There’s a misconception that if someone has muscles they are healthy. I don’t know about you, but there have been times when I’ve looked at a muscly person and thought they didn’t look very healthy; they looked kind of puffy and bloated.
That type of muscle mass is created by loading up on animal flesh, dairy and eggs. Animal flesh contains amino acids, but humans don’t have the stomach acid necessary to break it down efficiently in order to extract amino acids necessary for the growth of muscles. This creates the muscle mass we don’t want.
There’s muscle, and then there’s clean muscle mass. We want true quality clean tissue.
Clean muscle mass comes from minerals and enzymes in raw, living food. The carbohydrates, fat and protein in raw food has not been damaged by heat, making the amino acids higher quality, more usable and less toxic.
Here are 6 raw plant foods which provide a source of bioavailable amino acids that the body can use efficiently and provide a cleaner, higher level type of muscle mass.
Banana
Bananas are filled with potassium which is an essential mineral for protein synthesis: It is imperative in the building of muscle, and it stimulates nerve impulses for muscle contraction. Potassium also reduces the amount of excess water in your body to keep you lean.
Being a carbohydrate-rich fruit, it also helps to restock muscle glycogen and put a stop to muscle breakdown.
Avocado
Avocados are a leading source of healthy fats. These essential fats retain the cellular integrity of the muscles and give them nice pliability.
Avocados provide a unique combination of nutrients that make them a near-perfect lean-mass builder. Your body also creates hormones and other important signalling molecules essential for muscle growth and good health from these fats.
Cultured nut/seed yogurt
Nuts are packed with protein and good fat which is great for muscle growth, but at the same time are difficult to digest due to the phytic acid content. This phytic acid also binds to iron and zinc in food, preventing us from absorbing these minerals.
To counteract this, you can soak and sprout nuts and seeds, but to take it a step further, you can culture them. The good bacteria begin to break down the protein into amino acid, the fats into fatty acids and sugar into glucose. The probiotics actually predigest the food. What does this mean for you? You get all the benefits of the nuts and seeds in an easily absorbed form, resulting in quicker, cleaner, longer lasting muscle mass.
Delicious choices for yogurt include pine nuts, cashews, macadamia, hazelnut, sunflower seed and coconut (technically a fruit).
Greens
There is a variety of greens available but they all share the basic nutritional quality. Fresh raw greens additionally contain living enzymes and digestible proteins that help build muscle and tissue strength when consumed on a consistent basis. Dark leafy greens like spinach, collard and kale contain high levels of protein.
Gorillas, who forage mostly on leafy green vegetables, are one of the strongest and physically powerful animals known in the animal kingdom.
Hemp seeds
Hemp seeds are said to be the superior source of protein in the plant kingdom. This is because they contain edestin, which is a form of protein that is similar to that in the human body, therefore making it perfectly suited to meet the body’s cellular needs (aiding in DNA repair). Hemp seeds are also the only food known to have the perfect balance of Omegas 3, 6 & 9.
Watermelon
I bet you’re surprised this food made the list! This refresher is a good source of citrulline an amino acid involved in the production of nitric oxide. Bodybuilders rave about nitric oxide since it improves blood flow to muscles, allowing for a greater delivery of recovery nutrients and anabolic compounds, enhances recovery and muscle growth.
Incorporate these foods in your diet to build muscle in a high quality way.
