Bodybuilding Nutrients - The Key To Muscle Growth And Energy

What you need: complex carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
How much of each: 55% carbs, 30% protein, and 15% fat.

Complex Carbohydrates
Your body's primary energy source comes from complex carbohydrates. A few examples are wholegrain breads, brown rice, and oats.
Keep away from the simple, refined carbs. The refining process that many of our foods go through is what makes them useless. A few examples are white bread, candy, cakes.

Getting away from white rice and eating brown rice may not be easy for some to do but a simple change like that alone will start to show results in your energy levels and soon your physique.

If you're going to be building muscle on your body then you need to have a moderately high intake level of complex carbs. Proper carb intake will ensure your energy doesn't come from protein which is busy building your muscle mass, therefore preventing any breakdown of muscle tissue.

How Much Protein
Should you listen to the government health agency and what their RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) is?
Forget about their RDA's of 12-15% of daily calories from protein, This is enough for a couch potato but not for you. The health authorities don't take into consideration the increased requirements for intense training and muscular weight gain, so... approximately 30% or one-third of your total daily calories should come from protein.

A Word On Fat.
For a muscle builder, a low-fat diet is much better for growth than a non-fat diet. Removing all the fat from your diet can actually slow down muscle growth, decrease strength and energy levels. Also, if you include a small amount of flaxseed oil which is a "good fat" it can help you in gaining lean body weight.

Your body can only utilize so much food at one sitting so for a body builder to get all the nutrients needed for good gains he must spread his meals throughout the day into 5 or 6 smaller ones instead of 2 or 3 large ones. Eat too many calories in any one meal and they will convert into body fat. Not everyone can eat 5 or 6 meals a day because of scheduling and this is when taking supplements as meal replacements makes sense.

If you're just starting out don't worry too much about supplements. The only one you may want to use at first if you're looking to really pack on weight is a quality weight gainer. Choose your weight supplements carefully, many are 80% sugar with very little carbs and protein. You could use a low calorie meal replacement product. If you decide to try a weight gainer, find one with a ratio of 1 part protein to two parts carbs (for example, 80 grams of carbs to 40 grams of protein). These weight gain products are usually under 300 calories per packet, so by themselves they're not enough to count as an entire meal for a weight gain program but If you mix them with low fat milk or juice and a piece of fruit, you now you have a 500 to 700 calorie, high protein weight-gain shake.

You've heard it before, and it is so true...You Are What You Eat!

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