When your bulking, is it important what you eat? Like should you only have certain foods, like maybe oatmeal, eggs, tuna, chicken breast, brown rice etc? Or can you just eat a lot of types of food, (foods with protein) and expect that to work?

The term bulking is commonly misunderstood. Most people think Bulking is putting on weight by any means possible. So many of my friends who want to get big just start indulging in greasy high caloric foods having the mentality " i will convert it into muscle later". This is WRONG to beleive that way.

Yes you can indulge on some extra foods when bulking, meaning you can stray away from your typical chicken, white fish , egg whites etc (cuttin food) . But don't go crazy. Eat just above your maintenance level for weight (ie : 400-500 calories more) but still try and keep it clean. John Stone is doing just that. He'll maybe put on 20 lbs or so but he plans to do it over 3 months. Don't be that guy who packs it on too quick or you will have trouble cutting, and possibly even lose more muscle than you started with when you want to get back to your target weight.

Look for atleast 40% of your foods coming from Carbs, eat relatively clean, when in the gym focus on lower rep , higher weight exercises and just keep track of your weekly progress and alter your diet from that.

GL BRO, may it be a good bulk :)

Thanks man I'll try to do that :) But shouldn't 40% come from protein also?

Thanks man I'll try to do that :) But shouldn't 40% come from protein also?

The typical split you see most often is the 40 / 40 / 20 . But I mean anyone can work really. The key on a bulk is to have high carbs, minimum 35% . You could try a 35% Pro / 45% carb / 20% fat even. Yes you will be consuming alot of carbs ( upskirts of almost 300, or around there) . But again if these carbs are decent sources (ie: sweet potatoes, rice, whole grain bread (EASY ON THE BREAD) , veggies, oats. you will do fine. People can throw diet routines at you but it all depends on your body. Thats why you need to make your own, keep progress for the first week or two and then alter / keep the same if you like where things are going.

steak, eggs, chicken, oats, more steak, potatoes, veggies, nat peanut butter, more oats, turkey.


and more steak.

The key on a bulk is to have high carbs, minimum 35% . You could try a 35% Pro / 45% carb / 20% fat even.
I disagree. A lot of people have had success bulking on very low carbs (just take a look at all of the anabolic diet proponents).
Conversely, there have been a lot of people that have success on high carbs. I'm currently bulking on around 50-55% carbs and that number might increase as my caloric needs become greater.

Everyone should experiment and find out what works for them. We are all genetically different and no one macronutrient breakdown will work for everyone.

I disagree. A lot of people have had success bulking on very low carbs (just take a look at all of the anabolic diet proponents).
Conversely, there have been a lot of people that have success on high carbs. I'm currently bulking on around 50-55% carbs and that number might increase as my caloric needs become greater.

Everyone should experiment and find out what works for them. We are all genetically different and no one macronutrient breakdown will work for everyone.

Yep, more important is your total calorie intake and clean sources for whatever ratio you choose. Most important is to PLAN ahead and document so you can intelligently adjust if you are gaining too fast, too slow, or losing weight.

If your diet is all over the place, your results will follow. :)

The best thing you can do is pick an out-of-the-box plan for your first and see how it works for you.

Here is a tried and true method for gaining weight.

Look at the scale, if you are the same weight consistently, eat more. If you're worried about gaining muscle, are you getting stronger whether it is more reps, more weight..etc?

Don't make things more than they need to be.

whole eggs (please, eat the damn yolk), red meat, liver, heavy cream, whole milk, pasta

liver

I don't care what it's good for, I'm not eating another creatures toxin filter. :nope:

I don't care what it's good for, I'm not eating another creatures toxin filter. :nope:

+1 :nod:

Organ meats are terrible for you.

+1 :nod:

Organ meats are terrible for you.

Actually liver is really good...

I suppose it would depend on the health and diet of the animal it came from, but if you are eating an organ that is designed to remove toxins from the body, then you'll be eating whatever toxins were in the organ at the time of demise. Eating the liver from grass-fed organic cattle is probably better for you than a large supermarket chain liver.

Actually liver is really good...


:nod:

Beverly's Ultra 40 are just liver in pill form...


For the OP: Read the stickies....mucho info on bulking nutrition....

:nod:

Beverly's Ultra 40 are just liver in pill form...


For the OP: Read the stickies....mucho info on bulking nutrition....

I'll agree from a weight training perspective that liver may have many positive effects, but from a health and nutrition aspect organ meats are pretty bad for you.

To use my previous analogy, both grass-fed beef and standard cattle will have the same macronutrient ratios for similar cuts of meat. The chances of you getting mad cow disease from grass-fed beef are almost nil.

