Posted on January 22, 2015 by Jenny Cromack

 

Here are some meals and tips to build muscle. The meals are great if you’re looking to build muscle and our nutritional tips will help to maximise your muscle gain.

Tips:

• Eat enough protein. You should be eating 1.6-1.8g per kg of body weight of protein per day
• Eat high-quality protein and fat at every meal. Favour foods that provide at least 10 grams of essential amino acids every time you eat.
• Eat MEAT! There’s evidence that there is something about “the meat itself” that yields maximal muscle gains.
• Cycle carbs to promote insulin sensitivity for mass gains. De-emphasize them on rest days, but go higher carb on training days.
•  Have a higher carb, high calorie day every 5 to 7 days in which you increase calories by up to 50 percent.
• Balance your omega-3 to omega-6 fat intake: Eat fish, pastured animal products, take fish oil and avoid vegetable oils.
• Eat beneficial fat and avoid low-fat eating like the plague. Fat provides cholesterol, which supports hormone balance and recovery from intense exercise.
• Go for saturated animal fats (butter, meat), omega-3s, and monounsaturated fat (olives, avocados, macadamia nuts).
• Ensure you stay hydrated; Dehydration will significantly elevate cortisol and most people are chronically dehydrated. Aim to drink 37 ml/kg of body weight. For a 75 kg person this equals 2.8 liters.

Here are a couple of high protein muscle building recipes for you.

Salmon with Salsa Verde
Kcal 375, Protein 33.2g, Carbs 2.6 fat  25.9, Sat 3.9g
Serves 4

Ingredients Process
• 1 x 25g pack dill, roughly chopped
• 1 x 25g pack mint, tough stalks removed and roughly chopped
• 1 x 25g pack flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 x 25g pack chives, roughly chopped
• 1½ tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp capers
• 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
• 1 x 200g tin green olive stuffed with anchovies, drained (85g)
• 2 lemons, juice only
• 4 salmon fillets

To serve (optional)
• 175g brown rice
• 50g olives
• 75g toasted pine nuts
• 1 red pepper, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. To make the salsa verde, put the herbs, mustard, capers, pine nuts, olives and the juice of the 1 ½ lemons in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped.
2. Put the salmon fillets on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Squeeze over the juice of the remaining half lemon and season with freshly ground black pepper. Cook in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes or until cooked through.
3. If serving with the rice, cook the rice according to the packet instructions. Mix together the olives, pine nuts and red pepper. Once the rice is cooked, stir through the olive mix.
4. Pile the salsa verde on top of the salmon fillets. Serve with the rice.

Chicken Almonds and Red Pepper Traybake

Kcal 442 Protein 34g Carbs 30g Fat 20 Sat 3

Ingredients

500g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 medium red onions, cut into thick wedges
500g sweet potatoes, cut into thick slices
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into thick slices
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp each ground cumin, smoked paprika and fennel seeds, slightly crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
zest and juice 1 lemon
50g whole blanched almonds, roughly chopped

Method

1) Heat oven to 200C / 180C fan/ Gas 6. place the chicken, sweet potatoes, onions and peppers in a large bowl and season. In another bowl mix together spices, garlic, oil and lemon zest and juice. add everything together in a tray.

2) Roast for 40 mins mixing after 20mins. Add the almonds for the final 8 mins of cooking. add parsley or coriander to serve.