Bodybuilders put there body through tremendous stress. In order to continue to push themselves hard they need proper nutrition at all times. Vegetables are very important for that process to take place.

Categories of Vegetables

Vegetables are divided into five categories. The categories are dark green leafy vegetables, orange vegetables, dry beans and peas, starchy vegetables, and other vegetables. These categories are important to consider when choosing your vegetables.

Benefits of Vegetables

Vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals. Vegetables are powerful because they are low in calories, they are high in fiber and they are packed with vitamins and pigments.

Vegetables enhance your overall health. They help support a strong immune system. Unfortunately many of the vitamins and minerals in vegetables are water soluble so you have to eat them many times a day.

Vegetables are rich in antioxidants which help slow the aging process. Vegetables also help repair free radical damage and damaged DNA.

Eating vegetables improves cardiovascular health as well as mental health. Veggies are also known to help reduce fat. Additionally the improve muscle building. They provide the correct vitamins and minerals that even a vitamin pill cannot provide.

What are the Best Vegetables for Bodybuilding?

It is best to stick to green vegetables when you are bodybuilding. At the top of the list is spinach as it is high in iron. You can also eat broccoli, collard greens, leafy lettuce, kale, and watercress. Really, any green leafy vegetable should be at the top of the list.

For great snacking get into cucumber and celery. They are low calorie and help keep you filled up from the fibrous content they have. 

Starchy vegetables are next on the list. Eating potato and corn can also help with muscle building. Don't forget these vegetables when planning your meals. Eat them in moderation, but definitely eat them.

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We have all seen all the low carb diets and how well they work, but those diets have given carbs a bad name. This just isn't right. Carbs in and of themselves are not evil. Carbs play a huge role in the diet of a bodybuilder as we will see shortly. Thus, we are going to answer the question “Are the evil things you've heard about carbs true?”

What Are Carbs Anyway?

Many of us in the fitness and bodybuilding wold assume that everyone understands what a carb is. Most people really have no clue. A carb is essentially sugars, starch, and/or cellulose. Vegetables are carbs, but I never count them in my count of carbohydrates for the day. In fact, I use vegetables for other purposes in the fat burning process.

Carbs can get converted to fat if not handled correctly. Some carbs are definitely preferred to others. It is all about what you eat and when.

Carbs for the Bodybuilder

A bodybuilder needs good carbs to build muscle. He can eat complex carbs (those that digest slowly like oatmeal, brown rice or sweet potato) or he can eat simple carbs (those that digest quickly like sugar, dextrose, etc.) For the bodybuilder it really is all about the timing. 

There is a new rage that says carbs should be excluded from the post-workout shake some bodybuilders consume. This is completely the wrong idea. Carbs definitely must be in the post-workout shake in order to help build muscle. Simple carbs like dextrose cause a beneficial insulin spike when included in the post-workout shake. This insulin spike helps shuttle the protein into the muscles to aide in recovery.

Timing of Carb Intake

I am now a big believer in nutrient timing. I have read a few books on the topic and it just makes sense. Rather than restrict certain nutrients (like carbs) from your diet, get them when the timing is right. Carbs are perfect before and after a workout. The body is primed to utilize them.

Low Carb Diets vs. Carb Cycling

Low carb diets definitely work to burn off fat. The problem is that they also drain the energy your body needs to train with intensity. This is why carb-cycling was developed. With carb-cycling you would do a certain number of low carb days followed by a certain number of high carb days. There are numerous plans available if you want to read about it. The fact is that carb-cycling is how most bodybuilders get as lean as they do. It keeps the body constantly guessing.

Carbs are Not Evil

As you can see, carbs need to be respected and used at the right time, but they are not evil. They play an important role in your nutrition plan. Be sure to include carbs at the right time and you will see amazing results.

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I originally considered naming this article “How Much Protein is Enough” but realized that “enough” is a bad word to use. As you can see, I changed “enough” to “optimal” because that is really what we are after–the optimal level of protein intake to meet our goals.

The Protein Myth

Apparently the topic of how much protein consumption is optimal has been around since the ancient times. During my research for this article I came across the legend of Milo. He allegedly ate 20 lbs. of meat daily. In the 70's the muscle magazines began to create a frenzy that got people drinking whole milk, eating eggs and eating lots of meat in an effort to get the physique of these musclemen they featured.  In the 90's protein powder became a staple in the discussion. 

The Science of Protein

Protein is comprised of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.It accounts for 50% of the body's dry weight. Apparently humans consist of over 50,000 proteins. Proteins are involved with most anything going on with the human body.

As someone interested in bodybuilding, I am sure you know that protein aids with muscle repair, but that's not all. Protein also helps repair red blood cells, aids in hair growth and fingernail growth as well. Protein helps with regulation of hormone secretion, movement (muscle contraction), digestion, maintenance of the body's water balance, protection against disease, transport of nutrients to and from cells, the carrying of oxygen and regulation of blood clotting.

