Fruits for Body Bodybuilding
People tend to link fruit with excessive fat gain because of the links of sugar to the growing public health problem of metabolic syndrome.
Sugar has been vilified by the media as it’s linked with diabetes, elevated cholesterol, higher blood pressure, and excessive weight gain.
However, as I mentioned before (see Does Eating Too Much Fruit Make You Too Fat?), the amount of fruit that you need to eat to gain significant amounts of fat is almost insane.
While many fruits can make us over exceed our recommended sugar limits (see Daily Sugar Limits), the benefits consuming fruits throughout the day outweigh the consequences of concern for monitoring the width on your waistline.
Fruits not only curb your appetite because of their high fiber content but they also are just as beneficial, if not better, than any over the counter supplement you can buy in the store for anyone serious about bodybuilding.
The Best Fruits For Bodybuilders
Many supplements can be bought from nutrition stores like Vitamin Shoppe or GNC, whether it’s for energy (caffeine, B-12) or boosting your strength in the gym(creatine, nitric oxide).
When it comes to nutrition, many weightlifters rely on on multivitamins or other vitamin supplements found over the counter. Adding vitamins to your diet can ensure that you’re not deficient in micronutrients needed to keep your diet and hormonal systems balanced.
The micronutrients listed here are not only commonplace and found in the supermarket throughout most of the year, but are much more affordable and nutrient dense than what can be found in your store bought vitamins.
Here’s some of the micronutrients and additives you should be looking for when you shop for fruits at the grocery aisle:
Polyphenols: Polyphenols are a type of chemical that protects the body from carcinogens that cause cancer and also are named as catechins. Catechins are well known as fat burners in the body and are more frequently found in herbal green teas.
When getting down to low levels of body fat (typically under 10% in men), it’s almost necessary to add something that will aid in fat burning for stubborn areas. In addition to herbal teas, the highest amounts of catechins are found in blueberries, plums, sweet cherries, prunes, apples, and peaches.
Anthocyanins: Anthocyanins are chemicals found in the dark red, blue, or violet pigments of plants that have anti-inflammatory properties. Anti-inflammatories are important because they help reduce muscle soreness and pain from frequent heavy resistance training.
If you’ve been lifting for a while, you know how important it is to get this taken care of. According to the USDA, the common fruits with the highest amount of anthocyanins are blackberries, black plums, and black raspberries.
Nitric Oxide: Nitric oxide is a well-known vasodilator that expands the size of the arteries and capillaries that help more nutrients and blood to reach the cells where it’s needed. Honestly, you could probably do without it in most scenarios, as it’s not the most important thing you really need to make progress, but any amount of it wouldn’t really hurt.
The amino acid that stimulates nitric oxide production is called l-citrulline and is found in highest quantities in watermelons, specifically in the rind of the watermelon, not the flesh of the fruit.
The Wrap Up
Shopping at the produce section will save you huge amounts of money by just simply getting fruits that have all of the micronutrients that you need. The sugar isn’t even a huge factor as many would claim as it would take an extraordinary amount of fruit to even come close to what a normally processed meal would contain, so don’t even worry about it.
What else do you want to know?
Can Fruit Really Make You Fat?
How Much Sugar A Day Should You Eat?
How to Naturally Boost Your Growth Hormone Levels