Ground Beef For Bodybuilding is a great source of protein, amino acids and vitamins. Ground Beef is a very popular food item in many parts of the world. It’s used as a meat alternative, as well as in many other recipes. Ground Beef is cheap, nutritious and easy to make. You can cook it on the stove or quickly fry it up on the grill!
7 Best Muscle Building Foods You Should Eat To Gain Mass
Very few people know how to build muscle mass or what are the 7 Best Muscle Building Foods You Should Be Eating To Gain Mass. Most people try to gain size and get lean at the same time, this is an impossible task – the body just doesn’t work this way. Every competitive bodybuilder who has stepped on stage knows their real secret; you absolutely must dramatically increase the amount of food you eat, the frequency of eating and the level of effort lifting heavy things in the gym. But what are the best things to eat? We’ll cover that and more!
Eating enough calories and building muscle can be a herculean task at the best of times – the sheer volume of food you need to shovel into your digestive system can itself become a full-time job! Coupled with a lack of variety, eating essentially the same thing day after day and your chances of failure just multiply. Getting enough protein, fats and carbohydrates in the correct ratios to ensure we do not become bloated beyond recognition is also a tricky proposition.
BOTTOM LINE – YOU GOTTA EAT BIG TO GET BIG! BUT HERE IS WHERE WE GIVE YOU THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO PACK ON THE MASS AND STAY ON TRACK TO GAINING MUSCLE!
Ideally, when designing a mass construction plan we must include mostly clean supplemental and whole food macronutrient sources. Poorly assimilated junk foods comprised of harmful trans-fats and excessive simple sugars may only clog up our digestive system and compete with our muscles for quality nutrients, rendering our muscle gains sub-optimal at best.
I have, as an advanced trainer, personally seen it time and again: off-season bodybuilders who gorge on all manner of harmful foods actually beginning to lose the muscle mass they had nurtured and fine-tuned pre-contest. Such lifters begin to lose sight of what built their muscle in the first place: the 7 Best Muscle Building Foods You Should Be Eating To Gain Mass and quality nutrients divided into precisely apportioned meals consumed every 3 hours, without fail. They begin to include more junk, fewer clean calories, and the period between meals grows ever larger. Try to enrich your diet with brown rice, healthy fats, greek yogurt and high-quality protein (ALLMAX MEAL PREP) to help with gaining lean muscle.
Below are seven off-season foods that fall outside of the standard chicken, fish, broccoli, brown rice and sweet potato regimen that is so commonly advocated. Add this muscle building food list to your current muscle building food plan and mass building regimen to achieve greater variety without having to resort, out of boredom, or sheer laziness, to poor nutritional choices.
7 Best Muscle Building Foods You Should Be Eating To Gain Mass
#1 – Whole Milk
Providing a generous helping of nutritious calories per glass, easily consumed, rich in both casein and whey proteins, packed with the electrolyte minerals magnesium, potassium and calcium, and rounded out with vitamins A, B and D, whole milk could be considered a perfect mass gain food.
Containing a hefty dose of fat to boost testosterone production (to support quality body weight gains), the ubiquitous cow juice, an old school bodybuilding favorite, has unfortunately fallen out of favor by many of today’s iron brethren.
With the advent of low fat, high protein supplements, milk, a standalone complete protein beverage, is today more commonly used to accompany our favorite breakfast cereals. My solution: have the best of both worlds – supercharge your next shake by mixing it with whole milk.
For the purest and most bioavailable whey supplement, try ISOFLEX formulated with the purest and highest concentration of whey protein isolate.
While on the subject of milk, the chocolate variety works great as the perfect post-workout treat – high in sugars and essential proteins, it is easily absorbed to enhance post-training recovery. Mix it with 30 grams of high-quality whey protein to reap maximum benefit and taste.
Note: For those of you who are unable to properly digest milk because of its high lactose content, ALLMAX provides an amazing alternative that will allow you to get all of the muscle-building benefits of cow juice. I suggest mixing one scoop of ISOFLEX pure whey isolate with one scoop of CASEIN-FX, pure micellar casein, to get a similar protein profile to that of milk, but without the added fat and sugars. This mixture will provide you an optimal combination of fast and slow-digesting proteins (52 grams!) that tastes absolutely delicious.
#2 – Quinoa
A highly nutritious grain native to South America, quinoa is largely regarded as one of the world’s healthiest foods, and for good reason. Packed full of complete proteins (14 grams per 100 gram serving), thus providing all nine essential amino acids, and high in complex carbohydrates and dietary fiber, quinoa is also gluten-free, easy to digest, and full of vitamin B6, magnesium and iron (providing 25%, 49% and 25% of our daily requirement for these nutrients respectively) to support cell growth and general health. It is recommended that this superfood be substituted for 1-2 comparatively boring rice meals per day.
