What Ingredients Should I Use?

Protein sources

You need proteins not only to build your muscles, but for various biological functions too, therefore your food’s amino acid profile should be more colourful as well. Avoid simple sources, where the amino profile can be unbalanced, aka having less or more from certain amino acids.

Biological value can be a good guideline to follow:

As you can see, there are kinda fancy sources that you can rely on, and the other ones should be mixed with other sources. Don’t overthink it, even the sources with lower biological value will be fully utilizable in a good meal consisting of multiple ingredients, so don’t believe the “count only the protein from animal product” bullshit.

Meat

This is the most default option ever. Building muscles from muscles of other creatures. However, it’s 2021, so try to obtain meat from cruelty free sources, and try to lower it’s proportion in your food. There are many plant based protein sources, you’d not lose anything if you’d include more of them. Moreover, your body will be grateful if you’re on a higher protein diet, and it’s not almost all of it from animal sources. You can’t compare yourself to professional bodybuilders who use steroids and consume an excess amount of proteins, because believe me, there are so many negative effects of that super high amount of proteins, that gaining fat is the least dangerous of them.

Forget overprocessed meats, like the sliced “hams” and their fellow obnoxious kind. These are for low-level peasants with no taste. You can obtain some quality authentic hams and sausages, and they are just fine to include in your meals as long as the macros fit, while they have their place even in fat loss diet as seasoning.

Eggs

The best protein source from a solid meal form. Its BV is 100. Why do bodybuilders keep throwing out the yolk, right? Well, they are not, only the stupid and ignorant ones. That is called food wasting. I know, you can’t just put it in the fridge, then give it to homeless people, like “hey, here are some egg yolks, Merry Christmas!”, and then just drop them into their coin collector; but you can just buy bottled egg whites. Also, you need the yolks anyway, since the 100 BV comes with the white + yolk package, and it’s not the 80’s, when the TV said fats are bad and egg is evil.

Protein powder?

Never, fucking never! Did the dietary supplement company tell you that you are unable to consume sufficient amount of proteins by normal meals? Omg, profit-oriented companies saying their unnecessary product is absolutely essential and extremely important for you, and without it you’d not progress? What did you expect? Our bodies are not designed to run on overprocessed food that requires basically zero digestion, it’s only needed in a post-workout shake, when you need the protein intake immediately.

Dairy

In some languages the equivalent of protein contains the word “white”, therefore many braindead think the whiter the food is, the more protein it contains. However, that is silly, and I used euphemism. Nonetheless, it is true that protein from dairy has a good biological value, and it’s good to build muscles, since it is literally designed to make mammals grow faster, however, when their bodies cannot handle solid food, which means that after the body adapts to solid meals, it un-adapts from the liquid ones.

Dairy has one downside, which is pretty significant not to neglect: lactose. Yes, I know, maybe you are not lactose intolerant, and your ancestors rode cows, bathed in milk, and milk was running in their veins instead of blood, but this has nothing to do with that. Lactose can support inflammatory processes, and that you do not want. So should you avid dairy or keep it moderate? The answer is no, unless you suffer from inflammation, and want to recover from it as soon as possible. Plot twist: cheese contains almost none.

Legumes

Why not? Try to mix multiple sources, and then their BV will be just as fine as meat’s. Pay attention to the carbs in them, because that can make a difference. Any downside? Well, if you can handle the gas emissions, and your environment won’t be bothered, then none at all! I remember once I ate a whole bowl of beans for breakfast before classes, and hat to leave the classroom constantly, so I can pollute the hallway.

Grains

Nobody eats them as a protein source, but as a carb source. It it not a coincidence. However, their protein content still counts as well. Rice is relatively poor in protein, but considering bulgur, oat, oat flour, you can have a very valuable, yet cheap protein source, thus spend less money on meat.

