Fitness Enthusiasts Don't Know How to Eat, It's Actually Very Simple!
Friends often ask me how to specifically eat to gain muscle and increase fitness. Eating isn't that difficult – there's a huge variety of food to choose from!
I usually respond to friends asking about fitness nutrition by saying: As long as the diet follows high protein, moderate carbohydrates, and low fat, there's no need to specify what you *must* eat or *cannot* eat! Of course, I don't mention the importance of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, because they're considered too basic – this should be knowledge everyone should have, even if you're not a fitness enthusiast. It's important to know the importance of a balanced diet.
For fitness beginners, the 'daily 5 meals' approach is quite good – eating five times a day. The 5-meal ratio is: breakfast accounts for 20% of the total, the morning snack accounts for 10%, lunch accounts for 30%, the afternoon snack accounts for 10%, and dinner accounts for 30%. However, not everyone has the condition to eat five meals, so if you can only eat three meals, eat a good breakfast, eat a full lunch, and eat a small dinner. It can still be done!
The daily nutritional intake formula is: Moderate protein, less fat, and high carbohydrates. The proportion of the three main nutrients should be 25:20:55 respectively.
Foods like steamed buns, noodles, rice, yams, oats, and potatoes, which are very high in carbohydrates, are good choices. Protein is the most important nutrient for muscle growth. The intake of protein should mainly come from non-fat or low-fat foods, such as skimmed milk, egg whites, fish, skinless poultry, and steak. Essential fatty acids, which the human body cannot synthesize, are necessary for normal growth and are mainly found in olive oil, corn oil, and soybean oil. A moderate intake of fatty acids can meet the body's needs without increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, fitness enthusiasts can appropriately consume olive oil, corn oil, and soybean oil.
Normally, the human body's fluids are slightly alkaline. After fitness exercises, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are broken down in large quantities, producing lactic acid, phosphoric acid, and other acidic substances, leading to muscle and joint soreness, fatigue, and exhaustion. At this time, you should eat alkaline foods such as vegetables, sweet potatoes, citrus fruits, and apples to maintain a basic balance of acid-base levels and quickly eliminate the fatigue caused by exercise. In addition to vegetables and fruits, which are alkaline foods, you should also supplement various necessary vitamins (usually found in fruits) to replenish losses during metabolism and sweating, and to meet the body's needs.
In fact, at this point, you're still a little confused about the fitness diet. Precise proportions aren't something everyone can achieve, but as long as you remember high protein, moderate carbohydrates, and low fat, it's okay. Deliberately increasing protein in foods while reducing carbohydrates from the original 80% and reducing fats is a good starting point. Finally, on weekends, you can return to your previous eating style – this is generally called 'full meal days'! But ultimately, you should pay attention to your body's feedback. For someone trying to lose weight, if your current diet doesn't show any weight loss after a month, it means you need to lower your calorie intake!
