Nutrition

What Food Will Help to Increase Testosterone Levels

Updated on March 23, 2021 by Brad Murphy

The most effective way to increase testosterone levels is through food. Here is a list of foods that are easily acquired that can added to your pre or post workout meal to boost flagging T levels.

What Food Increases Testosterone Levels

You could opt to go for a supplement that increases testosterone levels, or you could do it with food. Then again, you could go the whole hog and try a combination of the two. The way you choose to boost your testosterone is entirely up to you.

Choosing a testosterone boosting supplement is easy. The label on the bottle will let you know in no uncertain terms what the supplement is meant to do.

Knowing what food increases testosterone levels is much harder. If it comes in a can or a packet, the nutritional information will let you know some of the main nutrients the food provides. If you are buying it from a fruit and veg store, a fishmonger, a butcher, or some other place that sells fresh food, there will be no information at all.

Even when the label does tell you a food is high in protein or contains X amount of zinc or Vitamin B that won’t help a lot. Try looking for canned goods sold with the promise of boosted testosterone levels and you won’t have much luck. That’s not what the average person is looking for when they head to the shops for a can of beans.

As bodybuilders, we have more exacting needs when it comes to choosing the way we get our nutrition. We do look at things like the protein and fat content and if a food is going to boost our testosterone levels we want to know.

We also try to eat strategically. We choose our pre workout food and post workout food with specific goals in mind.

A lot of food has this ability. The list below shows some of the options available to us, but it’s best considered a starting point. When it comes to testosterone boosting food, when you look into it you could find you are spoiled for choice.

Must Read: Natural testosterone booster supplement – rediscover lost libido, gain muscle mass and restore the energy of your youth – read about Testo Prime

10 Testosterone Boosting Foods You Should Try

1. Oysters

Oysters are famous for their alleged abilities as an aphrodisiac. This being the case, perhaps it is not so surprising that oyster consumption also boosts production of the male sex hormone. But why can this be?

Although there could also be other unknown factors involved, oysters are known to be incredibly good sources of zinc. In fact, a single serving of six oysters can provide 32 mg of zinc. That’s close to a third of the RDA for a man.

The relationship between zinc and testosterone production is well known. It’s also well studied. After six months of supplementing with zinc, the elderly men who took part in one clinical trial almost doubled their levels of serum testosterone.

The same research team also conducted a 20-week study on younger men. This time they restricted the amount of zinc the men consumed each day. The restriction caused a significant decrease in serum testosterone concentrations.

Eating oysters may be an expensive way to support increases in your testosterone levels, but it should work. [SOURCE

2. Ginseng

Ginseng is an adaptogen herb that has a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine. It’s used for promoting good health as well as treating a variety of ailments. Ginseng also has a longstanding reputation as an aphrodisiac.

Research suggests consuming ginseng may produce respectable increases in testosterone. Some scientists have speculated the adaptogenic properties of ginseng may be due to the way it affects the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and elevates plasma corticotropin and corticosteroids levels. Who cares about all the geek talk? The important thing to know is ginseng appears to be good stuff. [SOURCE 1, SOURCE 2]

The problem is, fresh ginseng can be hard to obtain. So although it’s a food that can produce good increases in testosterone you may have to compromise.

If you are lucky enough to live near health food shop that sells ginseng leaves, you could try adding some leaves to a salad. Alternatively, you could try drinking ginseng tea. As a final resort, you may have to make do with some ginseng tablets.

3. Beefsteak

Beef is also a food that increases testosterone levels, but if you decide to go for a steak try to keep it lean. The fat beef provides is the saturated kind, so it’s not good for your waistline or your health.

So, what is it about beef that makes it such a good food for producing increases in testosterone levels? As with many other testosterone boosting foods, it all boils down to the amount of zinc it contains. A three-ounce steak (braised) provides around 7 mg.

Let’s not forget steak is a good source of protein as well. When you eat a serving of steak, all that zinc helps push up your testosterone levels, creating a superior anabolic environment. Then the protein the steak provides gives the muscles the amino acids they need for muscle building and bulking up.

4. Spinach

Ugg-ug-ug-ug… It seems Popeye was onto something when he used spinach to get his muscles pumped up and ready to go.

Does spinach boost testosterone? You betcha. Although it’s not a particularly potent source, it contains zinc. It’s got some magnesium too and that’s a testosterone booster as well.
However, don’t go selling it short, spinach does a lot more for your muscles than you may think. For one thing, it’s a good source of nitrates. This allows it to boost nitric oxide and improve blood flow to the muscles.
In addition to all of the other good things spinach does for your muscles, it provides a powerful plant steroid called phytoecdysteroids. It’s good for muscle growth but does not present the side effects anabolic steroids do. [1]

So, if you want to take a leaf out of Popeye’s book and be strong to the finish, maybe you should start eating your spinach.

5. Tuna

If you want to see some respectable increases in your testosterone levels, tuna is an ideal food to help. It’s a good source of Vitamin D. Even if you do things the quickest and easiest way and chow down on tuna from a can, three ounces will provide around 50 percent of the RDA.

Research shows supplementing with Vitamin D can have a very beneficial effect on testosterone levels.

Forget the pills though. Tuna is better because it’s a good source of protein too.

To help put things into perspective, many people are Vitamin D deficient. For starters, it’s a fat-soluble vitamin. That means your body can’t store it like it does with water-soluble vitamins. You need to top-up on Vitamin D often, but a lot of people’s diets don’t provide enough.

Your body can make it’s own Vitamin D. All you need to do to make it happen is get some sunshine on your skin. Cloudy days can really screw that up. On sunny days, sunscreen can ruin things as well and most people use it these days. If you are Vitamin D deficient Tuna can help set things straight.

6. Ginger

Whether you want to be a king in the gym or a bedroom ninja, ginger will see you right. People have been taking advantage of its many medicinal properties for centuries. So if you thought it only had value in the kitchen, shame on you.

