Following the bodybuilder diet is fairly easy since you are eating the same amount of protein as you do carbohydrates (gram for gram). Protein sources should be from low fat sources like egg whites, chicken, turkey, fish, soy, deli meats, & low fat cheese. Carbohydrates should be from slow-absorbing kinds like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. These items will absorb slowly into your bloodstream and keep your blood sugar constant for hours following the meal. Although fat consists of only 20% of a bodybuilder meal, you are allowed to go slightly higher with the amount of fat, especially if it’s healthy fat sources like nuts or natural peanut butter. This is because fat has no effect on blood sugar and as your muscles will most likely burn this fat as long as your insulin levels aren’t too high.

The Bodybuilder Diet is a safe and effective way to build muscle without taking steroids or any other harmful substances. The Bodybuilder Diet consists of 40% carbohydrates, 40% protein and 20% fat. This is the same diet Arnold Schwarzenegger followed during his career as a bodybuilder. The caloric recommendations for this diet plan provide your body with 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. An intensive activity is necessary to put this protein to good use; otherwise you never want to eat more protein than what your body requires.

For optimal results, the Bodybuilder Diet Plan advises against the use of high carbohydrate sport drinks or supplement powders. These types of products will damage your blood sugar levels worse than if you ate nothing at all. Excessive carbohydrates (sugar) will cause an overproduction of the hormone insulin.
Insulin is called “the spoon that feeds your body” since it directs both protein (amino acids) and sugar (glucose) into muscle cells. When this sugar is taken out of the bloodstream, it is taken away from your brain and central nervous system. Athletes refer to this as “bonking out” or “hitting a wall.” Neglecting the function of your nervous system during activity is extremely inefficient because your nerve cells are what drive the movement of your muscles in the first place. Emotional fatigue will precede physical fatigue.

Insulin also has a marked effect on fat storage. Insulin ushers both fat and sugar from the blood and into long term fat deposits. The key is balance. Insulin needs to be high enough to promote muscle metabolism, but not high enough to cause the accumulation of body fat.

Habitual high levels of insulin can cause damage to your insulin receptors. All cells have receptors or “antennae” that allow them to listen to what’s going on in their environment. After a hormone hits its designated cell receptor, the receptor is broken down and recycled back up to the cell’s surface. However, some receptors don’t bounce back so quickly and the receptors will decrease in number. With less insulin receptors, muscle cells will become less responsive to insulin and excess sugar will accumulate in the bloodstream. The clinical term for this is “insulin resistance”. An extreme form of insulin resistance is called “type II diabetes", where muscle (and fat) cells become unresponsive to insulin’s message. Muscle cells will begin to think the rest of the body is starving and they will start giving up more protein than what they are consuming.

By controlling insulin, the Bodybuilder Diet Plan stabilizes blood sugar and maximizes your natural output of growth hormone. Growth hormone is a chemical messenger in the body that has profound muscle building and fat burning capabilities. Growth hormone gets released during deep sleep, after strenuous exercise and from eating a protein containing meal. High levels of insulin on the other hand will suppress the release of growth hormone.

Other scientific insights behind the Bodybuilder Diet strongly oppose the use of “energizing” supplements that contain high amounts of caffeine and other stimulants. These substances throw your body into overdrive by pouring stress hormones out of your adrenal glands. This short term high will be overshadowed by the possibility of abuse, addiction and a definite increase in the aging process. Ingesting stimulants is compared to clenching your fist and squeezing it for as long as you can. Eventually, exhaustion is inevitable. Low blood sugar coupled with brain stimulation is one of the worst ways to treat your brain cells. Renowned neuroscientist, Anthony Giacomazza says “putting stringent demands on brain cells while depriving them of their main source of energy (glucose) is like kicking them while they are down.”

The bodybuilding supplement industry is not a safe haven for someone trying to build muscle and remain healthy at the same time. There are many products being sold that violate the most basic concepts in the nutrition field. Manufacturers attract their customers by using egotistical-sounding words like “mega,” “nitro,” or “max.” There must be a way to educate people so they can see past a fancy label or a persuasive advertising campaign.

