Bodybuilding Food and Nutrition

For many bodybuilders, the nutrition part is the missing link. We work out hard in the gym, get our rest/recovery time, yet make one of a couple of critical mistakes.

First, let’s define bodybuilder. How about simply anyone who does resistance training as part of a workout and eating regiment to improve their health and appearance (and healthy is attractive)? It’s encompasses everyone from someone who hits the gym a couple of times a week to the seriously competitive bodybuilders.

And we must mention that nutrition is far easier if you learn the basics of healthy cooking! Simple Anabolic/muscle promoting foods, high in vitamins, generally low in fats, are not hard to prepare.

And now, the 2 critical mistakes bodybuilders make with regard to food/nutrition:

1. We eat shit! Yes, a lot of us eat like the general population, which tends to be horrible. Although Mexico has recently surpassed the USA (where we are located) as the fattest country, the USA and most of the Western world is pretty horrible.
   
   We are in a hurry and we eat fast food. No one is going to claim that McDonalds, Wendys, KFC, or Burger King are healthy. And those quick slices of pizza you grabbed are not awesome bodybuilding or healthy food either! In general, fast food is unhealthy.
   
   It is much easier to eat healthier today than a mere few years ago.
   
   Even the fast food outlets mentioned have some far healthier choices than they used too. We just do not tend to eat them!
    
2. We eat too healthy (or try to). Yes, some people eat (or attempt to) eat too healthy.
   
   Now there is nothing wrong with the occasional slice of pizza or fast food burger (if that is what you enjoy). Yes, maybe you are like a friend of ours getting ready for her first bodybuilding competition (bikini division or whatever they call it) and need to watch everything you eat for the next 4 months, but that does not describe most of us by a long shot!

So, you may ask, “What is the problem with eating too healthy – is that even possible?” There are a couple of problems for sure.

First of all, too many bodybuilders (and others) have diets they simply cannot sustain and break down and start eating lots of crap. Hey, I can stay on any diet for a week or so, but put me on something bland and boring and I’m not going to last. Most of us cannot stay on a superstrict and uber healthy diet, so our diet fails!

The second reason is that food and drink are supposed to be fun! Deriving yourself of one of life’s great pleasures is moronic in our opinion. Yes, you should be able to eat whatever you want occasionally, but more importantly, you can eat healthily most of the time and eat fun tasty food (after midnight nachos are not healthy in general, but every once in a while is OK.

There are plenty of resources online giving you specific calorie, carb, protein, fat counts, and out attempt is not to duplicate what you can already easily find online, but to try and add some reasonableness, for the bodybuilder who just happens to have a life (and life should include tasty food).