You know that training sets that stage for muscle growth.
You know you can’t simply bulk up without a consistent and balanced nutritional attack.
But did you know that if your nutritional attack does not include a small food scale, a calculator, notepad and pencil on hand, 24/7, then your doomed?
Of course, I’m kidding.
Although many of the great bodybuilders from the 1980s and ’90s were always into the details and it wasn’t uncommon to find world famous bodybuilders weighing and measuring what they were about to eat and scribbling down numbers onto their pad.
Their results spoke for themselves.
Of course, you may not have the desire, drive or determination to be as dedicated as some of these mass-loving bodybuilders.
That’s okay.
I can relate more to you anyways.
Today, I would prefer a nutrition plan that is quick, convenient and demands as little fuss and measuring as possible.
This scale-free, stress-free and effective nutrition strategy requires zero account like accuracies employed by many top bodybuilders.
All you need are a few visuals, my list of top muscle building foods and an old fashioned measuring cup.
Before we discuss the best muscle building foods  lets reviews my top five no nonsense bulk-up nutrition principles you’ll need to follow to get your body to grow, grow and grow.
The Mass-Building Diet Checklist
Eat often – 5-6 meals a day
Some muscle gurus promote eating as frequent as every 2 hours.
I consider that stupid and too extreme.
But I will agree  your muscle growth will feel like moving icebergs if you’re not eating every 3-4 hours setting you up for 5-6 meals a day.
Eating anything less will stall your chances of gaining quality muscle mass without any body fat.
Relying on only 3-4 meals a day sets you up for huge meals that often lead to fatigue, bloating, gas and unwanted body fat that covers up your growing muscles.
A more frequent meal cadence provides a steady supply of carbohydrates and proteins, the two core ingredients needed for growth and repair.
Eat quality
Focus on high quality muscle building foods (we’ll discuss in a moment) from a variety of lean proteins and complex carbohydrates plus an assortment of fruits and veggies and fats.
Eating white bread and jelly every 3-4 hours results in a completely different hormonal response and body appearance than eating a veggie omelette with fruit every 3-4 hours.
Before you increase your calories and meal cadence, focus on switching out lower quality foods with the list of muscle building foods below.
Quality is always better than quantity.
Don’t ignore your hunger
Let your body tell you if you should be eating every 2, 3 or 4 hours based on your hunger signals. Â You should be aiming for every 3-hours but this is not a cold-hard rule. Â It’s a guideline to start with.
If you’re still full after 3-hours than schedule a meal cadence every 4-hours. Â If you’re starving after 2-hours it’s time to eat again.
Ensure you’re using the best muscle building foods to so you don’t end up stuffing yourself with empty calories. Â Increasing your fats and veggies will combat against a hunger attack.
Eat enough
The bottom line is quality calories made up of the best muscle building foods. Â To gain weight you need more calories than you expend. Â Make sure you are not avoiding fats either. Â Very-low-fat-diets can put the breaks on muscle growth by lowering testosterone levels and dropping your caloric intake. Â Fat is not the enemy.
The best muscle building foods for fat are olive oil, salmon, mixed nuts, moderate portions of red meat, avocados, natural peanut butter, fish oil supplements and coconut oil.
Read the tale of the scale
The scale is your friend so weigh in. Â Trying to build muscle without a scale is like a runner trying to get faster without a stop watch. Â (That goes for fat loss training too).
You should be gaining 1 pound of bodyweight each week or around 5 pounds each month. Â Anything more than 5 pounds of body weight each month will probably be excess fat.
If you’re not meeting this standards, please re-evaluate the previous principles. If you’re not gaining weight the easiest way to move out of the “skinny guy ranks” is to add more carbohydrates.
An extra 500 calories a day or an extra 100 calories each meal will put your body into a more muscular state.
Look in the mirror
Believe it or not, mirrors work! Â That’s really you looking back at you – I’m not kidding. Â Use the mirror to confirm that you are gaining muscle, not fat.
If you’re waist is growing faster than your muscles, you’re likely gaining body fat faster than muscle, so double check you’re consuming the muscle building foods listed below and try to train harder.
