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 By: Clayton South One element of the bodybuilding lifestyle that is vital to master is the science of food selection or grocery shopping. I use the term science when referring to food selection because if you have decided that bodybuilding is for you, the employment of precision in your shopping endeavors is a must. In this publication I aim to discuss exactly how to construct a precise, effective, goal oriented grocery list. To achieve this goal it is necessary to discuss the relevant factors that will shape your shopping behavior. These factors are: Supply and Demand, the mathematics of eating, basal metabolic rate, body type, body mass, current training phase, food labels and the purpose of food. Also, to illustrate the principles presented here, you will see at the end of this article a sample shopping list. After reading this article you should be able to determine with precision and accuracy the exact foods you ought to purchase and consume, and know the reason(s) you are purchasing and consuming them.
When applied to bodybuilding endeavors, supply and demand is a law. Why? Put simply, the name reflects the causational relationship that exists between the two variables of TRAINING INTENSITY and NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENT. The relationship appears mathematically as follows: If:
Y = Nutritional requirement Then:
When training occurs, the body attempts to initiate the repair and restoration process. In order to repair micro-muscular tears in muscle tissue and replenish depleted glycogen stores, the body must look for the raw materials to begin the repair process.
The Mathematics Of Eating
I will discuss each.
Calculating your basal metabolic rate [BMR] will allow you to determine with precision the amount of calories your body needs to maintain its current mass. Determining this will allow to you determine with certainty the food you require to compliment your training phase. For example, are you trying to add mass? If so and if at rest you burn 2500 calories daily, then you will need to consume more than 2500 calories daily to facilitate the addition of mass to your frame. What if you are trying to lose bodyfat? Then you would eat less than 2500 calories per day to facilitate the fat-loss process. Think of the BMR as a baseline that you must either eat below, at, or above depending on your phase of training.
If, on the other hand, you were an ectomorph and had difficulty adding any mass, it would be wise to focus on consuming foods that have high good fat contents as well as protein contents. All natural peanut butter, for example, would be an excellent choice in that particular situation, while chicken breasts or tuna alone may not be best for adding mass. If you are endomorphic then you definitely want to focus on consuming lean cuts of meat such as chicken breasts, tuna, lean beef and turkey, and avoid a lot of dairy products. It is also important to distinguish between the body-type you are born with, and the one currently facing you in the mirror. For example, genetically you may be mesomorphic, but because of terrible eating habits you may now be fat. It may be that you have overloaded your body with processed junk foods at such a quick rate that your body simply cannot rid itself of them. Reforming your eating habits will reveal to you your true body-type. The point to understand is that while this is not an exhaustive analysis of the effects of food on body composition, one must consider ones body-type while constructing an intelligent goal-oriented grocery list.
* For more information refer to my article Adding Mass in the Offseason. As may be seen from the chart, each macronutrient performs different functions within the body. Understanding the different functions of each macronutrient will allow for the construction of a sensible, goal-oriented shopping list that will compliment your training phase and body type. GENERALLY [as opposed to specifically which we will address shortly] it is wise to aim for 1-1.5 gm of protein per pound of bodyweight, .25gm of fat per pound of bodyweight, and .5-1.5gm of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight.
 Click To Enlarge! Despite the food market being flooded by "half fat" and "fat free" products there are more obese persons today than ever before. When I see statements on labels like "half fat" and "fat free" I think they would more appropriately be named "half-truth" and "truth-free." One example that best stands out is the infamous "fat free" brownie. Often people with carnivorous eating habits will charge to the store that sells them and will eat five or six reasoning that they are "fat free." "They are fat free" they reason "so they are not harming me at all!" It is also interesting that they are LOADED with refined sugars. And what do refined sugars do in the body? They turn to FAT. And what about the claims of "half of the fat"? Or "half of the calories"? Did you know that if a product has 10grams of fat for one serving, simply by cutting the serving size in half, the manufacturer can claim that its "half of the fat" and "half the calories"? It makes sense because if you eat HALF of the product you get half of the calories and half of the fat. In other words, simply by changing the labeling on the package but leaving the product as it is, they can legally make these claims. Not fair is it? Let us consider 2 percent milk. The term "2 percent" is supposed to be the MILK FAT percentage. Let us take a look at what the mathematics REALLY say.
If:
X = Calories per gram of fat Then:
=2.5(9) = 22.5 Therefore, 22.5 of the overall 119 calories are derived from fat. To determine the percentage that this constitutes toward the overall mass of the milk we must perform the following equation.
