Vallary Shah
If you are looking for long-term fitness plan, 70/30 approach is the thumb rule, that says about 70 percent of fitness comes from changes in diet and 30 percent from exercise. This is because it is difficult to get people to exercise hard enough or long enough to see significant health & fitness result.
If you keep the calories under control with right portion of carbohydrate, fat, and protein, does that mean you are fit? Not necessarily. Fitness- is a wholehearted change in attitude, behavior and thought towards food and not only change in portion size.
Basically, people achieve their fitness goals by combining exercise and diet. Exercise, especially weightlifting and strength training, increases lean muscle mass. Muscle mass contains metabolically active tissues and burns more calories than fat tissue. Even if the scale says you aren’t dropping pounds, you may be building muscles due to the hard work in the gym. The extra pounds are of the muscles that weigh more than fat.
Proteins play a very important role when it comes to muscle building. Your workouts will cause the protein in your muscles to break down and build up much faster than it does in ordinary circumstances. Protein synthesis is higher when you spread that protein among three or more meals, rather than having most of it in a single meal. It is recommended to go for atleast 20 grams of high-quality protein in each meal to activate protein synthesis.
Different types of food contain different combinations of amino acids which are the building blocks of protein. Leucine is by far the most important of the 20 amino acids for creating muscle. It takes an estimated 2 to 3 grams of Leucine to get the maximum anabolic effect from a meal. Around normal-size serving poultry will contain at least 2 grams of Leucine.
Chicken breast is loaded with protein and other less-celebrated nutritional gems. This white-meat wonder is convenient, versatile and low in fat; no wonder, that it’s the most common muscle-building food. With a high protein-fat ratio, chicken breast is a great source of lean protein.
A 6 pound of chicken breast contains approx 30grams of protein, 0 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fat. Chicken breast even contains VIT B6, which allows you to use carbohydrates stored in muscles during workout. It even contains Niacin, iron, selenium and zinc, which are required by the body for immunity and tissue repair.
Chicken is also the commonly available and good source of protein. Chicken can be used in different kinds of dishes and is very easy to prepare. It can also be consumed in steam or grilled formed in various preparations that include soups and salads to main course. It makes a good and healthy food source to meet a person’s daily protein requirement.
(The writer is a
nutritionist at Fitness bar)
