My Top Food Recommendations to Build Muscle and Lose Body Fat
09. Feb, 2010 
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what's in your refrigerator?
Let’s face the fact that proper diet is about making the right food choices and for most of us we often make the wrong ones. I know people want to lose weight weight and build muscle and in order to do this we need to eat right. However eating right can mean different things to each individual and our choice of foods is often left up to our personal habits and discretion. I can tell you it is best to start with the basics and lay the foundation for a healthy diet so before you start thinking about counting calories and timing your meals correctly, the first thing you must do is make the right choice of foods.
What I want to give you is a list of healthy food choices. If you can focus on stocking your refrigerator and pantry with these foods then losing weight and building muscle will become a lot easier. Remember if we don’t have junk food around the house we can’t eat it. Hopefully this list will give you some good shopping ideas.
Alright, so let’s start with the fridge.
Each week, I try to make sure I’m loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini, spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. You can use these to mix with eggs in the morning or a salad at lunch. You can also mix in lean chicken or turkey sausage for extra protein. For cheese I prefer natural organic cheese when I can get it. If you are trying to find local fresh grown vegetables in your area you can search for local farm and farmers markets at LocalHarvest.org.
Coconut milk is another great, often overlooked food. You can mix it in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it’s also full of healthy saturated fats. Yes, some saturated fats can be healthy! Healthy saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides, specifically an MCT called lauric acid.
Back to the fridge, some other staples:
Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds – delicious and great sources of healthy fats.
Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt – I like to mix yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.
Whole flax seeds or chia seeds – you can grind these in a mini coffee grinder and add to yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh because the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals in pre-ground flax.
Whole eggs – one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).
Salsa – I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
Avocados – love them…plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.
Butter – don’t believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and can be part of a healthy diet (just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense…and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack, butter unlike many margarines does not contain trans fatty acids).
Nut butters – in addition to plain ‘ol peanut butter you can get creative and try almond butter, sesame seed butter, cashew butter, or macadamia butter…they are all delicious and unbeatable nutrition! Just remember to buy all natural nut butters. There is no reason to add extra ingredients or hydrogenated oils. For example, in peanut butter you should find only peanuts and salt.
Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots – for salads with dinner.
Home-made salad dressing – using balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo’s Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined soybean oil (full of inflammation-causing free radicals).
Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread (look for wraps and bread with at least 3-4 grams of fiber per 20 grams of total carbs).
Rice bran and wheat germ – these may sound way too healthy for some, but they actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking muffins or breads to add nutrients and fiber.
Some staples of the freezer:
Frozen berries – during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies. When buying frozen berries make sure there is no added sugar.
Frozen fish – I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored.
Frozen chicken breasts – very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.
Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef – Grassfed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef. US Wellness Meats allows you to order fresh grass fed beef and have it delivered straight to your door.
Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other “exotic” lean meats – Yeah, I know…I’m weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you’re serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork that’s sold at most grocery stores.
Frozen veggies – again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.
Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:
Various antioxidant rich teas – green, oolong, white, rooibos are some of the best.
Whole wheat or whole grain spelt pasta – much higher fiber than normal pastas
Oat bran and steel cut oats – higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats.
Cans of coconut milk – to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.
Brown rice and other higher fiber rice – NEVER white rice
Tomato sauces – delicious, and as I’m sure you’ve heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup.
Stevia – a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.
Raw honey – better than processed honey… higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (how you process carbs). I use a teaspoon or so every morning in my teas. Yes, it is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits… and let’s be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs… certainly nothing to worry about.
Organic maple syrup – none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap…only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles.
Organic unsweetened cocoa powder – I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks.
Cans of black or kidney beans – I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican wraps for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth promoting antioxidants!
Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) – This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It’s still calorie dense, so I keep it to just a couple squares; but that is enough to do the trick, so I don’t feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.
Lastly, another thing that’s hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka – mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.
Summary
Remember, if you don’t have junk around the house, you’re less likely to eat junk. If all you have is healthy food around the house, you’re forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. If you are making the right food choices then you are laying the foundation for your body to properly lose weight and build muscle.
I hope you enjoyed this special look into some of my favorite foods and meals. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you’re at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries. If you have comments or suggestion to expand on this list I would love to hear them.
Also, you can check out The Truth about Six Pack Abs Training System, which introduces you to the entire comprehensive training and nutritional program that will turn your body into a lean, sexy specimen that others will envy!
About the Author:
Dillon Martin is a fitness professional and certified trainer with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelors Degree in Kinesiology. He created ExerciseUpdate in 2009 to give people quality information on workouts, nutrition, and motiavtion. He specializes in helping people train for and compete in endurance events such as 5K, 10K, Half-Marathons, Marathons, and Triathlons. You can find out more or contact him at www.dmfitness.com
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