The Sunday News
Simon Gama
Want to get big and strong? It’s not just what you eat but what your body absorbs.
Vary your protein sources.
Body builders often have the nasty habit of eating the same thing day after day because they feel like they know what they are getting or because it’s convenient. Not only is eating this way a drag but you are actually setting yourself up for some kind of deficiency. Tuna and chicken to get your daily grams of protein.
But a gram is not a gram, neither chicken nor fish has the amino acid balance to be considered perfect proteins. In fact chicken which is considered a complete protein is low in some essential amino acids namely some of the branched chain amino acids that are so important in building and maintaining muscle mass.
Incomplete proteins which lack or are disproportionately low in certain essential amino acids even affect the way that the rest of the protein is absorbed. Eating the same proteins daily may set you up for a relative deficiency in one or more amino acids.
That can lead to muscle breakdown since your body will be forced to sacrifice a muscle cell in order to access a particular essential amino acid.
Repetitive diets have also been linked to acquired food allergies. The theory is that by-products of a particular protein build, causing the immune system to react and form antibodies. Every time the offending food is then consumed a chain reaction begins with the body treating the food as a foreign protein rather than a source of nutrition.
Getting protein from a variety of sources such as turkey, lean pork, a variety of fish, different kinds of beans especially brown beans, lean beef, tofu and lentils as well as the old standards of chicken breasts and tuna can help prevent any deficiencies and ensure that you are making full use of every gram of protein that you take in. Learn how to vary your menu. Experiment with herbs and spices and make things more interesting.
Avoid late night meals
Many bodybuilders and other athletes trying to put on muscle mass are paranoid about not getting enough food in themthroughout the day. Some even believe that they should force feed a lot late at night or have a super high calorie protein drink for added safety. Such habits may help you put on a few pounds of fat and late night meals are not the most efficient way to feed muscles.
The body’s metabolic rate is highest during the morning and early afternoon hours. Most nutrients are digested, absorbed and utilised most efficiently at this time.
That’s the time of day that the highest number of calories should be taken in, that’s also the time of the day when you could end up in a catabolic state if you don’t eat enough.
Large meals late at night, especially if they are high in protein can also interfere with quality sleep problems. Too much protein can actually increase your metabolic rate at just the time when you are trying to shut down, repair, rest and recuperate.
Excessive carbs taken in late in the evening are more likely to be stored as fat than as glycogen because energy demands are lower and blood sugar levels tend to be more stable.
Try to allot your food intake so that the vast majority of calories, at least 75% are taken in before evening. You can still have an evening snack as long as it’s a combination of carbs and protein and is low in fat. Intentional force feeding probably isn’t the most efficient way to go.
Eat small frequent meals
This is incredibly important. Small frequent meals are easier for your body to digest, absorb and assimilate. They help keep your metabolic rate active. Every time you eat your metabolism picks up to some degree and minimise the possibility that fat will be stored.
Timing is everything
I define peak performance nutrition as giving your body what it needs when it needs it. The goal is to meet the momentary nutritional demands of your body otherwise you can end up with deficiencies that can impede the immediate progress stimulated by training. I’ve known bodybuilders who eat lots of carbs and protein but still end up catabolic simply because they don’t have their meal timing down at all.
Training has an enormous effect on your body’s metabolism and as such stimulates certain very significant events involved in nutrient absorption. In seminars, at the muscle and fitness training camp I refer to these events as windows of opportunity.