Research shows ginger enhances testosterone production and works particularly well in conditions of oxidative stress. The only downside is, researchers are still trying to figure out how it works. [2]

If you are looking for a quick way to spice up your life with a little ginger, the easiest thing may be to drink ginger tea. Ginger cake will do it too, but it’s not the best idea. Apart from the increases in testosterone levels, that sort of food may cause increases in waist circumference too.

7. Pineapple

Believe it or not, pineapple is also a food that increases testosterone levels. Its succulent yellow flesh provides an enzyme called bromelain that’s very good for boosting testosterone in a natural way.

Bromelain is present in many other fruits as well including bananas and avocados, but pineapples are a particularly good source.

As you may or may not be aware, when you exercise hard it brings testosterone levels down. For this reason, when researchers at the University of Tasmania wanted to explore the way bromelain effects testosterone their study group consisted of 15 trained cyclists. All of them had to cycle 100 km per day.

The researchers gave some of the cyclists daily does of bromelain and the rest got a placebo. After six days of this treatment, the placebo group showed a significant drop in testosterone. The drop was less pronounced in the bromelain group. This suggests the enzyme was boosting testosterone production.

Not surprisingly, the members of the bromelain group reported less feelings of fatigue

8. Eggs

On a serious quest to find food that increases testosterone but want to do it on the cheap? No worries. Shell out on a few boxes of eggs. They are cheap and nutritious and the yolk delivers a helping of that “sunshine vitamin”, Vitamin D.

Some bodybuilders say four eggs a day works best, others say they get good results with three. However, the way this cheap and versatile food increases testosterone levels may not just be down to Vitamin D.

As you are no doubt aware, eggs also contain cholesterol. Okay, cholesterol has a bad rep, but the truth is your body needs it to complete a number of biological processes. One of them is making Vitamin D when the sunlight hits your skin. Additionally, your body needs cholesterol to manufacture testosterone and other important hormones. [3]

Obviously, it may not be smart to start eating eggs day in and day out. However, nor is there a need to be chicken about taking advantage of this highly nutritious food. Eating a few extra eggs in moderation could do wonders for your testosterone levels. Eggs are also an excellent source of protein and that’s good for making your muscles grow. You can only take so much protein powder

9. Mung Beans

Mung beans are yet another food that increases testosterone levels. These little, green nutritional wonders are also a very good option for vegans and vegetarians.

Apart from being a good source of the testosterone boosting minerals zinc and magnesium, mung beans also provide many other important vitamins and minerals. They are high in protein as well, so they are a good muscle-building food.

Need a further reason to add some mung beans to your diet? Here’s one: they are a good source of antioxidants. That means they can help rid your body of free radical toxins and protect you from disease.

If you are new to mung beans, the other thing to know is there are two types you can buy—sprouted and unsprouted. I suggest you go for the sprouted type.

Unsprouted mung beans contain higher levels of phytic acid. It’s an anti-nutrient. That means it reduces the absorption of minerals, including the zinc and magnesium you want.

Apart from containing less phytic acid, sprouted mung beans provide more vitamins and amino acids than unsprouted ones do and are also lower in calories. [4]

10. Beetroot

If you already have a knowledge of bodybuilding nutrition, you will probably be aware beetroot boosts nitric oxide. In so doing, it improves blood flow to the muscles helping you to train longer and heal faster. Additionally, it can help you enjoy a better pump.

However, beetroot is doubly good for your muscles because it’s also a food that increases your testosterone levels. Not many people know that, but it’s true.

Beetroot’s power as an NO booster is due to its high nitrate content. Its ability to boost testosterone is due to its ability to provide boron.

Apart from boosting testosterone, boron does a lot of other good things for the body. For one thing, it helps give you strong bones by aiding the absorption of magnesium. It’s also known to be good for increasing levels of Vitamin D.

Should You Eat Carbs After a Workout – Build Muscle, Burn Fat

Updated on June 6, 2020 by Brad Murphy

Fast Carbs After a Workout? Carbohydrates are the present day villain of the macronutrients. People following keto diets have decided to forego them completely, relying on their livers to synthesize ketone bodies from which they derive their energy.

One particularly insane breed of people, known as ketogenic athletes, do this while training and competing in their chosen sports. Not just lawn bowls and croquet either…real sports where you have to move and everything.

If you’d have told me 15 years ago that there would one day exist a whole category of athletes who ate less than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day, I’d have laughed in your face and explained in thoroughly patronizing tones how important glycogen is for athleticism.

So, Should You Eat Carbs After a Workout?

Alas, here we are in 2020, and unless the zombie apocalypse has transcended pop-cultural cliché to become tangible reality, these people live and breathe.

Power to you if that’s your thing, but when it comes to bulking up and building muscle with food, low-carb diets have a long road of scientific research and empirical evidence to travel before carb-inclusive diets can be challenged for their efficacy.

Fair enough, but we should obviously stick to low and medium-GI carbs, right? So we don’t spike our blood sugar and damage our insulin, destroy all life on Earth, and blow up the Universe?

Actually, I’m here to make the case for fast carbs and eating carbs after a workout in general.

Like donut-fast!

When you should eat them, and how they will help you make progress, build more muscle, and burn more fat, faster.

Yes, not only will this not hurt your gains, it will improve them.

For Those Who Lift – Eat Carbs

If reading my work gets you upset, confused, or it contradicts something some other “expert” told you, then remember this:

Unless you lift weights on a regular basis and want the most efficient results, I am not here for you.

If you’re an LCHF zealot (low carb high fat), and what I say hurts your feelings, or has you sharpening your favourite carb-free pencil in order to draft a strongly worded response letter, you’re better off saving the effort, because I. Just. Don’t. Care.

It’s not because I think what you’re doing is wrong (it is, though). It’s because your physique goals clearly aren’t as important to you as some hyped-up, under-researched, in-vogue, extremist diet.