Therefore the fat constitutes 18.7% of the milk. From the math we can see that the claim that milk is only "2 percent" does not pass muster. The point to understand here is that it is important to your health as a bodybuilder to learn how to intelligently read food labels, and to understand that many of them are misleading. Knowing this will greatly aid you in your quest to be healthy. Remember this saying well: There is no free lunch when it comes to food. You are how you eat, and if you eat poorly you will reap the results of your dietary transgressions. A valuable tool that I highly recommend is The Complete Book of Food Counts by Corrine T. Netzer. I recommend using this book in conjunction with a food weighing scale, so that you can know how much of a substance you are eating, and the contents of that substance.
Remembering that food is one tool among many in your bodybuilding arsenal will help keep you on track, and will also help you to save time. If you know what to buy and in what quantity, your shopping should take no longer than twenty minutes. If the potato chip and candy isles are not on your list, then why go down them? Instead head to seafood for salmon steaks, or to dairy for cottage cheese, milk and eggs. Or go to meat for chicken or beef. This is how I do my shopping because I don't go to the grocery store to socialize; I go to get the basic tools that I use to build muscle: Quality whole foods. When shopping it is important to shop very specifically and in a way that is goal oriented.
Our subject, Joe, has the goal of adding muscle. He knows that to maintain a positive nitrogen balance he must eat six times daily. He is a mesomorph. Therefore, he concludes, he must have a high protein percentage, and a moderate fat and carbohydrate percentage per each of his six daily meals. His current bodyweight is 220lbs. His BMR is 2500 calories daily. From this information he is able to determine the following [using the GENERAL mathematics provided above]: Daily Macronutrient Requirements:
Calories: 3000 From having to eat 6 times per day, each meal would appear as follows:
Calories: 500 Joe can see that his requirements for each meal are relatively high in carbohydrates for energy, protein for muscle growth, and fat for the healthy functioning of his hormone system.
For protein he would focus on red meats, eggs, chicken breasts, turkey, fish, and lean dairy products. His fat sources would come from healthy sources like fish and nuts and seeds. Notice from the above list that ice cream, chips, pizza and other foods falling into the "processed" category are not being purchased. When shopping, the selection of whole foods is essential. Whole foods greatly assist one in the realization of ones bodybuilding goals.
Protein Sources - Meat and Dairy
If, by chance, you are a vegetarian bodybuilder, or if your religion prevents the consumption of meat, but you are allowed to eat dairy products, you can incorporate tofu into your diet, and supplement with Branch Chained Amino Acids. Also you will need to mix-and-match incomplete protein sources [legumes, etc] in order to ensure that you consume enough complete proteins daily. It may also, in this situation, be advantageous to buy a protein powder [egg, whey, or soy]. Summary / Conclusion Regardless of training phase, age, BMR, or body-type, food selection will always be determined by ones goals and ones training intensity. It is necessary to select whole foods over processed. Whole foods go a long way toward the realization of ones bodybuilding goals. The most difficult task facing a bodybuilder is knowing how to precisely select food items that will assist in the realization of ones goals. In order to select food effectively it is necessary to consider all elements discussed here and to utilize the mathematics presented. Disclaimer
The information provided in this publication is for educational and informational purposes only and does not serve as a replacement to care provided by your own personal health care team or physician. The author does not render or provide medical advice, and no individual should make any medical decisions or change their health behavior based on information provided here. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information contained herein with other sources. Readers and consumers should review the information in this publication carefully with their professional health care provider. The information in this or other publications authored by the writer is not intended to replace medical advice offered by physicians. Reliance on any information provided by the author is solely at your own risk. The author does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, products, medication, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be presented in the publication. The author does not control information, advertisements, content, and articles provided by discussed third-party information suppliers. Further, the author does not warrant or guarantee that the information contained in written publications, from him or any source is accurate or error-free. The author accepts no responsibility for materials contained in the publication that you may find offensive. You are solely responsible for viewing and/or using the material contained in the authored publications in compliance with the laws of your country of residence, and your personal conscience. The author will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, or other damages arising from the use of information contained in this or other publications.
Copyright © Clayton South, 2003 All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright holder and author of this publication. Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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Make no mistake: Eating, like all things, operates according within the framework provided by mathematics. At least it does if you wish your body to appear as you desire, instead of it looking like some overweight, derelict physical accident.
When constructing a grocery list you must consider the following:
Body type is very important to consider when constructing an effective shopping list because when you understand how your body reacts to certain macronutrients you can select certain foods and avoid others. For example, If you were a mesomorphic individual and could add muscle very easily while staying relatively lean, it would be wise to select foods high in 
When going to the grocery store this would mean that Joe would focus on obtaining his carbohydrate sources from starchy sources like pasta, potatoes, yams and rice, and simple sources like fruits and vegetables. He would include a lot of vegetables to ensure that he was getting plenty of antioxidants.
Carbohydrate Sources - Fruits, Vegetables and Pasta
Fat Sources
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