Note: Without a doubt, quinoa is one of the highest quality and healthiest carbohydrate sources available. However, it is not optimal as a post-workout carb because it is not absorbed very rapidly. Once training is complete the goal is to shuttle nutrients into cells and refill muscle glycogen as quickly as possible to facilitate the anabolic process. CARBION from Allmax is scientifically engineered for mega-rapid and complete absorption, so that muscle repair, recuperation and hypertrophy can begin within minutes of completing that final rep.
#3 – Ground Beef
Red meat, in particular ground beef, has been unfairly stigmatized as a dietary catalyst for heart disease and other health concerns such as obesity (mostly because it is most often eaten in the form of cheeseburgers). But in our more enlightened times we must now see such unwarranted accusations for the complete nonsense they are. Granted, a sedentary person eating fatty cuts of beef each day (often topped with highly processed, sugar laden, sauces and cheeses) in conjunction with many additional high fat, sugary foods might be a heart attack waiting to happen. But, for those who are looking to bulk up and who train with full force intensity (both cardio and weights), red meat, in particular extra-lean ground beef, is an unsung hero.
While many bodybuilders eat so much chicken they begin to grow feathers, few do as the old school crowd did – have beef form the basis of their daily meat consumption. Containing 27 grams of complete proteins and 11 grams of saturated fats, and a whopping 200-plus calories per 100 gram serving, and loaded with a massive complement of iron, zinc, and B vitamins, ground beef is one former bodybuilding staple that is due for a resurgence. As an off-season weight gainer it is without equal.
Running short on time? Pick up a bottle of MEAL PREP All-In-One Meal to save time prepping so you have more time training.
Note: Another very important fact about beef is that it is also loaded with the massive muscle and strength-producing compound, creatine. Even so, one would have to eat a very large amount of beef on a daily basis in order to saturate muscle cells with enough creatine to significantly enhance performance and lean mass. ALLMAX offers the purest and most effective forms of creatine monohydrate in a convenient powder form so that your gains can skyrocket even if you choose to forgo beef in your diet.
#4 – Cottage Cheese
While most bodybuilders will pound down the chicken, turkey, fish, egg whites, and whey protein en route to building big biceps and killer quads, one often-overlooked high protein superstar is afforded secondary status. Providing a hefty 30 grams of amino-rich protein, less than four grams of fat, and approximately 250mg of bone-building calcium per cup, cottage cheese is an extremely versatile food that should be on all smart bodybuilders grocery lists.
An excellent source of phosphorus, magnesium and iron, and also high in vitamins A, B1 and B2, cottage cheese furthermore contains casein protein which is both slowly released into our system to sustain the muscle building process, and more readily absorbed than that found in red meat, chicken or fish. Low fat versions can be used pre-contest whereas the higher calorie full fat kind can be incorporated off-season.
Note: Cottage cheese is an excellent source of slow-absorbing casein protein, which is often consumed before bedtime to ensure a “trickle-feed” effect of amino acids into the system all night long. However, many people do not enjoy the taste and/or consistency of cottage cheese, and may not be able to digest it very effectively. Two scoops of delicious CASEINFX provide 50 grams of the purest micellar casein available, with a texture and taste that is unmatched. This is the perfect alternative to cottage cheese if your preference is to end the day with a smooth, thick and tasty protein shake.
#5 – Raw Nuts
As well as getting enough saturated fats from the aforementioned animal sources, a dedicated bodybuilder must also ensure his or her essential fat intake is on point. Boosting brain function, nerve conduction, cell wall integrity, heart health (and just about every other critical biological function one can name), raw nuts, in particular Brazil nuts, walnuts and almonds, are an excellent way to round out our nutrient balance.
By providing an optimal blend of protein, carbohydrates and fats in addition to a generous serving of antioxidants (including the difficult to obtain and all important free radical scavenger alpha-tocopherol vitamin E) per handful, raw nuts, also extremely calorically dense, pack a significant nutritional punch.
Disclosure: Some of the links/pictures on this post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link.
Is Ground Beef Good For Bodybuilding Eating Purposes Then?
Bodybuilders know this well enough already. Beef is good for their diet. But how is ground beef good for bodybuilding then? And what is ground beef? And when used, how could it be used? But so you know; ground beef is good for you as well.
You will know why soon enough. You’ll also know what the main nutritional ingredients of ground beef are. And to prove to you why ground beef could be good for the healthy eating meal plan, there’ll be a short list of benefits for you to look at.
Why Ground Beef Good
Further down, we’ll list some of the health benefits of ground beef consumption. Here we’ll just bullet the beef’s goodness from the bodybuilding and convenience perspective.