You could also cut your carbohydrate intake after 6pm, even if you train in the evening time, and that will help.
The Best Muscle Building Foods – What To Fill Your Plate With
If you’re having trouble gaining weight, do yourself a favour, and stop counting calories. Â It’s not necessary to count calories or grams. Â Just make sure you are getting a good amount of protein at each meal, lots of clean carbohydrates for energy, and fruits and veggies for absorption and health benefits.
Use the following guidelines as your new “meal plan”:
Muscle Building Protein:
For each meal, chose one of the portion sizes such as the following:
- 4 eggs
- 1 can of tuna
- 1/2 a container (250 ml) of cottage cheese
- 4 cups of whole milk
- a fist size of meat (chicken, beef, fish)
- 2 scoops of protein powder
Muscle Building Carbohydrates:
For each meal, choose 1 of the following if your less than 200 lbs and 2 of the following if you’re more than 200 lbs:
- 3 slices of whole wheat bread
- medium bowel of oatmeal
- 1 cup of rice (cooked)
- 1 full sized baked potato
- 2 large bannas (or any 2 large fruits)
- 1 big bowl of cereal (lower sugar like Shreddies)
- 4 cups of milk
- 2 whole wheat bagels
- 1 plate of pasta
Fruits and Vegetables:
Aim to get 2 serving of the following with each meal but don’t fill up on the lower calorie veggies. Â Fruit juice is a really easy way to boost your calories but preference the options below instead:
Higher Carbohydrate
- Apples
- Oranges
- Bananas
- Grapes
- Berries
- Melons
Lower Carbohydrates:
- Broccoli
- Spinach
- Cabbaage
- Tomatoes
- Green beans
- Cauliflower
- Asparagus
Muscle Building Oils and Fats:
Enjoy healthy fats, such as olive oil, nuts and oil found in fish. Â Minimize your intake from saturated fat and trans fatty acids. Â That means you should avoid anything that is fried, boxed, packaged or served in a fast food restaurant.
While in the grocery store, a good rule is to avoid buying anything in the middle aisles and shop on the perimeter of the grocery store.
A little extra fat can tip the scales towards muscle growth but the wrong kinds will ruin your health and waistline. Â Here are the best muscle building foods for fat choices:
- Olive oil
- Olives
- Flaxseed oil
- Avocado
- Mixed nuts
- Natural peanut butter and almond butter
- Fish oil cups
- Coconut oil for cooking
If you found this information interesting please pass it along to your friends or feel free to link to this article from your blog or website.
Any questions? Â You know the drill. Â Post below.
Vince Del Monte
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Keep to concentrate your stage, this is nice blog.
Vince,
I do my work out in the morning. My breakfast generally consist of the following: 8oz steak, or 8 oz pork chop (I rotate these two meets each day), two full eggs, half a grape fruit, 1 slice of sprouted wheat bread and 1 cup of organic coffee.
Is their anything you would change with this breakfast meal plan?
Hello Vince, i have recently heared about the “Eat Stop Eat” Program made by Brad Pilon.
It somewhat counterdicts the idea that you should not starve yourself, in that it will make you loss mucle and gain fat.
It actually says the oppisite, that you will NOT loss muscle,- BUT you will loss fat
The idea is that you fast 2 days a week, and by doing so you will boost your metabolism and growth hormone.
I am realy facing a dilemma here, i dont know weather to trust Brad Pilon and try to follow this intermittent fasting plan, or eat regularly 5-6 meals a day everyday.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this Vince, and hear if youback up his theories.
I want to gain muscle and lose fat
[...] far as nutrition goes, to be able to gain muscle quickly and successfully, you should improve your protein intake. The general rule of thumb as far as physique developing goes is to ingest 1 gram of protein per [...]
[...] Diet plan and Nutrition needs the same quantity of attention as your exercises. Make certain you get the proper nutrition into your body. You’ll need to be aware when it comes to your diet plan. If you mess up your diet, the results won’t be as pleasing. To burn up fat and develop muscle at the same time you’ll need to have the correct diet and nutrition routine. As soon as you start getting used to it, it’s simple. [...]