Carbohydrate sources

You don’t need them only for energy, but also for other reasons, so going keto is not a good thing, only for a very few people. Glycemic index is somewhat important, but if you eat your carbs with their meaty and veggy friends, it’ll loose its importance, since your stomach will puree them together. Whole grain things are very popular nowadays, but keep in mind that they can be small factories of aflatoxins (raisin and cider contains the most) if stored/processed incorrectly, so don’t fall into the “eating healthy means I will die in cancer but lean” trap, because let’s admit: everybody becomes skin and bones before they die in cancer anyway.

Rice

Omg, omg, have you seen it? A bodybuilder, eating chicken with rice! Wow, rice must be the key to success! Chill down, it is an OK source, it is easy to prepare, digest, cheap, and that’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. Bear in mind that it has a high GI, so if you eat it without meat, it will certainly sabotage your abs.

Oats

Relatively high protein percentage, high fibre and very low GI carbs. It’s like the perfect source of your carbs, but some people fart too much from it. Let’s not underestimate this, if zero emission is an issue for you. Also, it’s not the best culinary adventure to eat it in something that is not sweet, aka main meals for example. However, you can grind it or buy oat flour, thus you’ll be able to do flour-y things from it, like pancakes or bread-like creations. It’s worth the try.

Potato

Everybody loves french fries, everybody likes baked potatoes, everybody dreams about chips, yet when they want to get healthy, suddenly betray the Potato God, and start to worship the Rice God. Why? Mystery… Obviously, you can’t deep fry them, but you can bake them in the oven, use an air fryer or an oil cooker, but even just cook them in water. The possibilities are endless. Yes, it is harder to prepare them than rice, but they are even better carbohydrate source.

Sweet potato or regular potato? Doesn’t matter, just eat what you like.

Legumes

Very good carbs, very good protein, and they allow you to use much less meat. Easy to prepare. Legumes can rapidly decrease your meat consumption, thus making you very eco friendly! Did I mention they are cheap as hell too?

Grains

Common knowledge sees them as some low-level criminals trying to undermine the prominent carb society, and people eating bakery goods are seen as ignorant hedonists. But couple of decades, and even being an anti-vaxxer will be a common knowledge too, thanks to clickbait media, Mark and his algorithms, populism, etc., so please, feel free to eat your good quality bakery goods or pastas, because when mixed with fibre (veggies) and fat, and maybe with some meat, they are just fine. Oh yes, obviously avoid overprocessed, overly rartificial meals, those are garbage.

Pasta

Pasta is basically grain, but I love it so much, I’d feel as if I betrayed my feelings not mentioning it separately. Pasta is life, pasta is pure joy, and not unhealthy or fattening at all. Downside? It will want you to eat more than you’d need, so gotta stay strong. Benefits? You can eat all your favourite dishes without getting fat, check our recipes. Also, there is one kind of pasta that can fill your belly af: couscous!

Whole grain or not?

Since you ought to try to avoid over-processed food, whole grain may be the best way to go, however, if they are stored improperly, they can be highly carcinogenic.

Fruit?

It seems so healthy and self-conscious to eat fruit, but the ugly truth is that they contain sugar. Sorry, but you needed to hear that. They are fine for a snack, they are very healthy, and they won’t make you fat as their sugar does not have very high GI, especially if they contain a lot of fibre; just be aware that there is no “the more fruit you eat the healthier you get” rule, and it’s easy to have an excessive sugar intake from them. Be vigilant about dried or fermented fruit. They can contain aflatoxins, and can be more calorie-dense than candy bars.

Fiber

It’s some awkward relative of the carb family whom everyone avoids until they find out how important it is, then they will say “I knew it from the beginning that one day Fiber will be famous and successful”. So yeah, it’s not only important to have a beautiful poop to stare at after the morning coffee, but also to make your body function well. Another important thing is to fill your belly, while vitamins and minerals are worth mentioning too.

Fat sources

Fitness gurus are trying to tell you how to cook fatless, while trying to push the avocado toasts through your throat. Low-fat became some triggering word for people to falsely think they arrived to a safe place, when it comes to their food. But why?! Why on earth would anybody want to avoid fats? You need a certain amount of carbs for your brain, for your glycogen and some for general quick energy source, but everything above that can (can, not should) be supplied by fat.

