Six Snacks Every Man Should Eat Following a Workout

Have you hit a plateau in your workout? Sure, your weightlifting routine was helping you to gain muscle mass before, but now that bodybuilding wellbeing has come to a halt and you don’t know why. While changing up your routine can help you get your weightlifting wellness back on track, you may be overlooking another important factor: nutrition. Wellness expert Jacob Franek explains, ‘During a workout, your body breaks down muscle glycogen as well as muscle protein structures. Therefore, following exercise, your body needs to replenish its energy stores and repair muscle tissue to allow for new growth. In order to do this, you’ll need to consume enough carbs to promote substantial insulin release. That’s because it’s your body’s insulin that is responsible for shuttling carbs and amino acids back into the muscles.’ So which foods should you be eating after a workout?

 

1. Chicken Stir Fry: According to Franek, ‘Chicken is an excellent source of lean protein and other important nutrients like niacin, a B vitamin essential to carbohydrate metabolism. And although brown rice is generally a healthier option than white, after a workout, you actually want to switch to foods with a high glycemic index (GI). These foods will replenish your muscles with glucose more rapidly, so try pairing your stir-fry with white rice instead of brown. Add steamed veggies for additional flavour and nutrients.’

 

2. Hummus on a Whole-Grain Pita: ‘Most major food guides tell us to substitute meat for alternatives from time to time,’ says Franek. ‘Hummus is just one example of a great alternative to meat. Made from chickpeas, hummus is an excellent source of both protein and carbs. Combine with a whole-grain pita for a complete post-workout punch.’

 

3. Toasted Whole Wheat Bagel with Almond Butter: Franek points out, ‘Whole-wheat bagels are dense in calories and complex carbs, while almond butter is chalk-full of essential minerals like potassium, an electrolyte responsible for maintaining muscle contractions. Combine the two and you have yourself a dynamite duo even in spite of the fat content of your almond butter. Although fats should generally be avoided following exercise (since they slow absorption of other nutrients), monounsaturated fats like those found in almond butter are helpful in maintaining testosterone, a hormone essential to protein synthesis.’

 

4. Dried fruits and nuts: ‘Not everyone has time to whip up a full meal within the window of opportunity,’ notes Franek. ‘For men on the go, dried fruits and nuts are a simple solution. Try filling a plastic baggy with this healthy pairing to store in your gym bag for immediate access after your workout. You’ll get a healthy dose of protein from your nuts, plus you’ll get a quick injection of simple carbohydrates from your dried fruits. Simple carbs are easy to digest and will replenish your muscle glycogen quicker than complex carbs, making this simple snack a top post-workout food.’

 

5. Tuna and Whole-Wheat Crackers: Franek comments, ‘Tuna is low in fat but packed with protein and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. On the flip side, crackers are a crunchy source of energising carbs. If you can, skip the mayo and opt for some fresh lemon juice, olive oil and a little mustard instead.’

 

6. Salmon, Mashed Potatoes and Salad: ‘Like tuna, salmon is another nutritionally powerful fish packed full of protein and omega-3s,’ Franek asserts. ‘Pairing salmon with a side of mashed potatoes, which are high on the GI, will balance your fish with a hearty serving of glucose-giving carbs. If you’re feeling adventurous, substitute your white potatoes for sweet potatoes which provide a cornucopia of vitamins and minerals at the expense of a few points on the GI. A hearty salad completes the meal and will satisfy your taste buds.’

 

Categories: almond butter, Complex Carbs, dried fruits, grain pita, mashed potatoes, men, muscle glycogen, nuts, Post-Workout, post-workout snack, stir fry, Workout

Four Fat-Busting Foods that Can Help Men Lose Weight

A lot of weight loss articles are aimed at women, but what about men who want to shed a few pounds? Stubborn fat affects everyone’s wellbeing, so male diet wellness shouldn’t be ignored. If you are a man looking for a shortcut to losing weight, we’ve got a list of the top fat-burners for you. These foods will rev up your metabolism, whether for better, more confident looks, or a reduced risk of heart diseases and type 2 diabetes.

 

1. Oats, Whole Grains and Milk: These foods work well together, so we’re discussing them at once. Oats, whole grains and milk are fortified with complex carbohydrates, lots of fibre and calcium – all of which help with weight loss. Fibrous complex carbs keep your metabolism at top speed and keeps insulin levels in check, meaning that your body will not store extra calories as fat. Moreover, these foods are burned off slowly, giving you a time release of energy and helping you feel fuller for longer. As all three of these foods kick-start your metabolism, you should eat them as part of your breakfast.