He mentioned the concept of “whole protien” in his post, an idea that’s been around for a long while, ie taking foods that individually can’t meet your protien needs and combining them in a way that does. His example of rice and beans is probably the most common.
I’d love to hear your ideas on non-animal protien sources and particularly on the concept of whole protiens.
@vince_delmonte -
Sounds a lot like nursing!
Seriously, I fed my child the most perfect food for his stage of development in the way best geared to meet his needs and to teach him how to regulate his own diet: “on demand”. I was amazed how hungry it made me! I ate lots of high protien food cause that’s what he needed to grow & that’s what I was so hungry for.
One thing you didn’t mention is how necessary good hydration is.
The main difference I see between the foods you list to gain muscle and a fat-loosing diet are quantities and juice. You might want the sugar to gain weight, but it’s an easy thing to cut if you’re trying to loose.
One question–where does caffiene come in? I’ve been brewing myself a few glasses of ice tea with sweet n low daily. How does that affect my body?
Fantastic! I’ll put them on my list.
Hi Vince and everyone!
So Im on the building muscle program, and for my mid morning meal Im taking a bowl of yogurt plus fruits (13 blackberries or 1 apple or 6 strawberries) plus some pecans (around 10)
Would this work? I dont mind eating this also for my mid afternoon meal
thanks for your help!
so we choose so much of each per meal, how many meals per day are we doing here?
Try this! 10OZ lowfat chocolate milk, 3 shots espresso, 2 table spoons muscle milk (protein powder) about 20 minutes before a work out. You will be amazed at how fast the protien goes straight to your muscles.
What about the diet to fat loss…
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I would add Safflower Oil for the CLA to burn fat and be sure all of your foods are ORGANIC! Be sure to clean your fruits and vegies thoroughly!
For a quick meal of complex carbs, protein and essential fats I've recently become a fan of putting together Sardine sandwiches!
Tin of Sardines and wholemeal roll = Cheap, tasty, quick and nutritious meal
For carbs, I love my fries so to give me my fix I occasionally buy Oven Chips (That's what they're called in the U.K anyway) – Baked in the oven they are only around 5% fat or less.
Also love basmati rice for a good slow release carb.
My favorite muscle building meals
-Natural Peanut butter on a slice spelt bread, and also a glass of milk
-vegetables(fryed in coconut oil) and whole eggs…the coconut oil makes the vegetables taste delicious
-spelt spaghetti with salsa, tuna, olive oil and little bit of fresh basil
those are some of my favorites! and if I am in a hurry, hard boiled eggs, fruits and a handfull of nuts:)
enjoy
My favourite muscle building food is CHICKEN! There is just so many different things you can do with it with recipes, ways to prepare it etc.
Also, supposedly tomatoes help preventing prostate cancer, so just munch away on those.
Great Information, really needed this advice Thxs Vince, Top man
I can't think of much else to add to your list except maybe the legume family, and I'm hoping people know the proper way to prepare them for our bodies to actually absorb the nutrients (long soak and add a splash of something acidic like vinegar or lemon juice to break down the phytic acid).
I also add lacto-fermented foods to my diet for greater absorption of nutrients and greater over-all health benefits.
I have been reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and was intrigued by the historical studies that showed no culture was completely vegan. There was always some form of animal protein eaten whether it was bugs or dairy in some amounts. There's just something very essential in animal proteins that our bodies need that cannot be gotten anywhere else. B vitamins are some of them. You gotta get that book and see for yourself! Awesome recipes too!
Great article, Vince! Great enough to warrent me posting several times!!
I like adding cheese to my protein selection. Actually, anything dairy is my desire. I am a raw milk imbiber too!
Here's a great smoothie:
strawberries,
ice,
cream,
cottage cheese,
dab of raw honey,
raw egg(s),
splash of vanilla
water or orange juice
raw spinach ( I have some friends that add spinach to the mix, I haven't done it yet).
Blend fully and enjoy!
