Eating On A Schedule Is No Fun

Arnold: photo from Muscle and Fitness

Intentional eating, as opposed to random eating, is one of the keys to muscle growth. Intentional eating means eating certain foods at a pre-determined time, day in and day out, for maximum results. 

We all know our bodies need certain nutrients to remain healthy and many people take vitamins and other mainstream supplements as a ‘fix” to make up for deficits in their eating regimen. Didn’t eat vegetables today? Pop a multi-vitamin, we think. Rather though, we should aim for obtaining our nutrients the old school way, via balanced nutrition.

The joy of eating comes from eating a food we love, a food  that may or may not have much nutritional value. Comfort eating means eating what we want whenever we want or crave it. Intentional eating is the opposite of this. Eating eggs and oatmeal at 8:00 followed by a protein drink at 10:00 followed by chicken, broccoli and brown rice at noon—there’s little joy in that. But when such intentional eating produces previously elusive muscle-gain results, there is certainly a lot of satisfaction to be found looking in the mirror.

Our aim should be to make a list of nutritional foods that we actually like and enjoy eating from which to shop at the market. Protein, as an example, is found in many sources, both in foods we like—or even love, and in foods we avoid. Taking the time to Google nutrition facts from which to compile a shopping list is a wise investment in moving toward building a strong, healthy, attractive physique.