To me, knowing the source of my food is almost as important as knowing it's calorie and macro value.

Evenso, I love haggis - I just don't eat it all the time.

I'd recommend signing up over at teamscivation.com. They will customize a program for you based on your current stats/goals. Plus, they have the most unbelievable WHEY!!!!!

Liver is a toxic filter, not a toxic sponge. As for toxins I would be willing to bet that there are probably more toxins in all these so called "healthy organic foods" from your local grocery store as they are in liver.

http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/liver.html

IS LIVER DANGEROUS?
In spite of widespread tradition and abundant scientific evidence on the health benefits of liver, conventional nutritionists and government agencies now warn against its consumption. The putative dangers of eating liver stem from two concerns--the assumption that liver contains many toxins and the high level of vitamin A that it provides.

One of the roles of the liver is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs, chemical agents and poisons); but the liver does not store toxins. Poisonous compounds that the body cannot neutralize and eliminate are likely to lodge in the fatty tissues and the nervous system. The liver is not a storage organ for toxins but it is a storage organ for many important nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron). These nutrients provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins.

Of course, we should consume liver from healthy animals--cattle, lamb, buffalo, hogs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese. The best choice is liver from animals that spend their lives outdoors and on pasture. If such a premier food is not available, the next choice is organic chicken, beef and calves liver. If supermarket liver is your only option, the best choice is calves liver, as in the U.S. beef cattle do spend their first months on pasture. Beef liver is more problematical as beef cattle are finished in feed lots. Livers from conventionally raised chicken and hogs are not recommended.

As for concerns about vitamin A, these stem from studies in which moderate doses of synthetic vitamin A were found to cause problems and even contribute to birth defects. But natural vitamin A found in liver is an extremely important nutrient for human health and does not cause problems except in extremely large amounts.

According to the authoritative Merck Manual, acute vitamin A poisoning can occur in children after taking a single dose of synthetic vitamin A in the range of 300,000 IU or a daily dosage of 60,000 IU for a few weeks. The Manual cites two fatalities from acute vitamin A poisoning in children, which manifests as increased intracranial pressure and vomiting. For the vast majority, however, recovery after discontinuation is "spontaneous, with no residual damage."

In adults, according to the Merck Manual, vitamin A toxicity has been reported in Arctic explorers who developed drowsiness, irritability, headaches and vomiting, with subsequent peeling of the skin, within a few hours of ingesting several million units of vitamin A from polar bear or seal liver. Again, these symptoms clear up with discontinuation of the vitamin A-rich food. Other than this unusual example, however, only vitamin A from megavitamin tablets containing vitamin A when taken for a long time has induced acute toxicity, that is, 100,000 IU synthetic vitamin A per day taken for many months.

Thus, unless you are an Arctic explorer, it is very difficult to develop vitamin A toxicity from liver. The putative toxic dose of 100,000 IU per day is contained in two-and-one-half 100-gram servings of duck liver or about three 100-gram servings of beef liver. From the work of Weston Price, we can assume that the amount in primitive diets was about 50,000 IU per day.

As for liver for pregnant women, a study carried out in Rome, Italy, found no congenital malformations among 120 infants exposed to more than 50,000 IU of vitamin A per day (Teratology, Jan 1999 59(1):1-2). A study from Switzerland looked at blood levels of vitamin A in pregnant women and found that a dose of 30,000 IU per day resulted in blood levels that had no association with birth defects (International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research 1998 68(6):411-6). Textbooks on nutrition written before the Second World War recommended that pregnant women eat liver frequently, yet today pregnant women are told to avoid this extremely nutritious food. Don’t eat beef liver, cautions Organic Style magazine in a February 2005 article on diets for pregnant women, ". . . it has high levels of retinol, a vitamin-A derivative that can cause birth defects."

A good recommendation for liver is one 100-gram serving of beef, lamb, bison or duck liver (about 4 ounces) once or twice a week, providing about 50,000 IU vitamin A per serving. Chicken liver, which is lower in vitamin A, may be consumed more frequently. If you experience headaches or joint pains at this level, cut back until the symptoms go away.

Eating Raw Liver. . .
Good Heavens!
Eating raw liver is definitely not a Standard American Dietary (SAD) practice! So why in the world would a sane person even consider eating their liver raw? Most of the reasons are anecdotal with the primary one being that people who do consistently report how good it makes them feel.