Hello Vince,
The thing i want to ask is because I have read Brad Pilon book Eat Stop Eat lifestyle. I am fasting halfway around 12 hours and I went to gym to do Resistance Training while I felt really lots of energy and does not feel fatigue even thought fasting for minimum 24 hours for 2 days per week. Do you think it is okay that i should follow 5 – 6 meals or i just go according to my schedule that when I need to eat.
Thanks,
Yi Shen
I train on my fast days but it's because I usually have a huge cheat meal the day before so my body has lots of stored energy for the fast day and I'm able to train at the same intensity.
Beans and rice. Particularly mature beans like kidney beans or cannellini, but I also have a recipe that calls for a little onion, garlic and carrot sauteed in oil, and then boiled with a cup of brown rice and a cup of lentils. It makes a great side dish, and the rice/bean mixture is a complete protein.
Vince, thanks for the tips, been using skimmed milk with my oats at 6am every day for a while now. added some cinamon and dried fruit, Goji berries. I will switch to semi skimmed ane see how i get on.
i love my chicken breasts with a light spicy rub added as my main source of protein along with Salmon and trout.
i am using a variety of fresh fruit in my shakes such a kiwi, rasberries, blackberries.
not really thought about which are high and low carb until now……
thanks again.
you are a rock for motivation.
I am a super hard gainer could i use cream instead of milk 18% coffee cream usually a bit of whole milk to dilute it ?? Any ideas??
Great info Bro… Buy the way, love the milk stuff. I use milk as a prime source of my protein, it's done me good!
6'6"-270lb(16%bf)….Keep it up!
I'll tell you right now >banana and peanut butter<…I probably have this "snack" once if not twice a day and you guys can yell at me saying that's too much to be having something like this, but ONE, its sooo good,TWO, you cant argue that its pretty healthy (even if you use non-organic, sugar added pb…i use skippy's natural btw) and THREE, for skinnier guys trying to bulk up, this would be a great snack to help you in that regard but for other dudes who are just always hungry no matter how much food you eat…take this and follow it with a bottle of water and you should be lookin' good. hope it helps
ooooo! Add cinnamon and you've got a great treat!!
I like to mix buckwheat (which is gluten-free, despite its name) and quinoa in place of oatmeal. I like oatmeal too, it's just nice to have options. =)
Good for you, backing up the whole milk! I prefer raw, whole milk myself, and get it from a nearby farmer's market. Best tasting milk ever, and super nutritious!
~Liz Hastings
You probably don’t get this all that much in the US but for your Australian readers, kangaroo is an excellent and very lean source of protein. It’s pretty easy to cook once you know how as well
Also, for those that care, it’s environmentally sound and wild (so as organic as you can get).
does spinach help muscle building?
I like your blog, always interesting and informative. The food tips are excellent. You don't mention supps, a very thorny topic.
How about cottage cheese!!!! That is the bomb!!!
Where are the beans on the list? Homemade hummus is a favorite snack food of mine with celery & cucumbers.
Great information here vince, you really do no what you are talking about great work. As for foods i would say yams are great if there not already up in the list.
I like the list. Here are some ways I like to mix it up, peanut butter on sprouted wheat toast, whole egg omelets, 1% milk with cheerios & banana or granola.
I love VENISON for a great healthy, lean protein! Usually my protein consists of LOTs of nut butters, nuts, seeds, eggs, quinoa and oat graots, but when I really want some good meat, I love to have a good dinner with Venison steak, baked sweet potatoe w/ coconut oil and cinnamon, and a Biggo salad full of raw veggies! Plus, I know I've gotten the deer straight from where it came from….so no yucky additives and hormones. Thumbs up to wild game!
Vince, what about soy milk? Would you recommend it?
great blog vince, i would agree that tuna is one of the best muscle building foods.. as it is almost pure protein and goes well with pasta to give a good balance of carbs and protein after a workout!
as a hunter i cant leave without mentioning venison as a musclebuilder. you wont find any meat that is higher in protein and minerals and it has no traces of antiboitics or growth hormones.
Last year, I had an injury which kept me from training for 3-4months. In that time I started really getting into raw food nutrition, and discontinued using whey protiens and much reducing my intake of animal proteins also.
