One reader emailed me last week with an intriguing question. “If you could choose only one meal to eat,” he asked, “what would it include?” Naturally, I would want a meal that would healthy and taste good. But more importantly I would want a meal that would be ideal for muscle building.
It would need to be relatively low fat, high protein, and have complex carbohydrates. It would need a fruit and a vegetable, and probably a source of lean meat. It would probably be a fairly big meal, too – after all, I’m a bodybuilder, and I need plenty of calories to fuel my muscle building efforts. Here’s what I came up with:
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked
- ¾ cup of whole grain rice, cooked
- 1 Cup of mixed vegetables (broccoli and carrots), cooked
- 1 Cup of fruit salad (pineapple, orange, grapefruit)
- 1 Cup of low-fat yogurt
Some might look at this and say, “wow, that’s a huge meal.” Keep in mind, though, that not every meal needs to be this big, or as complicated – it’s just my idea of a perfect bodybuilding meals. I’ve got protein (chicken breasts), complex carbs (brown rice), fruit/vegetables, and a dairy product. For these reasons, I think this meal is about as close to perfect as a person could come.
I might eat two or three meals of this size each day, while the other meals interspersed between would be smaller – something more like a can of tuna and a banana, or a fried egg sandwich and a salad. Not every meal needs to be complicated or difficult to prepare. Sometimes it also helps to pre-cook food for a couple of days in advance. In a future blog post, I’ll discuss ways to save time while cooking. Until then, bon appetite!