When people want to become healthy or healthier, the first thing that comes to their mind is to get a gym membership and start working out and pumping weights. Others also put on their running outfit and start putting in some miles in their running app.
While all these activities will definitely help you become healthier and will help you build the muscles that you want, you should know that much of the effort is found in the kitchen.
No matter how much you work out, you’ll never achieve your body goals if you don’t watch what you’re eating. If you’re trying to build muscles, there are Fitness Muscle Meals that you could follow.
Muscle meals are meals that are mainly composed of protein. Protein is beneficial to your body’s health. Here are its benefits:
Curbs Appetite and Lowers Hunger Level
Each type of food affects the body differently. When you have a high intake of protein, you feel more full even when you’re eating a smaller portion compared to your carb intake. When you have more protein in your body, your body releases a higher level of a hormone called peptide YY. This type of hormones makes you feel more full.
Meat is digested longer compared to carbs. This means that you’ll feel full for a longer period compared to when you have a high carb diet. Carbs are digested faster than meat so your stomach will easily feel empty and you’ll begin to feel hungry sooner.
Gain More Muscles and Become Stronger
Building muscles doesn’t just happen inside the gym. Even when you’re pumping iron so much, but you’re not feeding those muscles properly, you’ll still lose those muscles or it’ll develop slowly and not as fast as you expected. Keep in mind, when you’re strength training, you need to eat more protein in order to make those muscles grow. Otherwise, you’ll lose muscle mass.
When trying to lose weight, a lot of people simply cut back on their calorie intake and, oftentimes, their protein intake is affected as well. This results in losing muscle mass. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you’ll notice that you may be smaller, but you’re no longer toned.
Fewer Cravings For Unhealthy Food
Cravings are very difficult to curb. Sometimes, once you get a craving, you can’t function properly because you can’t stop thinking about it. With a high protein diet, you get fewer cravings.
When you eat food that’s high in carbohydrates but has the same calorie content as that of food that’s high in protein, you get hungry sooner and your brain starts thinking of what food to eat. When the brain does this, you’ll be craving for that food the whole day.
Studies have shown that people who eat food that’s high in protein eat less and don’t easily crave for snacks because they feel more satisfied with their meal.
Better Metabolism and Burns Fat Faster
The body needs fuel in order to function. Most people feed the body with carbohydrates, which the body burns to make fuel. If you’re trying to lose weight and you still have a high carb intake, it’ll take a longer time for you to see results because your body is only burning the carbs that you eat, but not the excess fat in your body.
When you’re on a high protein diet, on the other hand, your body will not have many carbs to burn. This means that your body will burn your fat to make fuel. This process also increases your metabolism.
In addition to burning fat, your body is also burning more calories because of the increased metabolism. This is why people on a high protein diet lose weight faster than those who are not.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Being healthy is not just all about weight loss. There are thin people who still have high blood pressure. If your LDL or bad cholesterol is high, you should do a high protein diet because it reduces your bad cholesterol. Like what was mentioned, your metabolism becomes faster and more fat is being burned by the body with this type of diet, which is why your blood pressure is also lower.
Conclusion:
If you’re trying to become healthier, you could try different things and see what works for you. You may sometimes read conflicting articles about many of these popular types of meals. However, one thing that almost everybody agrees on is that protein is good for the body. It’s more filling, you’ll crave less unhealthy food, you’ll lose weight faster, and it’s good for your health