- Protein-rich
- Iron-rich
- Versatile food ingredient
- Easy to prep
- Easily digestible when tossed with sliced, chopped and diced veggies.
What Is Ground Beef?
But not so when tossed with a favorite pasta. More on that later. For now, let’s just explain. What is ground beef? Its original source is of course beef. For convenience and cooking versatility, even for health purposes, the original beef is put through a meat grinder.
What Is Beef?
But do note that there is a distinct difference between ground beef and mince or minced beef. So then; what is beef? Beef of course is derived from cattle. The healthier cuts of beef should always be sourced in order to derive maximum benefit in terms of getting your full quota of proteins, carbs and fats – all three essential macronutrients, as well as minerals and vitamins, iron in particular.
When Ground Beef Bad
This of course, you’ll get from the grain fed or free-range beasts. And it goes further. Consume venison instead of traditional cattle beef, bison is particularly good, and you’re bound to enrich your muscle-growing body with more protein, minerals – iron in particular – and vitamins.
Ground Choices For Vegans
Unfortunately, beef does go bad. And this is how. Purchase commercially produced meat and you’re bound to (over) stuff yourself with unwanted hormones. You may as well take steroids then.
Ground Beef’s Primary Ingredient
Problems up ahead for vegans? Not quite. Let’s not get too carried away, meat-lovers. Because while vegans may not be able to enjoy a nice juicy spaghetti bolognaise with ground beef instead of mince, they’ll surely be able to make do with extra dashings of soya mince, laced with more than enough protein.
Other Ingredients
Speaking of which, that’s going to be ground beef’s primary ingredient. Protein. Because get this. Just a single one-hundred gram serving of ground beef fetches the hungry bodybuilder with nearly thirty grams of complete proteins. Not just any proteins, mind you.
Complete proteins. All twenty-seven grams to be exact. That way you know we’re not lying. Anyway, there’s other ingredients in the ground beef that are bound to make the bodybuilder’s mouth water. Take a look at this.
Ground Beef Benefits
And you could count these in as part of ground beef’s benefits;
- Eleven grams of saturated fats.
- Two-hundred calories per one-hundred gram serving.
- Good quota of minerals and vitamins, amongst which include – The B vitamins, and zinc and iron.
- Also includes a number of protein-wise essential amino acids.
Ground Beef Negatives
Also go back to an earlier section to recap on why ground beef is good for bodybuilder’s meals. Now, the negatives are not really a reflection on the meat preparation itself. It has a lot more to do with how wisely you choose to shop.
Could Be Used For Cutting
So again, do go back to the article’s earlier sections on clues on meat sources you’d like to stick around for. Speaking of which, if you want to squeeze ground beef into your cutting meal plans, do make sure that you’ve sourced only the lean meat varieties.
Stocking Up For Bulking
That way you get to trim out as much of the fat as possible. Otherwise, as far as bulking is concerned, no need to be fussy here, of course, although it’s always going to be a good idea to focus on free-range cuts rather.
Ground Beef’s Health Benefits
Or go organic, so that’s also going to take care of your heart health for now. Also note how marvelously easy it’s becoming to add more protein punch to your protein drinks. Ground the beef still further in the food processor and you’ve got yourself a smoothie too.
Conclusion
Highlights of this introductory info article were no doubt the benefits of ground beef consumption, as well as the short listing of its nutritional ingredients as well as its size and quotas. Beginner bodybuilders may also still be coming around to the unconventional eating practices of champion bodybuilders.
Like downing half a dozen raw eggs so early in the morning. Or stuffing ground beef into the food processor to conjure up a potent protein drink. Some may say; Eww! But others will say; Yummy! For die- hard bodybuilders; it’s an acquired taste, didn’t you know.
Never Be Bored Again: 8 Creative Recipes To Add Lean Ground Beef To Your Diet
Don’t steer clear of big bad ground beef. Choose a lean variety and start experimenting!
Ground beef—so cheap, so delicious and perhaps, not such a bad protein source for your diet. If you’ve heard about the high fat and calorie content of ground beef and have chosen to steer clear, you might be surprised to learn that if you choose a lean variety, ground beef can be an excellent source of protein and iron.
The trick to getting the most nutrition out of lean ground beef is preparing it in a healthy manner. Use ingredients that will support your body composition goals and fit into your diet plan.
Here are a few creative recipes to get you started.
1. Taco Salad
2. Beef Burger
3. Beef Stroganoff
4. Beef Noodle Soup
5. Beef Soft Taco
6. Spaghetti Squash With Tomato—Beef Sauce
7. One Pot Beef Skillet
8. Oriental Meatballs With Peppers
