5 Secrets to a Lean-Muscle-Building Breakfast!
Want to turn your next breakfast meal into a fat-burning, muscle-building inferno? You can do it using these 5 secrets!
In issues 7-10 of this e-newsletter, we interviewed Dr. Jacob Wilson (Ph.D.) about HMB, one of the key ingredients in our ever-popular Muscle Synergy formula. Dr. Wilson is now a researcher and assistant professor at the University of Tampa in sunny, south Florida.
Recently, Dr. Wilson and his brother Gabriel (also a Ph.D.), wrote an article in Iron Man magazine in which they discussed the latest scientific research on bodybuilding nutrition and what it means for the planning of your breakfast.
Below, we summarize Dr. Wilson's research findings into "5 secrets" so that you can build a lean-muscle-building breakfast of your own.
Secret #1: Eat at least 20 grams of leucine-rich protein at breakfast. The best sources are milk and egg protein. You can find both in Beverly International's Provosyn.
The payoff: When you wake up in the morning, muscle protein synthesis (MPS), the essential element of building muscle, is at a low. It's a bit like a construction site where the workers haven't eaten for 8-12 hours. Everyone is moving slowly. To kick-start muscle building, you need to eat a hefty dose of leucine-rich protein.
Leucine is an amino acid, or protein building block. What makes it unique is that it can "turn on" MPS. Of course, to actually build muscle protein, your muscle cells need many other amino acids besides leucine. Milk and egg provide every amino acid required for MPS -another reason why Provosyn makes an excellent choice for a breakfast protein shake.
Secret #2: While research suggests that 20 g of protein is enough to maximize MPS at breakfast time, don't hesitate to add another scoop of protein to your shakes, or more eggs to your omelet for that matter. In fact, Dr. Wilson recommends eating 30-40 g of milk and/or egg protein at breakfast.
The payoff: Research suggests that eating 30-40 g of high-quality protein at breakfast will increase meal satiety (feelings of satisfaction or fullness) and promote fat-burning during the rest of the day.
Secret #3: Try to get about 30% of your calories from protein, 30% from carbs and 40% from fat. For instance, if you eat a 400-calorie breakfast, you should be getting about 30 g of protein, 30 g of carbs and 18 g of fat. (You don't have to be exact, but try to come close.)
The payoff: Eating 30% protein and 30% carbs will give you a 1:1 ratio of carbs to protein. Research suggests this stimulates your metabolism to burn more fat for the remainder of the day.
Secret #4: Eat low-glycemic, high-fiber carbs.
The payoff: Low-glycemic, high-fiber carbs tend to stimulate greater fat-burning and fullness than high-glycemic carbs. High-glycemic carbs (e.g. like those found in your typical heavily processed breakfast cereal) cause your body to burn more sugar than fat during the rest of the day.
Secret #5: Limit your carb intake at breakfast to about 40 g.
The payoff: As above, this will help stimulate your body to burn more fat during the rest of the day.