Eating fat doesn’t mean getting fat. You are not what you eat in this case…I mean, do you remember eating failure?

All fats are good in a good ratio, and all fats are bad in a bad ratio.

So feel free to eat meats below 10% fat, eggs are excellent food too. While your daily fat intake should be based on your personal needs, try to minimize (not eliminate) saturated fat. Smoke point is something you should pay attention too. It defines for what purpose you should use your oil, aka which one is good for cooking or baking, and which one only for already cooked foods to increase their fat content. Combination of the proper smoke point with the proper fatty acid percentage will increase your quality of life to a level that you’ve never dreamed of.

Olive oil

Very healthy, very popular. It’s fatty acid profile makes it the perfect oil, no wonder people who are using it live long. There is the extra virgin version that ought to be used only without cooking, and the regular one that you can use for cooking. Nonetheless, it is very barbaric to disrupt a food’s harmony with olive flavour when it is not authentic, also, I doubt anybody would like sweet foods like pancakes stinking of olives. Some people say that it’s pricey. Well, for deep frying maybe, but let’s forget that for life. The amount you use for cooking is not as much that your wallet would notice it.

Sunflower oil

The black sheep of fat intake. Is there a problem with it? Well… Sunflower oil is a pretty nice form of fat source, you can use for salty and sweet meals as well. It is unsaturated, can endure high temperatures, and cheap af. However, the only problem with sunflower oil is its high Omega-6 fatty acid percentage that can disrupt the fatty acid proportion of your fat intake. So the perfect and also the most budget option is to cook salty things with olive oil and sweet things with sunflower oil.

Coconut oil

One word: avoid! Coconut oil is the perfect example of why not to trust the new trends in fitness industry, because they just want to get your attention, trigger you with something new, thus getting your clicks and money. Preaching anything pays well as long as it sounds sensational. Do not use it! Plot twist: its smoke point is lower than of extra-virgin olive oil’s, so it’s literally a garbage. I wouldn’t say it’s inherently evil, it just can’t compete with the better fat sources. It’s hilarious when bodybuilders use it for cooking, and even then in tiny-little doses, literally less than a pin of steroids, because there is only one thing they are afraid more than science: fats!

The moment you read something is a “superfood”, you can already conclude that it’s nothing but a male bovine excrement.

Linseed oil

It is famous for its omega 3, however, your body won’t process it as much as it would process from an animal source, for example fish oil, nonetheless, you can use much more of this for much less money. The only thing to keep in mind is that you can not use it for cooking, so only if you can tolerate its raw taste in food, then you are a very lucky and happy person. Pay attention not to eat too much of it, because it can disrupt the fatty acid ratios.

Nuts

Nuts are pretty fine, and peanut butter is like an orgasm, but their fatty acid ratio can be tricky, so don’t base your fat intake on nuts, and not only during no nut November. Seriously, you’ll be like thinking you consume all good fats, become a nutfat supremacists, laugh at people eating bacon, then you wonder where did you get your chronic pain, what woodoo magic is that, or is it maybe just your horoscope? Also, don’t think healthy fat means an unlimited free pass. Imagine you start eating peanut butter same way as peasants eat yoghurts, snack all the time on cashew, and then wonder what Jewish space laser attached that belly on your abs that won’t let you to see your own pee-pee.

Avocado

Very trendy, very hipstery, very millennial. Apparently, many people actually do like its taste. It has always been a mystery for me that how come that the self-proclaimed environmentalists and social justice warriors worship the food that is a symbol of deforestation, modern day slavery and income source of criminal gangs. Yeah, its fat is “healthy”, and some dishes are outrageously delicious with it, but including avocado in your diet regularly (if your country has to import them) is a crime against environment and humanity as well. So yeah, if you eat it often, then you are no different than people buying cotton or sugar in the 19th century or people who hunted bisons into extinction, no matter how woke you claim to be.