Clearly protein is involved in a large number of things. Unfortunately, many bodybuilders and personal trainers have led us all to believe it is only involved with muscle repair.

Protein Intake Recommendations

The Recommended Daily Allowance for sedentary adults is currently 0.8 grams per kilogram of lean body weight. Children should be getting triple this amount because of their rapid growth. How did they reach these conclusions?

Scientists used a test that involved the nitrogen  levels in the body to determine where the tipping point is. The nitrogen balance test uses nitrogen loss in the form of sweat, urine, feces, shedding of skin, and loss of hair on a day-to-day basis. It examines this number. If there is a positive balance in nitrogen levels in the body, it means there has been more nitrogen ingested than excreted, and so, tissue growth can be a direct result. A negative balance shows researchers that more nitrogen is being excreted than taken in, and this means, of course, that more protein is being lost than produced. Basically, the protein requirement for sedentary adults involves replacing routine losses-the task, so to speak, is to keep the leaky bucket topped up. The idea is simple.

Remember that this number (0.8 grams per kilogram of lean body weight) is for sedentary adults. What happens when exercise enters the picture? It seems clear that exercise will increase the protein requirements. Through the research of the Letterman Army Institute of Research in San Francisco and Susan M Klieiner, PhD. we can conclude that an adult involved in regular exercise should have between 1.6 and 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body weight daily.

When Can Protein Be Bad?

There are studies that list out negative effects of taking in too much protein. These studies quite often mislead. For instance, there is a study that says too much protein will lead to kidney problems, but the study was conducted on people who already had kidney disease. This is just one example of misleading studies in this area. I have chosen not to address this issue in this article because of how misleading the research is. I suggest you do your own research and make up your own mind on the matter.

Conclusion

It is safe to say that if you ingest between 1.6 and 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body weight daily you and you exercise intensely on a regular basis, you will be fine. The numbers show you will gain lean mass with this approach.

References on Protein Intake

• Recommended Dietary Allowances, 10th Edition. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1989.
• Consolazio GF, et al. Protein metabolism during intensive physical training in the young adult. Am J Clin Nutr 1975; 28:29-35
• Dragan GI, Vasiliu A, Georgescu E. Effects of increased supply of protein on elite weightlifters. In: Galesloot TE, Tinbergen BJ, eds. Milk Proteins. Pudoc, Wageningen, The Netherlands 1985:99-103
• A high ratio of dietary animal to vegetable protein increases the rate of bone loss and the risk of fracture in postmenopausal women. DE Sellmeyer, KL Stone, A Sebastian, SR Cummings. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2001, Vol 73, Iss 1, pp 118-122.
• Guyton M.D., Arthur C. Human Physiology and Mechanisms of Disease; 1992.
• Arnal MA, Mosoni L, Boirie Y, Houlier ML, Morin L, Verdier E, Ritz P, Antoine JM, Prugnaud J, Beaufrere B, Mirand PP. Protein pulse feeding improves protein retention in elderly women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1999 Jun;69(6):1202-8.

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Anyone who has attempted to get their body fat % into single digits will tell you that it can be almost impossible using standard methodologies.  This is because the body really does not want to drop the body fat % too low, so it is programmed to hang on to the fat it has. This is why different measures need to be used in order to get to your goal. If you want to hit single digits, carb cycling is your answer.

 What Is Carb Cycling?

Carb cycling is a low carb form of eating where you introduce short periods of high carb intake. It is a means for burning fat and maintaining maximum muscle. Carb cycling can be complicated and is not something you should try if your body fat % is extremely high.

Low Carb Days

When using carb cycling, the secret is to keep carbs very low (under 50 grams) on low days or moderately low (under 100 grams) on moderate days. The remainder of the caloric needs are met by protein and healthy fats. The low carb days are aimed at depleting glycogen storage so that the body is forced to turn to fat for fuel.  It is a scientific approach that really does work well. 

In addition to forcing the body to burn fat for fuel, it restricts the body's ability to take carbs and turn them into fat. 

Refeed Days

A refeed day involves spiking the carbs to a higher level for one or more days. The goal of the refeed day is to replenish the glycogen levels in the body and to give you that much needed energy boost to maintain high levels of intensity when training. 

Refeed days require careful planning. You do not want to eat so much carbs that you wind up getting fat instead of leaner. This means watching the carb levels even on refeed days. Be diligent and hit your levels.

Muscle Building and Fat Burning

Carb cycling will help you maximize fat burning. It will get you into the single digits on fat %. At the same time, it will help you increase muscle mass. The extra glycogen will go towards giving you extra energy during your weight training sessions, which will help you increase your muscle mass. This, too, will help your fat burning efforts because more muscle means more fat burning capability.

Give carb cycling a try if you are down to 15% or lower body fat and want to shatter the single digit area. Let me know how it goes!

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