Following the bodybuilder diet is fairly easy since you are eating the same amount of protein as you do carbohydrates (gram for gram). Protein sources should be from low fat sources like egg whites, chicken, turkey, fish, soy, deli meats, and low fat cheese. Carbohydrates should be from slow-absorbing kinds like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. These items will absorb slowly into your bloodstream and keep your blood sugar consistent for hours following the meal.

Although fat consists of only 20% of a Bodybuilder Diet meal, you are allowed to go slightly higher than this amount, especially if it’s heart-healthy, monounsaturated fat sources like olive oil, nuts or natural peanut butter. Fat has no effect on blood sugar and it will most likely be metabolized by your muscles (as long as insulin levels remain stable). In addition, fat adds flavor to your meals and is often necessary as a cooking medium. Obtaining the optimal protein to carbohydrate ratio is of greater importance than the total amount of fat in each meal. 

Maximize your natural output of growth hormone
Growth hormone(GH) does the best of everything- it causes muscle building and fat burning. Our natural output of GH depends on many factors including how well you sleep, how you exercise and how you eat. Growth hormone is released during deep sleep, after strenuous exercise and after you eat a high protein meal. The bodybuilder diet contains higher amounts of protein to increase GH and not too many carbohydrates since a high carbohydrate meal will suppress growth hormone. However, carbohydrate levels need to be high enough not to neglect muscle metabolism. Insulin and growth hormone have a similar effect on muscles. They both keep protein inside cells by promote protein building within muscle cells.

Never sacrifice general health for bodybuilding
All foods, supplements and nutrition bars should not contain any partially hydrogenated (trans) fats. There are still companies lingering in the diet-health-bodybuilding-supplement industry that still contain this substance doctors call “worse than smoking cigarettes”. Even the government agency for nutrition is aware of these dangers and has since updated their food recommendations.

Avoid high sugar supplements
Bodybuilding supplements like creatine should not contain any excess sugar or carbohydrates. A high level of sugar causes abnormal levels of insulin. Although insulin promotes muscle growth by pushing sugar and protein into muscle cells, it also pushes sugar and fat into fat cells. The sugar and fat will be turned into long term fat depots. The conversion of sugar is not reversible. At some point in the future you will have to work harder to get rid of this fat.

The words “sugar” and “carbohydrates” mean the same thing
Even though a food and supplement label says “no sugar” or “no sugar added”, it doesn’t tell you anything about the level of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are only made up of individual sugar units and they turn into sugar even before they can get inside your body. It makes no difference how scientists label these things, your body cares only about how fast these sugars absorb into your bloodstream. Labels can throw us off by listing the scientific names for sugar. Other names for sugar that are commonly seen in food products are barley malt, maltodextrine, dextrin, corn starch, corn sweetener, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose (table sugar) maltose, dextrose or any other “ose” ending word.

Too much sugar will cause insulin not to work as well
Excessive carbohydrates, and therefore insulin will cause receptor “down regulation”. After insulin hits a cell receptor, the receptor is broken down and recycled back up to the cells surface. However, some don’t bounce back so quickly. As a result, the muscle cells become less responsive to insulin. The clinical term for this is “insulin resistance”. An extreme form of insulin resistance is called “type II diabetes", where muscle (and fat) cells become so resistant to insulin, that blood sugar is unable to get inside muscle cells. If this condition is left untreated, muscle cells will not be fed and the cells will eventually starve and die off.

"Imagine" the perfect form
By using the mind only, you can visualize the perfect exercise motion of the body. This will cause minute contractions of the nerves that lead to the specific muscle groups needed to perform that task. This will result in greater mind-muscle control.

Rest and Grow
Alternate muscle groups to allow one body part to repair while working out other ones. Take off at least two days a week. If you must work out 7 days a week, then do light cardio on two of those days.

Do not over train
Excessive exercising will cause your body to produce stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Stress hormones cause protein breakdown within muscle cells. This is counterproductive to someone who is trying to build muscle mass.

Exercise all antagonistic body parts to achieve good posture.
Understand that your muscles are constantly pulling on your bones in opposite directions. Neglecting antagonistic muscle groups may cause bad posture. For example, work out the front of your legs as much as you do the back and do not work out abdominals without working touching upon your lower back.