Best Diet To Build Muscle: Late Night Eating
Best Diet To Build Muscle: Late Night Eating
A common piece of advice from many so called “experts” on the topic of muscle building and getting the best diet to build muscle, is to cut out late night eating. But is this advice correct or it is actually hindering your muscle building efforts.
If you tell anyone that has an interest in muscle building, that you regularly have something to eat after 7 or 8 in the evening, they are likely to tell you that this is bad for you and result in you putting on fat.
But this rule of not eating after a certain time in the evening is one that I break every day and would advice you to do the same. In fact, I consider late night eating to be important to getting the best diet to build muscle.
What makes me say this?
Well the whole, “don’t eat after 7pm” rule is, like many things then it comes to bodybuilding and fitness, totally oversimplified.
The idea of cutting out late night eating, is that your body, and the metabolism, slows down as you get into the late hours of the evening, in preparation for going to sleep. Therefore anything you eat during this time would not be properly digested and would end up being stored as fat.
The logic for this is obvious, but completely oversimplified.
There certainly are certain types of food you want to avoid during this time if you want the best diet to build muscle. You definitely want to avoid carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates cause a raise in insulin levels, which will reduce your body’s ability to burn fat, as cause fat to be stored. This is an ideal situation when you first wake up, or right after a workout, as the body will need a slow release of energy. But you don’t want this situation when your metabolism is slower and you aren’t very active.
So obviously, you want to avoid eating carbohydrates late at night at all costs, but does that mean you should avoid late night eating altogether? NO! As part of getting the best diet to build muscle, late night eating is is important.
Think about what your body needs in order to build muscle. It needs to be fed with a steady supply of protein and healthy fats in order to really build muscle. But what happens when you don’t eat after 6 or 7 inn the evening?
Say you have your last meal of the day at 7 P.M. And you don’t have anything else to eat before you go to bed. Then you have your 8 hours of sleep and have your breakfast at 7 in the morning. That is a whole 12 hours without feeding your muscles. This is a sure-fire way to lose muscle mass, as the body will start to eat them up as it isn’t getting any kind of nutrients or fuel.
So what should you include in your late night eating?
To keep you from feeling hungry and craving foods that you shouldn’t be including in the best diet to build muscle, you should be having a small meal made up of slow releasing proteins and fibrous vegetables.
Cottage cheese, protein shakes and meats are all great sources of protein that will not effect your insulin levels.
If you want a great guide to getting the best diet to build muscle, as well as lots of fantastic healthy recipes, check out Dave Ruel’s Anabolic Cooking Cookbook.