Keto is the duck-face selfie of the dieting world.

If you’re not a lifter, and you’re trying to lose weight, and low-carb works for you because you can adhere to it, then congrats. That’s how you’re hitting your body goals, and I don’t deny its merit. But don’t try and convince people that it’s magic.

And don’t tell me you can build muscle and strength without carbs just as quickly as you can with them. As a side note you may also want to try a natural bulking supplement such as D-Bal as well – trying to bulk up with food alone is extremely difficult.

Intermittent Fasting

By the way, using Intermittent fasting (IF) and even intermittent Keto, does not qualify you as a zealot.

In this case, I completely acknowledge that you are applying them as tools – that work for you – to achieve a fat loss objective.

Point is, you’re using them intermittently.

Calories In Calories Out

However, at the end of the day, scientific and empirical data still overwhelmingly support the case for CICO (calories-in-calories-out) – i.e. the balance of energy intake versus energy expenditure – as being the ultimate driving force of weight loss and weight gain.

Any form of diet is really just a way for you to control that CICO balance. Since adherence is the key to success, whatever you can stick with is that which will get you the results.

Athletic Metabolism

Athletes use energy more efficiently than sedentary people do. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that an athlete uses, and stores, energy differently to a sedentary person.

In basic terms, when a sedentary person with poor insulin sensitivity eats a fast carb-rich meal, they may very well put on weight in the form of body fat.

If the same meal is eaten by someone who hits beast-mode in the gym 5 days a week, they are going to store the sugar as muscle glycogen, increase muscle cell volume, trigger an anabolic response, and recover that much faster for the next killer session.

For muscle hypertrophy, all three macronutrients have their place, and fast carbohydrates can make a big difference to your progress.

High Glycemic Index Carbohydrates – Fast Carbs

Fast carbs, otherwise known as simple carbs, are those that are quickly digested and broken down into their simplest form of sugar to then be absorbed into blood stream

The Glycemic Index is a numerical rating system which assigns a value to how fast and how much different foods raise blood sugar.

The reputation of simple carbs has been dragged through the the mud because a hog load of people have abused them to the point where we now have all sorts of insulin resistance related health pandemics.

I won’t go any deeper into that except to say that fast carbs are not evil. They are often misunderstood, and they are definitely misrepresented.

For you, however, they can be very very useful.

Post-Workout Glycogen Replenishment

When you exercise regularly, a good portion of the sugar in the carbohydrates you eat are stored in your muscles as glycogen. Most of the remainder is stored in you liver.

For physical training, muscle glycogen is a primary source of energy. In fact, during anaerobic respiration, it is critical for optimal muscle performance.

Glycogen is simply a long branched chain of glucose molecules linked together. As you workout, glucose molecules are decoupled from the polysaccharide chain and used to generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

Low intensity workouts will not use as much glycogen as high intensity training because during aerobic respiration, your body can oxidize fatty acids as fuel to generate ATP. This leads a lot of people to the mistaken assumption that low-intensity aerobic exercise is the best option for losing fat.

During high-intensity exercise, which resistance training qualifies for in most cases, you might burn up to half or even three-quarters of your muscle glycogen.

IF optimal muscle growth is important to you, then the quicker you replenish that glycogen, the better.

Research unsurprisingly supports the practice of consuming high-GI – “fast” – carbs within an hour of finishing your session, as part of your post-workout meal/shake.

Not only will this replenish your glycogen levels for the next time you hit the gym, but it will help to keep your energy levels up for the rest of the day. This is particularly useful for people who workout before work, during their lunch hour or any time where post-workout fatigue would be a hindrance.

It’s also likely that there is a benefit to taking fast carbs as soon after your workout as possible, as it might enhance the absorption into the muscle tissue. This absorption ratio becomes lower and lower the longer you wait.

Don’t panic though, anytime within the first hour after you complete your workout is sufficient.

Perhaps the most important benefit of speedy post-workout glycogen replenishment is the anabolic advantage.

The glycogen that gets stored in your muscle cells draws water into them. Therefore, when you take fast carbs post-workout, the glycogen helps to extend the muscle pump by hydrating the cells.

While this looks good, increasing muscle cell volume is one of the triggers for anabolic muscle growth processes to begin. The hyperaemic pump from the mechanical action of lifting weights starts this in the gym. Increasing cell volume via fast carb replenishment post-workout has a compound beneficial effect.

How Much and What Carb Source to Choose?

People often find success by using the post-workout carbohydrate replenishment as their “cheat” meal/snack for the day.

That’s because simple dextrose (common glucose) rich foods are the best for replenishing glycogen quickly as it does not need to be digested and is absorbed directly into the bloodstream for transport to muscle cells.

It’s often found in decadent treats like candy and donuts, making them the perfect post-workout cheat meal that actually improves your results.

Hopefully you can see here that it’s a case of simple timing which allows you to satisfy your craving for sugar, while furthering your progress from the weight lifting session.

What About Fruit?

Some people think fruit is the healthy choice after a workout and will provide the same glycogen replenishment as pure glucose/dextrose based foods. It actually goes a bit deeper than that.

Fructose ends up being converted to glycogen by the liver which then keeps it for times when blood sugar drops too low. It therefore doesn’t make it to the muscles to be stored there, and as such doesn’t tick all the boxes discussed above.

High fructose corn syrup has been demonized as the blood-sugar spiker of the century, but it’s actually a slower form of sugar than dextrose, which is essentially pure glucose (hence, why it needs no digestion and doesn’t automatically head to the liver).

Table sugar, the type you put in coffee, is also about half fructose, half glucose.

While many people in the bodybuilding/athletic community warn against the consumption of fruit post-exercise because fructose heads to the liver, it actually plays and interesting and advantageous role.

If liver glycogen is not replenished quickly, it will take up some of the glucose you ingest post-workout, leaving less for your muscles. Therefore fruit actually provides the liver glycogen through fructose, leaving any glucose to be taken up by muscle tissue.