 

2. Cayenne pepper, Jalapenos and Habaneros: All of these spicy foods contain capsaicin, which is a chemical that increases your heart rate. In the 80s, a study showed that eating at least one spicy meal a day increases your metabolism by as much as 25%. More recently, researchers in Quebec showed that not only does one spicy boost your metabolism; it also helps your body to burn more calories for the next three hours. In fact, adding more spice to your food, or choosing spicy snacks in between meals, can help you burn an extra 1000 calories per day.

 

3. Coffee and Green Tea: The reason why these two are clubbed together is that they provide the same results in the same way, albeit through different channels. Both coffee and green tea increase your metabolic rate, but coffee does this through caffeine and green tea achieves this thanks to EGCGs. Researchers has found that consuming three cups of either beverage every day helps you to burn an extra 80 calories – even without doing any physical activity. Scientists also note that men who drink a cup of coffee roughly two hours before going to the gym are able to work out for longer. Plus, your body uses up more oxygen in the process, meaning that you build up on more lean muscles, and that again helps to burn fat cells.

 

4. Lean cuts of meats: Lean pork, beef, chicken and turkey are all high in protein, and red meats contain iron and zinc. These two minerals help men to build muscle effectively, which means that, contrary to popular opinion, eating red meat will help you lose weight faster – as long as you opt for lean cuts. Compared to complex carbs, the protein coming from meats takes longer to be digested and broken down by your body, meaning that your body uses up more calories to break down the food. There has been extensive research into this topic, the best of which reveals that men who eat 20% more protein as compared to carbohydrates burn almost twice as many calories as those who eat just carbs. While white meat is still a great source of protein, lean red meat is more often recommended for men. This is because lean red meat is the best natural source of creatine you can find. Creatine is amazing for helping you build muscle, and, for men, the top fat burning foods will obviously include foods that help build bigger muscle.

Categories: Build Muscle, Complex Carbs, foods, green tea, lean cuts, lean red, lean red meat, Lose weight, men, red meat, Weight Loss

What are the Best Ways to Help Your Body Burn Fat?

If you want to lose weight and increase your fitness, it can be a long and frustrating process. Your wellness and wellbeing can be greatly boosted by you shedding a few pounds, so it is time to make it a priority. The good news is that there are a lot of simple things that you can do to help speed up your metabolism and start the weight falling off you as quickly as possible.

 

Start by adding a bit of fibre to your diet. If you are suffering from irregularity and constipation it can lead to increased weight gain, but the solution to this is very simple. Increase the amount of fibre in your diet and this will improve the health of your digestive tract and stomach. Lots of research also links good dietary fibre with a better metabolism.

 

You can find fibre in foods such as fruits, whole grains, vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats.

 

You could also try cutting carbs out of your diet. Replace simple carbs with complex carbs and fibrous types of vegetable. The simple carbs can cause your insulin levels to spike, and this fat-storing hormone increases your appetite as well as causing you to hang on to calories. Complex carbs have the opposite effect as they keep your levels of insulin low and they also help to control your appetite as they take much longer to digest.

 

Taking your vitamins can also help to plan an important role in the mobilisaton of fat and to help you lose weight. Vitamin C is a great example of this, as it is needed to help in the fat-burning process. Some studies have also shown that vitamin D can increase the amount of fat your burn by around 50 percent.

Categories: burn, carbs, Complex Carbs, Fat, fibre, Lose weight, Metabolism, nbsp, simple, simple carbs, weight

Carb Confusion: How Do they Affect Your Waistline?

Carbs make up such a large part of the British diet that it’s no wonder our weight wellness is, well, less than ideal. We crave carbs at mealtimes, in snacks; in fact, 50% of your daily diet is crammed with carbs, so let’s take a look at how they affect your weight, and your well-being.

 

Your body breaks carbohydrates down into glucose, which your cells then convert into energy – this is why you often get athletes carbo-loading before a big event. There are simple carbs/simple sugars, which your body breaks down and absorbs into the bloodstream very quickly. These are found in table sugar, sugary snacks (cakes, biscuits, sweets), sweetened drinks, milk and fruit, and although they produce energy very speedily, this energy is used up swiftly and is gone. Then you have complex carbs, which are found in grains, such as wheat, oats and rice, as well as vegetables and pulses. When these carbs haven’t been refined or processed, they provide slow-burning energy over a sustained period of time.

