How to Eat Junk and Still Build Muscle

Obviously, as Bodybuilders we should always be striving to provide our bodies with a constant supply of healthy, nutrient dense food when looking to build muscle.

Unfortunately with today’s fast paced lifestyles and longer working days, we are sometimes forced to grab what we can. When your trying to build muscle eating something is always better than nothing.

In this article I will be revealing the healthiest fast food choices and what to eat if you are ‘caught short’ and in need of a Protein fix.

Fast Food Choices For Stranded Bodybuilders

Portion Control

Because Fast Food is Calorie dense but notoriously high in fat the most important thing to do is to watch your portion size.

By consuming a small portion and following the following tips you will be able to supply your body with the best nutritional choice available to you. This will ‘tide you over’ until you can get home and eat something healthier.

Adjust Your Fat Accordingly

Following on from the above, if you are forced to eat out, make sure that the rest of your own self prepared meals that day are particularly low in fat. Adjust your nutrition accordingly and you can offset the high fat ‘fast food’ that you were forced to eat earlier in the day.

Beverage Selection

When it comes to Carbonated Beverages they are generally full of empty Calories and massive amounts of sugar. They should be avoided at all costs. As should Fruit Juices which are also high in Sugar.

Do a Grange Hill on it and ‘Just Say No.’

Best choice is water. If its not an option then Diet Sodas are the way forward. Milkshakes are the worst. They often contain as much Calories from Fat as your main meal.

The Top 3 Best of a Bad Bunch

1. Chicken Shish Kebab

If at all possible try to get your hands on a flame grilled Chicken Shish Kebab. Although they are sometimes marinated, the fact that the Chicken is not processed serves you in good stead. Say a big ‘Yes’ to all of the salad but replace Mayonaise with Lemon Juice and kiss goodbye to the Pitta bread. Or at least only eat half. The white bread has almost zero value to your muscle building objectives. Shish Kebabs are your best choice hands down against Burgers or Fried Chicken of any kind.

2. Burgers

Rule number one when it comes to Burgers is lay off the sauces and never add Bacon. Mayo hoards massive amounts of fat whilst Ketchup has sugar, and often lots of it.

Go for a wholemeal bun if at all possible and if not – then be prepared to take the top bun off and think yourself lucky you’ve just saved at least 100 empty Calories.

Lose the cheese and only go for a single beef patty.

Protein wise it might make sense to you to double up, but any benefits from the Protein are seriously offset by the fat content of the Patty anyhow.

Eat clean and eat big as soon as you get home instead.

3. Fried Chicken

We already talked about how Shish Kebabs are your best bet, but there are times where the only food available has a K and an F in the shop title.

Usually this would not be a good Bodybuilding option to say the least. However, with a bit of careful planning you can just about get away with it.

First thing is follow the advice with the Burger. No sauces and no Cheese.

Secondly, when selecting your Chicken choose grilled if at all possible. If you must go for the deep fried stuff then be sure to remove all the skin and batter. You cant remove all the fat that has soaked in, but you can reduce the total fat content that way.

Conclusion

So there we have it. With educated choices you can eat Junk and still build muscle.

Or at least, you can still get some much needed Protein to keep you going until you mange to get home and prepare something decent without consuming too much Fat.

Of course, there is no substitute for a healthy Diet, structured training and adequate rest between workouts.