My cholesterol was too high, so I went on a diet. My cholesterol went down, but so did my weight, which is not good because I’m trying to gain weight to build more muscle.
My diet was simply no dairy products, no red meat, and keeping saturated fat low. Some things like fish and chicken have high dietary cholesterol, but I included them in my diet because I needed the protein, and because I read they don’t raise blood cholesterol.
I’ve been eating four times a day, but two of the meals are more like snacks. In the afternoon I’ll have fruit and almond nuts, and for supper I’ll eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich. For breakfast I eat oatmeal. That leaves dinner which is fish/chicken with salad.
What can I do to add calories to my diet? I’ll get tired of meat and fish if I eat it more than once a day. Same goes for peanut butter and oatmeal. What else can I start eating that will add calories?
You can’t increase muscle mass by eating more calories you will only increase fat that way. Muscle mass is increased by increased exercise while eating enough protein to support the muscle mass.
To my understanding there is no eveidence that dietary cholesterol or not has any effect on blood cholesterol.
At least according to this HowStuffWorks article, dietary cholesterol does have some effect on blood cholesterol:
Regarding muscle mass, I haven’t heard that you only need protein to support muscle mass. Every muscle building diet I’ve seen usually deals with ratios of fat/carbs/protein, and a base requirement of protein.
I am not saying to not eat those other things, they have their place in good nutrition for a healthy body but they don’t build muscle. Muscle is increased by exercise, as you do so, you make little tiny tears in the muscle you are working, as your body heals those tiny tears it increases the muscle fiber at the same time. Your muscles require adequate protein to maintain and build muscle. If your body doesn’t get enough protein it will take it from the existing supply much like calcium. If you don’t get enough calcium in your diet, your body will take it from your bones but if you are doing weight bearing exercise and consuming adequate calcium you will increase your bone mass. Carbs and fats have other uses in a healthy diet.
you pretty much have to read and make up your own mind. one book I would suggest is “Good Calorie, Bad Calorie”. I also like the nutrition information in “The Paleo Solution”.
As for your cite, what do they base their information on? What studies are they looking at?
As you know, it doesn’t cite anything. The only reason I believe them is because I used their information in my diet and lowered my blood cholesterol by 40 mg/dl in two months.
Evidently others have beaten me to it. My suggestion was going to be to stop thinking about your cholesterol at all, and certainly not in the ways mainstream, unproven medical pros are telling you to.
And then eat more high-quality, healthful carbohydrates. Carbs will do the trick, but you don’t want to do it eating nutrition-free trash.
I am a firm believer in the idea that dietary cholesterol does not affect blood cholesterol. I DO believe, however, that high glycemic foods will eventually raise your cholesterol.
I think you are wrong about net calorie intake, adhemar. If the body is in calorie deficit and you weight train your body will not significantly increase muscle mass. You need energy to increase the potential energy of the system.
OP, what kind of weight training are you performing? I remember reading in several places that heavy weight training decreases cholesterol appreciably (~5%?).
It was not my intention to say that the OP should be eating a calorie deficit, I was traying to say that carbs, fat and protein all have their places in a healthy diet (way to eat not weight loss defintion of diet) but that protein is what will help build muscle mass along with weight training. Not enough protein and your body will consume muscle to make up the deficit. Carbs and fat have other functions that keep your engine running.
I do calisthenics two days a week for about 45 minutes each day. But I was doing that before when my cholesterol was at 239 mg/dl. When my cholesterol went down, the only thing I changed was my diet.