Started using much smaller amounts of hemp protein and lots of fresh green juice, particularly Spinach & Kale! Not only did i maintain muscle, I actually lost fat during time off, but when it came back to training, i have had my most impressive gains with a much vastly reduced protein regime!!!
Seriously, i will never touch whey protein and much less animal stuff. Hemp just absorbs super fast and quickly. But i truely believe it has been the fresh, green juices 2/3 times daily which has really benefited me!
So my recommendation is more green juices and lots of it. You will be surprise what it can do not only for well being but also your gains and maintinance!
All the best
For building muscle – Steak! Nothing packs on the muscle like it!
At the risk of sounding like a smart ass, I love having just one heavy dark beer, and a bison steak, with any vegtables and a side of potatoes. No i cant have that all the time, but for me when i stop drinking beer i notice less gains, so i have between 3 – 5 a week… no more.
Yo Vinny, its your boy Enrico from Italy, I've lost 52lbs since buying your system in November and wanted to say thanks. I have a question though… I have completely cut carbs out for the last 2 weeks, and I was wondering how long I should do this, or even If you recommend this at all. It is very effective but Should I start to integrate them in maybe for breakfast? I am building a lot of muscle and don't know if I need them for now or not. How does that work, will the muscle still breakdown and rebuild if I eat only fats and proteins post workout, or do I need the 2 bananas??? Thanks again, talk to you soon.
Vince you are missing Hemp Products. No I am not talking Marijuana I am talking about products like Hemp Seed Oil (don't worry THC levels are below 10 Parts Per Million, and No you won't test positive on a piss test unless you drink a bottle a day). The ratio is Omega6:Omega3 3:1 I think. If you like the taste the Hemp Protein is pretty good as well…well it has i guess around 40% protein and the remainder as fat and carbs.
good info, but pretty sure I don't want to eat cereal from a bowel….yuk, I'd rather use a bowl…lol
Great advice, Vince! One small correction in your writing…it's "bowl" and not "bowel". Big difference!
Fruits and Vegetables:
Quinoa -substitute for rice;high protein content
Bok Choy- chinese cabbage
Yams,Sweet potatoes,Taro
Continuing on with milk….
Any opinions on the tabu un-pasturized milk?
Clear and helpful! Thanks Vince!
Im gonna tweet this post!
Also, I wish i lived in a healthier place, it is hard to find the good stuff where i live, as one of your emails from your vacation experience, i find odd that people live unhealthy most of the time! Anyway, i wish someday i can achieve the fitness level of yours.
Cheers and success in everything!
Israel from Mexico.
Awesome Vince! I love reading this stuff. Great work!
Thanks for the great info Vince!!
Go organic if you can with the fruit, veggies & milk
I know these products are expensive but is much better for our health & bodies. I will recommend 1or 2 tbs of liquid yeast enzimes with or after ur meals for better degestion,absortion,assimilation & utilization.
Quinoa…….it is not technically a grain, but can substitute for nearly any grain in cooking. It is actually the seed of a leafy plant, and quinoa’s relatives include spinach, beets and Swiss chard. Quionoa is a great source of protein and fiber. And although not an animal protein it is a complete protein meaning it contains all the essential amino acids. It even tastes really good. Make sure to rince it thoroughly until the water runs through it clear. A quick an easy way to cook it is in a rice cooker….. makes it come out so fluffy. You can also sautee it first for a nuttier flavor. You can buy quinoa at Wholefoods as well as Trader Joes – both in boxes and in the bulk isle. Enjoy!
Wow, thanks for the information Vince never thought about the whole milk vs skim milk. Very nice diet summary too! I always appreciate your work! Congrats on the engagement!!! And my fav muscle building food is egg whites whith cinnomon guilt free tastey!!
Thanks Chris.
I love anything peanut butter. As for the carbs, pasta is my favorite. I think I'll skip the "medium bowel of oatmeal" or the "big bowel of cereal" though. I like my bowels empty…LOL. Thanks for all the great resources.
I bought this new "Vita-Mixer" and make my OWN peanut butter. Pretty cool. You can blend mixed nuts and make your own without any of the extra preservatives and bad fats and sugars.