Bear in mind that the sugars in fruits are not 100% fructose. Many contain a good amount of glucose and sucrose in them and so can contribute to muscle glycogen restoration as well.

Sucrose, which is a 2:1 or 1:1 ratio of fructose and glucose, can replenish muscle glycogen as well as glucose alone and potentially better given the liver glycogen buffering of the fructose.

In short: Sucrose and glucose can replenish muscle glycogen, and fruit might help conserve the glucose you ingest for that purpose.

Back To The Sweets

Look at the label and you should find the ingredients you need.

Regular corn syrup is good as it is absorbed like glucose, and dextrose is the best form going. As influencers like Dr. Jim Stoppani often recommend, Haribo Gummy Bears, Wonka Pixy Stix and donuts are great post workout snacks because of their dextrose content.

If you go the donut route, make sure their sweetener of choice is dextrose. Personally, I enjoy going through the candy/sweet aisle at the grocery store and picking out the products with the highest corn syrup and dextrose content.

Depending on the intensity of your workout, you can take fast carbs in the range of 20 to 60 grams.

Split the dose up a bit over the hour if dumping it in your system makes you crash a little. Also you can take a mixture of high and medium GI carbs to prevent this, which works a little like taking a mix of whey isolate and casein protein to extend the release of proteins into your system.

When doing this with carbs, you smooth out the blood sugar spike a little to provide a more sustained increased blood sugar level, rather than a sudden spike that may cause lethargy.

Protein-wise, take your regular scoop of 30 to 40 grams, and add about 5 grams of BCAAs if your stomach sits well with it.

Carnitine, which I’ll discuss briefly below (and which has an article dedicated to it) is also a good post-workout supplement. It will help your body recover from the workout, but it will also increase post-exercise fat oxidation.

Creatine Monohydrate best supplement in the world

Insulin – Glucose – Carnitine – Creatine – Aminos

Insulin, as you probably know, is released in response to changes in blood sugar levels. For active people, their insulin’s actions tends to be sensitive to the body’s energy storage requirements.

That means insulin attaches to certain receptors on the surface of muscle cells. This mediates the uptake of glucose into those cells, but that’s not where insulin’s role ends.

Insulin also mediates the uptake of amino acids, creatine and carnitine into the muscle tissue – all of which are very important for optimal muscle performance, growth and fat burning.

Leucine, the principal branched-chain amino acid (BCAA), even stimulates an insulin release when you consume it.

A mixture of carbohydrates and leucine-rich protein will therefore trigger a strong insulin response, which will help shuttle both glucose and proteins into the muscles. If creatine and carnitine are also consumed, their muscle content will also rise.

Creatine accumulates in muscles as a creatine-phosphate reservoir which is integral for the production of ATP during exercise.

Carnitine is also involved with energy metabolism. By increasing muscle carnitine content, you can prolong fat burning activity and preserve muscle glycogen. This helps reduce fatigue during exercise, lactic acid accumulation, post exercise fatigue soreness and of course body fat storage.

Final Thoughts on Eating Carbs After a Workout

There isn’t much of a case to be made against the efficacy of fast carbs post-workout when optimal muscle growth gains are your main objective.

Even the most triggered fundamentalist keto zealots can’t argue with the massive quantity of scientific and empirical evidence in favour of glycogen replenishment.

There are times when you might not consume carbs straight after a workout. One of those times is when you have completed a particularly low intensity session.

Another time is if you are almost wholly removing carbs from your diet for an intermittent low-carb cycle in order to get maximum fat loss results.

Although this can help in certain situations, there will be minimal benefit gained from avoiding the immediate post-workout glycogen replenishment. What’s more, the addition of carnitine to the mix might prevent any possible weight gain in any case (should you be in carbohydrate caloric surplus).

Nonetheless, if you do decide to go carb-free for a period of time, you must get your post-workout protein and amino-acids in, They will trigger the all important insulin spike, which will drive the nutrients into your muscle cells in lieu of sugar induced insulin release.

For people who are not specifically cutting carbs from their diet, there is absolutely no excuse for missing the post-workout fast carb hit.

So yes… you can eat carbs after a workout!

What’s better than being able to have a guilt-free treat, that can actually assist you in hitting your muscle building and strength targets?

Answer: nothing.

Best Foods to Eat Before Working Out – Pre-Workout Meals

Updated on December 10, 2021 by Brad Murphy

What are the best foods to eat before going to the gym and working out?

Best Foods to Eat Before Working Out

What are the best foods to eat before working out? Should you even care? Big Hell Yeah to that one last one. You need to care a lot. The pre-workout meals you eat can make or break your workout.

This article is all about what to eat prior to working out – we have another that features what to eat after working out here

That may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s not. Seriously. Think about it. If you head for the gym with nothing in your stomach but a bag of potato chips or a Twinkie, how will you train? Junk like that ain’t exactly the food of champions.

On the other hand, how do you think you will train if you hit the gym just after you’ve eaten a big meal?

Sure you may have made food choices that can juice you up with plenty of carbs after your workout, but the chances are you will feel bloated. Maybe even a little nauseous when you lie back on the bench and try to go to work.

Why You Shouldn’t Overdo It With Your Pre-Workout Meals

The other problem with going large on your pre-workout meals is it can make you sleepy. This happens in the animal kingdom as well, cats, dogs, even lions; they all crash out and bag some Zs after a big meal.

The scientists seem to still be trying to figure this one out, but they think it could be because overdoing it with the carbs and protein may trigger the release of serotonin. [SOURCE]

There’s another reason why eating a big meal before a workout isn’t a smart idea. It can actually rob you of energy instead of providing it. The same can happen if you try to fuel-up on sugar-laden snacks and soft drinks.

In both cases, the problem is the same. Be it due to eating big pre-workout meals or trying to get a sugar rush from snacks, your blood glucose can go sky high.