 

So that’s carbs, but how are they related to wellness matters, such as insulin production? The hormone insulin regulates the amount of sugar/glucose in your blood, which, in turn, helps maintain a healthy metabolism. Even though most foods make your blood sugar levels rise, eating carbohydrates makes them absolutely soar! When you eat simple carbs or white bread or pasta, your body produces lots of insulin and floods your bloodstream with it. This gives you a major, but short-lived, energy boost which is followed by a huge energy slump unless you pump more carbs into your system.

 

Not only does the insulin affect up your sugar cravings – and so your weight gain – but it can also cause you to experience fatigue, low mood and irritability. However, it’s not just the sugar cravings that make you gain weight; insulin is known as the fattening hormone because it turns all those unnecessary carbs you eat into fat and deposits them in your fat stores. So, if you want to still keep carbs, but watch your weight (and your well-being), then stick to complex carbs. Using your plate as a guide, fill half of the plate with vegetable/pulse carbs, a quarter with starchy complex carbs (unrefined wheat/rice etc.), and fill the rest with protein.

Categories: carbs, Complex Carbs, energy, Insulin, simple carbs, Simple Sugars, sugar cravings, waistline

How you can boost emotions with your diet

Junk food might be the tastier option, but it does very little for our health, both mental and physical. Eating too many saturated and trans fats can lead to a high cholesterol, increased risk of coronary heart disease and other health problems. But what many people aren’t aware of is that a poor diet that’s high in these fats can also lead to depression. This is because trans fats cause inflammation in the heart and brain, which can lead to us feeling sad and withdrawn. Though researchers are unsure why these aspects of food lead to depression, there is a definite link to what we eat and how we feel. However, it’s not as easy as blaming it all on the crisps and biscuits. Nutritional deficiencies could also be connected to symptoms of depression.

 

It seems that the more processed foods we eat, the more depressed we’re likely to become. Researchers believe that people who prefer to chow down on sweets over fruit and vegetables could be skipping vital antioxidants, which help to protect against depression. They will also be skimping on folate which protects the neurotransmitters in the brain. Studies claim that patients with depression have around 25 percent lower folate levels compared to healthy people. While scientists can’t say for sure that eating junk food for dinner is a direct link to mental health problems, there is evidence mounting that it doesn’t aid your emotional stability either. But knowing what to eat for a healthy mind is the difficult part – which nutrients offer the most effective results?

 

It’s difficult to know for sure which comes first, poor nutrition or depression, as the two are closely linked. It’s no surprise that depression leads to us making poorer diet choices though, so it stands to reason that improving your diet will help you make clearer choices when it comes to meal times. If you’re depressed, then you need to up your intake of vitamins and minerals which can fix the damage caused internally. B vitamins can start this process off, as they are essential for healthy and happy bodies. B12 can help to balance the chemicals in the brain to keep us calm and collected. These are found in fortified cereals and organ meats, such as turkey giblets and beef liver. Folate, which is another B vitamin, can be sourced from dark green leafy vegetables and citrus juices. Omega-3 fatty acids can help to lower the risk of depression and anxiety so make sure you add some fish into your diet, with salmon and mackerel being the best choices. Don’t eat fish? Walnuts, soybeans and flax seeds are great substitutes. Carbohydrates are also important, as these trigger the production of serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter and regulates your mood. You want to add complex carbs, rather than sweets, to have a lasting effect on the chemistry in the brain.

 

People who eat more processed foods are far more likely to develop depression than those who opt for wholesome organic foods. A balanced diet can do wonders for your overall health and well-being, not least improving your mental health and fending off the blues. You should aim to for plenty of nutrients across the board, paying close attention to omega-3s, folates, B vitamins and complex carbs to make sure that the brain is releasing the hormones and chemicals it needs to stay happy. However, if you’re seriously depressed and your diet isn’t making a difference to your mood, you should speak to your GP who can devise a personalised plan for your treatment.

Categories: Complex Carbs, depression, diet, emotions, Food, health, health problems, junk food, Mental Health, processed foods, trans fats, vitamins