I agree with Les (except I drink about 1/2 gallon of non-fat milk a day). I was wondering how people (like myself) that have to take coumadin (blood is too thick) and can not eat 'green' vegatables get their cards????
Other than milk favorite protein food is lean (95% fat removed) hamburger.
r/
Bob G
Don't forget organic chocolate milk. It's a miracle after workout drink. I keep reading studies and articles on the benefits of it, and they hand it out now along with water bottles and sports drinks after road races and triathlons. Apparently it is the perfect ratio of carbs to protein for muscle growth and recovery.
Vince, I drink skim milk (up to 1 cup/day) 5 out of 7 days to cut calories, as I'm going to start a cutting phase soon. So even if I'm trying to cut, are you saying it's okay to drink 1%?
Not sure if quinoa is a muscle building food but I love this stuff! I found some great recipes online. I also love almond butter; I find it tastes more like peanut butter than organic peanut butter.
I know my recommendations on milk are going to stir the pot…. That's fine. Mention the word "milk" and you get about 20 different opinions.
I DO recommend whole milk and NOT skim milk. Skim milk is basically sugar water, all the nutrition has been stripped from it. If you're going to drink milk, get the benefits of it and drink it whole.
You'll meet guys who have packed on mountains of monster muscle with milk. You'll meet people have packed on mountains of fat with milk. Your body will tell you, quickly, whether it should be a staple or not.
So what food do you think is missing?
I use skim milk to avoid the fat. I then throw in non-fat dry milk to increase protein. I use 16 oz of skim with the equivalent to 16 oz of NFD milk picks up the protein to about 35 g protein, 11 g of whey and 24 g of casein. I try to do this three times per day. That is quite a bit of sugar, but you are going to get that with the whole milk, also, and you have the fat to boot. What am I missing here. You say it is sugar water, but my sugar water doesn't have 35 g of protein. What would the whole milk (I haven't used whole milk for a couple decades – went to 2% back in the 80's) have that skim milk doesn't have that would be viable for lean muscle mass?
You may want to read this article: http://www.realmilk.com/moreraw.html about the damaging effects skim and powdered milk have on our bodies. The fat in real milk is a healthy fat along with all the other powerful nutrients of a living food . Like Vince said above, re-think fats.
99% of the time people have issues with milk is because of the processing our milk goes thru. Homogenization and pasteurization change the milk into an undigestable 'food'. Raw milk is a completely different and a powerful nutrient-filled food. That being said, it is not readily available so whole milk is the second best choice because it is mostly intact.
Another tip is to consider how much processing a food has gone thru and don't eat it if it is not alive (not counting meat here, which is technically 'dead' but not 'processed' either).
Healthy fats are 'real' fats (not made by man: hydrogenated, etc) and will NOT make you fat. If you don't eat enough fat, your body will store it.
Just my thoughts!
I add olive oil into my oatmeal and also one tablespoon of walnut oil which has 2 grams or omega 3 fatty acid, for a total of 30 grams of fat at breakfast. Oh I have lost 32 pounds since I started eating this for breakfast. Keep up the good work Vince.
Ben
I think it’s sad that all your protein sources are animal products… it makes me sad Vince…
You shouldn’t forget the power of all sorts of bean, nuts, and seeds witch are allot easier to digest although there not hole proteins mixing them with other foods to complete their protein isn’t hard to do.
A really good whole protein source that’s one of my power house meals is mixed beans and brown rice you can easily get 30-40 grams of protein I also mix veggies in it. Lentils are my usual bean.
Also I like sunflower and pumpkin seeds high in protein and good fats, pumpkin seed have 18g protein in a ¼ Cup!!! I like to soak them in water
And all sorts of Nuts, I mainly eat soaked almonds, but there is allot more out there.
And for complex carbohydrates I like Yams and Ezekiel bread aswell as your list
Other than that you have everything ells covered pretty well
Oh did I mention I’m vegetarian
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like i said on your fb post.i think you got everything covered.thanks for the info vince! always appreciate your hard work!
Hey vince,i love it.well is good to hear from you.you are really a caring brother.thanks a lot.