When you have too much glucose circulating your liver releases insulin to bring it down. More often than not, it does the job to well and you are hit with a sugar crash that can rob you of energy and give you cravings for high-calorie foods.

The take-home point here is it’s not just about knowing the best foods to eat before working out. The size and timing of your pre-workout meals is important too.

The Role of Macronutrients In Your Pre-Workout Meal

“Macronutrients” is a term used to describe the main nutrients in food. There are only three of them: Carbohydrate, protein, and fat.

Although most foods contain a mix of macronutrients, many foods are classed by the main one they contain.

For instance, steak is mainly considered a source of protein but it contains fat too. Oats have protein, but people generally eat them to fuel-up on carbs.

	Carbohydrate	Protein	Fat
Steak (100 g)	0 g	25 g	19 g
Oats (100g)	12 g	2.4 g	1.4 g

When you workout one of the main things you need is energy, so the best foods to eat before working out are ones that provide carbs. This is because carbs are your body’s primary source of energy. It’s designed to run on carbs.

It can get energy from protein and fat as well, but carbs are easier to use. Does that mean your pre-workout meals have to be all about carbs? No. They can contain the other two macronutrients too.

The thing is, adding them to your meal may be a bad idea if the time between eating and training is not long enough. Eating fat just before training can be particularly bad.

Carbohydrate (The #1 Choice for Your Pre-Workout Meals)

Carbohydrates (The #1 Choice for Your Pre-Workout Meals)

There are two kinds of carbs:

Simple Carbs
Complex Carbs

Simple carbs are basically sugars. They can provide a quick burst of energy, but can also cause your blood glucose to spike.

Complex carbs release energy more slowly than simple carbs. They keep you going for longer so they are the best carbs to use in pre-workout meals.

As they are digested, complex carbs release glucose into the blood. Your muscles convert this to ATP and use it for energy via a process known as cellular respiration. [SOURCE]

When the supply of glucose exceeds the demand, the liver converts the excess glucose to glycogen. It’s an important fuel reserve that is stored mostly in the liver but is stored in the muscles too.

Later on, when glucose levels are depleted during exercise, the liver converts glycogen back to glucose to help keep things going. [SOURCE]

So, the best foods to eat before working out are ones that provide complex carbs.

Here are a few examples of carb-rich foods you can add to your pre-workout meals:

Brown rice
Oats
Yams
Wholewheat pasta
Quinoa

All pre-workout Meals should contain carbs.

Protein (For Increased Endurance and Faster Recovery)

The amino acids provided by protein help increase endurance. In so doing, they enable you to increase the intensity of your workout. [SOURCE]

The branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, isoleucine, and valine are generally considered particularly important. For that reason, you can find them in many pre-workout supplements.

Adding protein to your pre-workout meals will also improve protein synthesis and provide you with extra strength. In addition to this, you may find you feel less muscle soreness due to a faster recovery rate.

Some of the best protein-rich foods to eat before working out include:

Turkey Breast
Tuna steak
Eggs
Milk
Soy

However, whether or not it is a good idea to include them in your pre-workout meals will depend on how soon you are eating them before your workout.

Fat (A Good Choice, But Not Always the Best Choice)

During a short duration of high-intensity exercise, your muscles are going to be running on glucose. For longer periods of exercise, things change.

Once the glucose is gone and the stores of glycogen have run dry your body will start burning fat for energy.

Every gram of fat you eat provides nine calories. That’s a lot. Carbs and protein only provide four calories per gram.

Fat is a high-calorie food so it stands to reason it can be good for providing energy. Here’s the rub: it takes a long time to digest.

The other problem is eating foods that are high in fat can slow the absorption of other foods.

It’s best not to eat foods that are high in fat before just before working out.

If it’s two or three hours before your workout, that’s fine. Chow down with confidence. Otherwise, give the fatty food a miss.

Most importantly, if you are adding fats to your pre-workout meals go for healthy (unsaturated fats). If you go for the other kind (saturated) you won’t be doing your heart any favours.

If you are adding fats to your pre-workout meals, some good options are:

Sunflower Seeds
Avocados
Walnuts
Mackerel
Herring

Using olive oil when roasting or frying food is also a good way to add unsaturated fat to your pre-workout meals.

Pre-Workout Meals v Pre-Workout Snacks

If you are eating two to three hours before your workout you have the freedom to choose pre-workout meals that contain carbs, protein, and fat. You still need to keep things healthy though and make sensible food choices.

When your pre-workout meals are only one to two hours before working out it’s best not to eat foods that contain fat. Eating them may hinder your workout instead of helping it.

Stick to carbs and proteins and think about making the portion size a little smaller so it will be lighter on your stomach.

If you are eating less than an hour before working out you will need to forget about eating a pre-workout meal. You need to be looking at pre-workout snacks instead.

Ideas for Pre-Workout Meals (2 – 3 Hours Before Training)

If you are eating two to three hours before training you have more options. There are fewer restrictions regarding fat.

Idea No. 1

Idea No. 2

Lean Grilled Steak (protein + fat)

Boiled Potatoes (Carbs)

Green Beans (Carbs)

Poached Salmon (Protein + Fat)

Boiled Brown Rice (Carbs)

Boiled Peas (Carbs + Protein

Ideas for Pre-Workout Meals (1 – 2 Hours Before Training)

If you are eating one to two hours before training, the best foods to include in your pre-workout meals will contain less fat. You won’t be looking at anything too complicated either, so it should be quick and easy to prepare:

Good choices include:

A light salad with bulgur wheat or couscous
Wholegrain cereal with skimmed milk
A small bowl of porridge topped with strawberries
Protein shake with a little mango

Pre-Workout Snacks (Eaten Less Than 60 Minutes Before Training)

When choosing your pre-workout snacks try to go for something small and simple and concentrate on carbs.

