If you are wondering how to diet for lean muscle gains, the most important thing that you should keep in mind is that you should reduce your intake of fatty foods. This is not possible to do entirely, but if you are eating a lot of highly fatty foods, you should reduce them to be no more than 20% of your daily caloric intake. We also recommend that you limit your selection to healthy unsaturated fats. It is also interesting to note that people who severely restrict their fat intake (below the 20% mark) will not look healthy; their hair will be brittle, their skin will be dry and they tend to have terrible mood swings and be very ill-tempered.
You should also cut out any empty carbohydrates as well - for instance, foods that are very high in sugar but lack nutrients, such as cookies, candy bars and other highly processed foods. This will make you feel more healthy overall, give you more energy and it will also enable you to get the nutrients that you will need to build muscle.
We recommend that you keep a food diary for one week and then review your typical caloric intake during one week. Then reduce the calories by 15% in order to lose fat. If you’re interested in gaining lean muscle, however, you will need to increase your calories by 15% - BUT you MUST divide all your food amongst six small meals per day in order to have the food convert to muscle rather than fat. North America’s habit of eating 2 or 3 large meals per day causes our bodies to act in the “feast or famine” mode of our early ancestors and thus causes our body to naturally store energy as fat. When you start to distribute your daily food intake between five to six meals a day it relieves the “feast or famine” program that your body has and your body will lose more fat, thus food will be converted into muscle gain.
Eat Natural and Organic Foods That Are Low Glycemic
When it comes to how to diet for lean muscle gain, some people swear by already-formulated foods and meal replacements. While those can help you sometimes - especially by helping you get enough protein in your diet - they are not the best option for you. If you are trying to gain muscle, then you should make sure that you're eating healthy foods - which generally means that you are cooking the food yourself from scratch with raw ingredients.
The best lean muscle gaining diets for are similar to low carb diets, though less extreme. (You will still need carbohydrates so that you have enough energy to exercise). You should put a lot of emphasis on foods that are high in protein, like meat (such as skinless chicken breasts and lean beef), nuts, and some legumes, as well as on vegetables. The high protein foods will give your body the protein that it needs to build muscle mass, while the vegetables will give you the nutrients and fiber that will keep you healthy. With this diet, you will have everything you need to build the muscles that you want - but you won't be eating too much, either.
It is also important to remember that low glycemic foods tend to be the healthiest food choice. The Glycemic Index is a measure of how much your blood sugar (glucose) rises after eating carbohydrate foods. High glycemic foods cause a surge in blood sugar, thus increasing insulin, and you will get hungrier sooner. Thus, you will be tempted to overeat.
High Glycemic foods are most grains and grain products (both whole wheat and white), cookies, candies, candy bars, breakfast cereals, grain based snack foods such as taco chips, corn, potatoes (these are highly starchy foods), bananas, most dried fruits and tropical fruits (tropical fruits tend to be sweeter than non-tropical fruits), fruit juices, honey and table sugar.
Low Glycemic foods are legumes (lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, and most other beans), many fruits such as cherries, blackberries and most other berries, plums, peaches and grapes, dairy products such as milk, yogurt and kefir, non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, Swiss chard, bok choy, lettuce, celery and kale.
If you follow these guidelines will be on your way to a stronger, leaner body and you will enjoy all the other side benefits of losing fat: more strength, increased energy, more endurance, a smaller waistline, visibly sexier abs and better health!