilute slightly with water. Soups and stews are another great way to get vegetables into the diet – you can add all sorts of vegetables to soups and stews and you won’t even know they are there. Although not as good as a natural source, a fiber supplement and a multi-pack of vitamins and minerals can also be taken to supplement the nutrients lacking from your diet; contact us for recommendations.