Muscle Building Nutrition from TCM Perspective
Fitness enthusiasts have high protein requirements during muscle building phase, but from a TCM perspective, protein pairing also has many considerations. Only with proper pairing can you supplement nutrition while considering spleen-stomach digestion.
TCM emphasizes 'supplementing qi-blood and strengthening tendons-bones.' Through proper ingredient pairing, you can not only provide sufficient protein but also regulate spleen-stomach, enhance body absorption capacity, and better assist muscle growth.
"The spleen-stomach is the foundation of postnatal life, the source of qi-blood generation. Muscle building requires first nourishing spleen-stomach to transform essence." - TCM Nutrition Theory
First Recipe: Astragalus Beef Stew
Prepare 200g beef, 15g astragalus, 3 slices ginger, and 5 red dates. Wash and cut beef into pieces, blanch to remove blood foam, then put together with astragalus, ginger, and red dates in a clay pot. Add appropriate water, bring to boil over high heat, then simmer on low heat for 1.5-2 hours. Season to taste.
Beef is a high-protein ingredient that can supplement spleen-stomach, benefit qi-blood, and strengthen tendons-bones. Astragalus has qi-supplementing, yang-lifting, exterior-securing, and sweating-stopping effects, enhancing body immunity and metabolic capacity. The combination provides rich protein while regulating spleen-stomach for better nutrient absorption and utilization.
Second Recipe: Black Bean Walnut Milk
Take 50g black beans, 20g walnuts, and appropriate rock sugar. Soak black beans for 6-8 hours in advance, shell the walnuts. Put black beans and walnuts in a soy milk maker, add appropriate water, blend into milk, filter, and add rock sugar to taste.
Black beans are rich in high-quality protein and various minerals, can supplement kidney-yin and strengthen spleen-dampness drainage. Walnuts have kidney-supplementing, brain-nourishing, tendon-strengthening, and bone-strengthening effects. This milk has rich taste, abundant nutrition, easy digestion, suitable for breakfast or post-workout consumption to supplement protein and energy.
Third Recipe: Angelica Goji Black Chicken Soup
1 black chicken, 10g angelica, 20g goji berries, 100g Chinese yam. Clean and cut black chicken into pieces, blanch, then put together with angelica, goji berries, and Chinese yam in a pot. Add appropriate water and stew until chicken is tender.
Black chicken has high protein content and is easily digested and absorbed, with yin-nourishing, heat-clearing, liver-supplementing, kidney-benefiting, spleen-strengthening, and diarrhea-stopping effects. Angelica can supplement and activate blood, goji berries nourish liver-kidney. This soup provides sufficient nutrition for muscle building while regulating qi-blood for better muscle growth.
TCM Dietary Principles for Muscle Building
Muscle building diet should follow the principle of 'supplementing without greasiness, nourishing without stagnation.' Ensure sufficient nutrient intake while avoiding overly greasy, hard-to-digest foods that burden spleen-stomach.
Recommend adopting 'small frequent meals' approach - 5-6 meals daily with appropriate portions. This ensures nutrient supply without excessive spleen-stomach pressure. Pay attention to meat-vegetable balance and refined-coarse grain balance.
Pre and Post-Workout Nutrition Supplementation
1-2 hours before exercise, eat moderately, choosing easily digestible foods like Chinese yam porridge or red date white fungus soup to provide energy. The 30 minutes after exercise is the golden time for nutrition supplementation.
Post-workout, choose high-protein, easily absorbed foods like black bean walnut milk or black chicken soup. These foods not only quickly supplement protein but also help muscle recovery and growth.
Individualized Regulation Recommendations
Different constitutions require different dietary regulation during muscle building. Qi-deficiency constitution should eat more qi-supplementing ingredients like astragalus, ginseng, Chinese yam. Blood-deficiency constitution suits angelica, donkey-hide gelatin, red dates for blood supplementation.
Yang-deficiency constitution can moderately add yang-warming ingredients like ginger and cinnamon. Yin-deficiency constitution should eat more yin-nourishing ingredients like white fungus, lily bulbs, goji berries. Consult TCM practitioners for personalized guidance.