Southern hunters have a tradition of eating the liver of their freshly killed deer as a "manly" thing to do.
In Argentina, cowboys eat liver (and meat) raw or very lightly cooked.
People who grew up on farms tell of eating the liver freshly warm from the animal and only lightly cooking it (and all the organs and glands)
Weston Price reported on the consumption of raw liver among African hunter-gatherer tribes. Liver was considered so sacred that they never touched it with their hands, only with their spears. They ate it both raw and cooked.
The physician Max Gerson used raw liver juice, extracted with a special juicer that pressed out the liquid, in his original healing protocol with pancreatic cancer patients. His daughter, Charlotte Gerson, later dropped this part of the protocol because of the unavailability of fresh clean liver without bacterial contamination. Now a crude liver extract injection or desiccated liver tablets are used in the current protocol. However, Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, a New York doctor who treats cancer holistically, insists that all his patients eat raw liver.
The How-to-do-it
of Eating Raw Liver
This takes some getting used to! There are two basic methods. One calls for freezing the liver for 14 days in large chunks. (Fourteen days will ensure the elimination of pathogens and parasites.) You can then grate the liver on the small holes of a grater and add it to milk or juice, or even hot cereal. A teaspoon or two of grated raw liver can be added to baby’s egg yolk, or even to mashed vegetables.

The second method turns liver into pills! Cut fresh liver into pea-sized pieces and freeze for 14 days. Swallow like vitamin pills.
For both methods, the liver should be of the highest quality available and very fresh.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070912/news_lz1f12focus.html

QUESTION: I suffer from a shortage of iron, and in the past I have eaten liver a couple of times a week to help. Now I'm worried about the safety of supermarket liver due to hormones and additives being fed to the animals. Is liver safe anymore? Would you or do you eat it?

S.P., Centralia, Wash.


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ANSWER: Liver is one of nature's most nutrient-dense foods. This helps explain why it is listed as a source for so many nutrients.

Liver contains heme iron, a form that is easier for the body to use than the type found in plant foods. A 1-ounce serving of beef liver contains 10 percent of the daily value for iron. This is about three times the amount found in other cuts of meats.

Beef liver is very high in vitamin A, and a rich source of vitamin B12 and copper as well. It is also a good source of riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid, phosphorous and selenium. One ounce of beef liver contains 111 milligrams of cholesterol.

Be aware that a 1-ounce serving of beef liver provides the upper limit for the retinol form of vitamin A, so be careful not to overdo it. It makes sense to limit other sources of retinol on days when liver is on the plate. Retinol is usually found in dairy products, and it tends to be the form of vitamin A used in dietary supplements and vitamin-fortified drinks.

If you have a craving for liver, you might consider chicken liver; it has twice the iron and half the vitamin A of beef liver.

I understand your concerns about the safety of liver as a food. The liver is a major processing and detoxifying organ of the body. You could think of it as a transportation hub. Nutrients (and medications), absorbed from the digestive tract, head to the liver to be processed and packaged so that they will be in the correct form when they reach their eventual destination.

The liver is a remarkably resilient organ endowed with the ability to regenerate itself. It has an undeserved reputation as the body's toxic waste dump. While it does serve as a clearinghouse for unneeded or unwanted substances, the liver does not hold onto its products; it works to ship them out. If, however, there is an ongoing exposure to a dangerous compound, it is likely that the liver will be in the midst of the battle to re-establish health.

For those in good health with an otherwise healthful diet, an occasional serving of liver should not be a problem. A healthful option is to choose grass-fed, organic beef and organic poultry. Another alternative is to seek out a provider with a stated philosophy of raising animals without hormones or feed additives. You can often find such providers at farmers markets and natural food stores. That is what I do.

This began with your quest for additional iron. Be aware that there are nonmeat sources of iron, including apricots, spinach, legumes and raisins.

Periodic use of cast-iron pans is another way to add iron to the diet. When acidic foods, such as spaghetti sauce, are prepared in cast iron, a small amount of iron dissolves into the food. The actual amount of iron drawn into food depends on the condition of the cookware; a cast-iron pan that's frequently seasoned with oil tends to give off less iron, although some will be released.

In any discussion of iron, it is important to bring up a caution not to overdo it. Excess iron can be dangerous. Most bodies do a good job of regulating iron. There is a protein needed for iron absorption; less becomes available when the body's iron stores are full.

There is, however, a serious genetic iron-storage disease called hemochromatosis that does not allow the body to rid itself of excess iron. There is an excellent discussion of this condition from the National Institutes of Health online at: tinyurl.com/2ztju.

Ed Blonz, Ph.D., is a nutritional scientist based in Northern California. General-interest questions about nutrition can be mailed to: Ed Blonz, Focus on Nutrition, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191, or sent via e-mail to UTFood@blonz.com.