Some good choices for pre-workout snacks include:

An apple, pear, or orange
Half a cup of dried mixed fruit
Cereal bar

Good pre-workout snacks should provide an ongoing supply of glucose during your workout and do so without making your stomach feel bloated and full.

The Bottom Line

Choosing good pre-workout meals involves more than known the best foods to eat before working out. You also need to get the timing right and put some extra thought into the portion sizes.

If the idea of having so many restrictions regarding the foods you eat before working out seems a little daunting, it may be best to concentrate on the benefits a little smart pre-workout meal planning can provide.

Eating the right pre-workout meals or snacks at the right time can help you feel more energized in the gym. It can also help prevent muscle damage, speed up recovery, and generally support your ambition to build a strong, lean physique.

What Foods to Eat After Your Workout – Post Workout Snacks

Updated on May 3, 2021 by Brad Murphy

So you have to the gym and worked out. What are the best foods to eat when you need to eat something after training.

Best Post Workout Snacks for After the Gym

If you are short of time after your workouts you may have to go with post-workout snacks in preference to post-workout meals. There’s nothing wrong with that sometimes the easy things work best.

Whether you take your nutrition in the form of post-workout meals or snacks is not so important. However, knowing what foods to eat after your workout is very important indeed.

The foods that you eat after your workout play a vital role in muscle recovery and growth. Whether you are snacking or sitting down to a full meal, you need to get it right.

This article is primarily about post-workout snacks, but it could be equally applicable to post-training meals. In this case, the main difference between a snack and a meal is likely to be the time it takes to prepare.

Post-workout snacks are quick and easy to make. Post-workout meals often require a little more time to prepare. In both cases, the only important thing is the nutritional value.

We’re talking muscle fuel here and regular fuel is not good enough. You need to go premium all the way. We have written an article about pre-workout foods here

The Importance of Correct Post-Workout Nutrition

Depending on the choices you make, your post-workout snacks can help move you forward or hold you back. You need to get it right. These foods can also help you reduce your belly fat.

Like everything else in your body, muscles require energy. Although your body can store energy, it originally gets it from food.

The food we eat releases glucose into our blood. The muscles use it for energy after first converting it to ATP. [SOURCE]

When the food provides more glucose than is needed, the liver converts the excess glucose to glycogen. It stores most of this within itself. The rest is stored in the muscles. When glucose runs low, the stores of glycogen are converted back to glucose and put to work. [SOURCE]

However, after any form of intense exercise or workout activity, the muscles’ are normally running on empty. The glycogen stores are practically gone.

Exercise hits the muscles hard in another way as well. All that intense physical activity breaks down muscle tissue.

By the end of your workout, your muscles are in a pretty bad way. Not only do they need to replace all that lost glycogen, they need to repair the damaged tissue too.

The only way the muscles can do these things is by using the energy and nutrients provided by food. Your post-workout snacks need to get both these things to them and they need to do it fast. [SOURCE]

It needs carbs to replace energy and protein for muscle repair. Your post-workout snacks will need to provide both. A little healthy fat can be good as well, but it’s not as vital as carbs and protein.

Post-Workout Meal Benefits

A good post-workout meal provides a number of benefits. You’ll be more aware of some of them than others because a lot is happening behind the scenes.

Three less obvious benefits are:

Better protein synthesis
Glycogen restoration
Faster post-exercise recovery

When the foods you eat after your workout provide these benefits, you will feel it because your muscles will not feel so sore. Additionally, any soreness you do experience will only be short-lived.

There are also foods that help you gain muscle – these are bulking foods.

You will also see the benefits, but that could take some time. Because good pre-workout snacks improve protein synthesis and faster recovery, they help your muscles grow. It’s going to be a while before you see that benefit in the mirror.

However, presuming you’re training correctly and your overall diet is okay, you should find you are getting stronger every week.

The Role of Carbs and Protein in Your Post-Workout Snacks

Bodybuilders often tend to become overly obsessed with protein, but it’s only one half of a winning team. Eating carbs after working out are important too

Due to differences in the way they work their muscles, bodybuilders require a greater amount of protein than other athletes. There’s no arguing with that.

Swimmers and runners, on the other hand, will likely require post-workout snacks that have less protein and more carbs.

No matter what the sport though, the foods you eat after your workout need to provide both important nutrients.

Protein is needed for protein synthesis. Carbs replenish glycogen. They are powerful allies that can get your muscle growth moving in the right direction.

Eating post-workout snacks or meal that contain both nutrients improves body composition and boosts physical strength. That’s a fact and research proves it. [SOURCE]

Try beginning with post-workout snacks that include carbs and protein in a 3:1 ratio. See how you go, don’t be afraid to experiment, and take it from there.

The Debatable Value of Fat in Post-Workout Snacks

Fat provides nine calories per gram. A gram of carbs or protein only provides four. Fat is a high-calorie food and you need to bear that in mind before adding it to your post-workout snacks.

Seriously, if the idea of growing bingo wings gets you in a flap you need to go steady with fat. Your heart will thank you for it too.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. The truth is your body needs it, just not in copious amounts.

You may have heard fat slows down the absorption of other nutrients. That’s true. It does. Fat is very hard to digest. It takes some time and when it gets mixed in with carbs and protein their absorption rates can take a hit.

That’s a good reason not to overdo it with fat, but it doesn’t mean you should avoid it entirely. If the foods you eat after your workout contain a little fat that should be fine.

In fact, it may even improve protein synthesis. A study comparing the abilities of full fat and skimmed milk certainly suggests this is so. When consumed after resistance exercise, the fat in the whole milk increased amino acid uptake, leading to improvements in protein synthesis.

Tips on Timing Your Post-Workout Snacks

Just after training, there is a short window of time where “feeding your muscles” offers the greatest benefits.

Most experts agree this window starts to close around 45 minutes after you cease training. So, eating your post-workout snacks around half-an-hour after your workout should help you get the optimum benefits.

