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How to grow muscle faster with good nutrition

Nutrition is AT LEAST as important as any exercise regime in a good bodybuilding program.

Your muscles need the proper nutrients if they are to grow and give you the body you want. Of course good nutrition is important for overall health, which is a nice bonus.

In this article I'm going to give you a few guidelines on getting the right amount of the right types of foods for growing more muscle.

The first step is to change your eating patterns -- the size and frequency of your feedings. Instead of 2-3 big meals, you're going to eat more meals more frequently throughout the day (but the portions will be smaller).

This will help you burn fat by keeping your body from going into catabolic mode (muscle burning mode)- you see, after four hours or so without food, your body switches into catabolic mode, where you begin to accumulate fat; a holdover from the days of being hunter/gatherers who literally didn't know where their next meal was coming from. Eating like this will crank your metabolism up.

So instead, you're going to eat 4-6 meals a day, about three hours apart.

So what should you be eating?

Glad you asked. When you're trying to build muscle, balance is the watchword. You want protein, carbs and fat in every meal.

The ratio you should be aiming for is roughly 40% of carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat. Getting all 3 at once helps your body use each element and gives you sustained energy without energy "crashes".

What about calories; don't those matter?

Calories aren't as important but what you should be looking for in terms of the amount of calories is an alternating pattern. You want low calories (about 2,000 for men and 1,200 for women) for 2 weeks followed by higher calories for 2 weeks (about 2,500 for men and 1,500 for women).

This will give you what every bodybuilder wants, it will help you lose fat and build lean muscle mass -- all at the same time. But remember this: You should adjust these numbers upwards somewhat if you are doing energy intensive training such as running.

Are you now thinking, "OK, so what specifically are good things to eat while building muscle?"

The key is variety and balance -- again. While I don't have enough room here to go into an entire nutrition plan, You'll want both simple and complex carbohydrates -- here's a few ideas:

Complex Carbs: Oatmeal, sweet potatoes, rice, broccoli, spinach Simple Carbs: Fruit is your best bet for simple carbs; whatever fruit you like is fine here.

Focus on these Proteins: skinless turkey or chicken, eggs, tuna, very lean beef, fish, etc.

Fats: Stick with the healthy oils such as olive oil, canola oil, fish oils, and flaxseed oil, also natural peanut butter is a good source of protein/fat.

Last, and this is important, water - you NEED plenty of water to keep your system adequately hydrated and flushed of toxins.

Following the above guidelines in this article will get you on your way to a good diet for building lean muscle mass.