In order to stimulate muscle growth, you are going to need to eat a lot of food. But more importantly, you need to eat the right kind of food—food that is nutrient dense, calorie dense and helps raise testosterone levels.

To figure out how much food you will need, take your current bodyweight, multiply it by 15 and eat that many calories daily. For some hardgainers that may not be enough. Some will need to increase that number to 17 times their current bodyweight. The goal should be to gain 1 to 2 lbs a week. If you are putting on more weight than that, you are just getting fat and that is not the goal; you are looking for muscle growth, not weight gain. Use your bathroom scale, a tape measure and the mirror as your guide.

Next, you need to figure out what you should be eating. You want foods that are nutrient dense, calorie dense and are adept at raising testosterone levels so you will be eating a lot of protein, a lot of fat and a moderate amount of carbohydrates. If you are really lean (i.e., under 10% bodyfat), you can keep the carbohydrates high too. Make a point of eating the majority of your carbs in and around your training sessions. Stick with oatmeal, potatoes and brown rice.

Don’t be concerned about your cholesterol and triglycerides going sky high from the extra fat that you will be taking  in. The foods I recommend will likely improve those numbers. In the 1950’s a well known practitioner came out with a paper demonizing saturated fat and since then the majority of the population has become deathly afraid of eating it. Ironically, since that paper came out, the incidence of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer has gone up threefold. Fat is the primary component of cell membranes and 70% of our brain is made up of fat. So without fat we would be in big trouble.

1. Whole Milk – Up until 30 to 40 years ago, whole milk was consumed by thousands of men in their quests for more muscle mass. It provides a lot of easily consumed calories, a nice blend of whey and casein (both fast and slow absorbing proteins), as well as a good dose of electrolytes including calcium, potassium, magnesium and some sodium. It also offers a good source of vitamin A, vitamin D, and a few B vitamins to boot. Try drinking a litre of  whole unhomogenized organic milk at the end of your workouts. In Ontario, Harmony Organic offers whole milk in litre jugs with the cream still on top for just under $3.

2. Grass Fed Beef – As somebody who loves to throw around weights, I can’t think of a better food to aid in my recovery. The prevailing belief is that red meat is responsible for heart disease, diabetes, cancer. None of this is true. When you buy beef from a cow that was pasture-raised on grass, hay, silage, etc, the nutrient profile is off the charts compared to a cow that was raised on genetically modified corn on a feed lot farm. Grass fed beef is loaded with heart-healthy and fat-loss-aiding conjugated linoleic acid, the correct omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio, and fat soluble vitamin E that plays a huge role in fighting off cancer cells. It also has an exceptional amino acid profile that you won’t find from a steak bought at the local grocery store. Grass fed beef has become much easier to find in the last 5 years. You can buy it at your local Whole Foods or go online and look under www.grassfedbeef.com. There is no shortage of farmers who are raising their beef the right way.

3. Tuna – When I was growing up everyone ate tuna. No one talks about it anymore, and even less people seem to eat it. Salmon is all the rage now. Salmon does have more omega-3’s, and a powerful antioxidant called astaxanthin, but tuna should not be ignored if muscle growth is your goal. It’s a much higher protein source, gram for gram, compared to salmon and it has over 1 gram of omega-3’s per can. It contains 7 essential sources of vitamins and minerals and is an extremely high source of selenium which is a mineral that we don’t get enough of. If you are on a budget, it is easily the cheapest protein source you will find. Look for the lighter varieties due to the marked decrease in mercury content. You can find cans of tuna that state on the container that the fish was sourced from areas with lower mercury levels. You will just have to pay a bit more.

4. Whole Chickens – Yes, I am talking about the dark meat too, skin and all. Arnold ate whole chickens daily. Have you ever asked yourself why we eat skinless, boneless chicken breasts? I don’t have an answer for you. We are missing out on the vitamins, minerals and nutrients that dark chicken meat and chicken skin offers that you won’t find in a chicken breast. For the purpose of building muscle, the price per calorie of whole chickens is extremely low. They provide more total calories and taste much better than a plain old chicken breast ever will.

5. Whole Eggs – I can’t begin to tell you the number of guys I have known who have tried to gain weight by eating egg whites. 10 egg whites don’t even come close to the amount of nutrition and calories that you will find in 5 whole eggs. A colleague of mine has said for years that “Egg whites are for dorks”.  The earth didn’t provide us with this nutritional powerhouse so that we would throw three quarters of it away. Whole eggs are one of nature’s greatest foods. We have to dispell the myth that saturated fat and cholesterol contribute to heart disease. Whole eggs contain brain-boosting and anti-inflammatory choline, lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health, vitamin A, vitamin D, B vitamins, selenium, iodine for proper thyroid function. If you can procure pasture-raised eggs from a local farmer, their nutrient content is vastly superior, with 4-6 times the vitamin D content, 3 times the omega-3 content, and 8 times the beta-carotene content. If not, choose organic free-range eggs in the grocery store.

So there you have it.  You need not be a slave to egg whites, skim milk and chicken breasts when in search of new muscle.  There are plenty of tasty, nutritious foods that will provide nutrient dense calories so your palate need not suffer.