A Few Good Foods Options for Your Post-Workout Snacks

The foods you include in your post-workout snacks provide your body with the nutrients it needs. The problem is, some foods release their nutrients too slowly to provide the muscles with the fast nourishment they need.

Below are some food suggestions to help you make some effective snacks to eat after your workout.

CARBOHYDRATE	PROTEIN	FAT
Potatoes Fruits Bulgur wheat Oatcakes Brown rice Wholemeal Pasta Yams Chocolate milk Leafy green vegetables	Tuna Turkey Chicken Eggs Salmon Cottage Cheese Greek Yogurt Protein bar Whey protein powder	Peanut butter Avocado Walnuts Sunflower seeds Trail mix Olive oil

Some Post-Workout Snack Ideas

Here are some post-workout snack ideas:

Peanut butter and beetroot sandwiches
Crispbread with tuna and sweetcorn
Bulgur wheat salad garnished with olive oil and vinegar
Protein shake and mixed fruit smoothie
Cottage cheese and pineapple on toast
Greek yogurt with walnuts and berries or fruit
Rye bread and turkey salad sandwich

Some Final Post-Workout Considerations

The foods you eat after a workout are important. They help you heal and grow. Whether you take your nourishment in the form of a post-workout meal or a snack is less important. It’s the nutrients that count, not the way you chose to take them.

However, it makes sense to always choose healthy food options. Especially when it comes to fats. Unsaturated fats are always preferable to the saturated kind.

Although it’s a bit of stretch to include advice on hydration in an article about the foods to eat after your workout, the subject is too important to omit. [SOURCE]

The body of the average adult is 55 to 60 percent water. During a workout, you lose a some of that water in sweat.

You also lose a lot of important minerals the body uses as electrolytes. Allowing yourself to become dehydrated during exercise can make you feel dizzy and ill. It can cause a lot of other problems too. Loss of electrolytes can cause lethargy, nausea and disrupt your heartbeat.

A good workout is hard on the body in a lot of ways, it’s going to need some nurturing afterward.

If your post-workout snack is suitably rich in vitamins and minerals you will probably only need to top up with water. Though, there is a lot to be said for sports drinks. Vitamin and mineral supplements are good too.

Want the bottom line? Be as hard on your body as you want during your workout, but be extra kind when you stop. Feed it well, make sure it’s adequately hydrated, then sit back and watch those muscles grow.

What Foods are Good for Bulking Up and Gaining Muscle Mass

Updated on March 15, 2022 by Brad Murphy

There is a lot of conflicting information as to what you should eat if you want to bulk up and gain muscle muss. This article cuts through the fluff and gives it to you straight. here are the foods you should eat if you want to bulk up.

Foods for Bulking Up and Gaining Muscle Mass

Do you know what foods are good for bulking you up? If you do, you probably won’t need to read any further. Having said that, my list of ten muscle-building foods may give you a few ideas you would not normally consider.

When I’m on a quest to gain muscle mass, I eat the foods that can help me the most and anything is fair game—even horses. I combine this with a bulking SARM – if you don’t know what SARMS are the read this

That doesn’t mean I don’t consider the vegetarian-friendly sources of protein. There can be a life without meat and there are some very good plant-based proteins out there.

It’s not good to rely on meat all the time. Eating too much of it too often is not healthy. That’s why I like to mix things up a bit and eat plenty of plant-based proteins too. Apart from anything else, it adds a little variety to my diet and keeps life interesting.

Read on and I’ll share with you some of my top foods for bulking up and gaining good, high-quality muscle mass.

Must Read: Natural testosterone booster supplement – rediscover lost libido, gain muscle mass and restore the energy of your youth – read about Testo Prime

1. Steak

When it comes to foods that are good for bulking up, steak is an obvious choice.

Every 100 g of steak you eat will provide you with around 25g of protein and, as with all red meats, it will be a complete protein. Steak is also an ideal food to eat to increase testosterone levels.

Complete proteins provide all the amino acids your muscles require for growth. Steak takes a little longer to digest than some of the other foods that are good for gaining muscle mass. It can also be higher in fat but, as a “muscle food”, steak is one of the best.

Apart from being high in protein, steak is also a good source of iron. Iron is one of the nutrients your body needs for manufacturing hemoglobin.

The red blood cells need hemoglobin to carry oxygen around the body. This may not sound important, but it is. Your muscles need oxygen and the harder you work them the more they need. So, by providing the iron your body needs to produce hemoglobin, steak helps you to workout with greater intensity. [SOURCE 1]

2 Turkey Breast

Turkey is also one of the best high-protein foods for bulking you up and increasing muscle mass. All turkey meat is good, but the breast is the best because it’s incredibly lean. In fact, it’s normally only around two percent fat and a 100 g serving will give you up to 30 g of protein.

Turkey breast is also very low in calories. That means you don’t need to worry about gaining a lot of extra body fat alongside your improvements in muscle mass.

As a muscle building food, turkey breast ticks all the right boxes because it helps with bulking up while keeping you lean.

However, although the breast is good, the skin that covers it is not. If you eat the skin you will be giving yourself a lot of unnecessary fat. You will also risk pushing up your cholesterol level. So discard the skin and boil the meat instead of roasting or frying.

3. Tofu

Okay, we’ve already got two of the best foods for bulking up out of the way and both of them were meats. This seems like a good time to start talking tofu.

Eating tofu is a very good way to boost your protein intake and don’t go thinking it’s not a complete protein. Apart from being one of the best vegan-friendly proteins, tofu has all the amino acids included.

If you’re not a vegetarian or vegan, don’t dismiss this nutritional powerhouse out of hand. A typical serving of tofu is around eight percent protein and it does not contain any cholesterol at all. It does provide reasonable amounts of iron, magnesium, and calcium though.

If you can’t remember why iron is important, skip back to the section on steak. If you don’t know why magnesium and calcium are important I’ll tell you. Both minerals have the ability to boost natural testosterone production. [SOURCE]

4. Tuna

No list of foods that are good for bulking up would be complete if it didn’t have tuna. It’s high in protein and very low in fat. Even if you forgo fresh tuna steaks and go for the canned variety instead, a 3-ounce serving of tuna that has been canned with water provides roughly 20 g of protein.

Lots of bodybuilders swear by canned tuna and it has the advantage of being very easy to prepare. All you need to do is open the tin, drain off the water, and you are good to go. It goes great with a salad and can make a quick and nutritious sandwich. Alternatively, you can combine it with sweetcorn and low-cal mayonnaise and serve it on top of a baked potato.

The other good thing about tuna is it provides omega-3 fatty acids. Research suggests Omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent the decline of muscle mass and strength that is often a normal part of aging. So, apart from building muscle, tuna may also help you hang on to it for longer. [SOURCE]

5. Beans on Toast

The problem with baked beans is, although they are a good source of protein, the beans are not a complete protein. However, a slice or two of bread contains the amino acids the beans lack. That means a serving of beans on toast can serve all your muscles’ protein needs.

If you can, it’s best to use wholemeal bread for the toast instead of white. Wholemeal bread is higher in fiber and a good source of complex carbohydrate. Choosing wholemeal bread to accompany your baked beans will make the meal better for providing ongoing energy.

Due to it’s higher fiber content, wholemeal bread is also more filling. Eating it should help you avoid the urge to snack in between meals. If you want a good vegetarian-friendly alternative to steak, beans on toast fits the bill.

6. Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is another good vegetarian-friendly source of protein. It also provides a reasonable dose of testosterone-boosting calcium. It’s a good food choice for anyone who is busy bulking up and it also has the benefit of being a low-fat protein option.

Like all dairy proteins, cottage cheese is a complete protein so there is no need to worry about a lack of amino acids.

Additionally, this lumpy-looking cheese curd provides a hefty dose of selenium. If you don’t know why that’s good, don’t worry, I do and I’m willing to share the information.

Selenium is a vital mineral and antioxidant that helps protect the body from oxidative stress. Rigorous training causes oxidative stress, that’s why the selenium content of cottage cheese is worth mentioning. [SOURCE]

Cottage cheese is also a versatile food option. You can have it on toast at breakfast time or with a baked potato at lunch. It also works well with a salad and is a healthy low-fat sandwich filler you can enjoy any time of the day.

Need a good food to help get you gaining some serious muscle mass? Squeeze some cottage cheese into your day.

7. Milk

When it comes to dairy protein, milk is king. Cheeses and yogurts are made from milk. It’s the primary source of their protein-packing power. Milk is also probably the only real food you serve in a glass.

Food? Milk? How can this be so? Apart from being a complete protein, milk also provides all the other nutrients your body needs. It’s got the lot. If you wanted to you could live on milk. That makes it a “complete food“.

The chances are I don’t need to tell you that, when it comes to bulking up, this dairy king of foods is as good as it gets. Milk has always been one of the main go-to bodybuilding proteins.

Milk is also a muscle-builder that keeps you looking lean and mean by helping your body to burn fat. That’s not just me saying that. It’s the men in white coats over at the University of Tennessee.

They ran some clinical trials and discovered milk’s rich calcium content allows it to help you lose fat from your trunk region. [SOURCE]

8. Eggs

Do you know what works incredibly well alongside milk? Eggs. Of course, they are also a good food for bulking you up when you eat them alone, but they make a kick-ass combination too.

Both are complete proteins that are easily assimilated and get to work fast. Bodybuilders have been using milk and egg protein shakes for years.

However, you may have heard the scare stories that mixing these two proteins is a dangerous thing to do. Don’t worry, it’s not. It’s only dangerous if you use raw eggs to make your shake. Doing so is unhealthy because there could be implications with bacteria. If you make your shake with boiled eggs everything is safe as houses.

Apart from their other virtues, eggs are a damn good source of choline. Two eggs can provide up to 300 mg.

Choline is a precursor to the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine. That’s interesting because research suggests acetylcholine precursors of this nature can boost human growth hormone (HGH) production. [SOURCE]

I’m sure I don’t need to explain why that’s good. We’re talking growth here and growth is what gaining muscle is all about.

9. Beetroot

If you are surprised to see beetroot on a list of foods that are good for bulking you up, don’t be. These little, red wonders are good stuff. Okay, they turn your pee pink, but nothing is perfect and there’s nothing wrong with adding a little colour to your life every once in a while.

Beetroot is high in nitrate. That allows it to function as a natural NO (nitric acid) booster. Many supplements contain ingredients chosen for their ability to boost NO because higher levels of NO relax the walls of the blood vessels and, in so doing, increase blood flow to the muscles.

The blood has the job of providing the muscles with the nutrients they need to grow. By increasing nutrient flow to the muscles, beetroot speeds up recovery times and helps your muscles to grow. [SOURCE]

10. Horse Meat

Yeah, I know. I’m a terrible man. It’s not cool to suggest you should eat the flesh of dead horses. But how does that taboo work anyway? Unless you are a vegetarian, eating the flesh of dead cows is a socially acceptable practice. Fluffy white sheep too.

Most animals are seen as fair game, why are horses supposed to be different? Personally, I blame TV shows like Champion the Wonder Horse and The Black Stallion.

However, even if you can get past the taboo, taking advantage of this excellent source of protein may not be an option. In many countries, horse meat is not easy to obtain. In others, all it takes is a trip down to the local supermarket.

If you can get it though, horse meat is a really good food for bulking you up. Apart from being high in protein, it contains around 50 percent less fat than beef does and twice as much iron.

As for the taste, it’s pretty good and, where horse meat is available, there may be smoked options too. I can’t say I care too much for smoked horse meat, but many horse eaters love it.