Can You REALLY Build Muscle on a Plant-Based (Vegan) Diet?

Are you avoiding a plant-based diet because you think it is impossible to build muscle and strength?

Unfortunately, this myth is alive and well. Serious bodybuilders preach eating lots of steak, chicken and other types of animal protein to build muscles. There is no mistake about it, protein is definitely required if you want to strength train and build muscle.

However, your body does not care where that protein comes from. Your body uses 1 ounce of plant-based protein the same way it does 1 ounce of animal-based protein.

So if you decide to take up a healthy vegan diet, don’t worry about losing muscle mass.

The Key Is in Your Protein Ratio

If you eat nothing but plant-based protein, you can experience pretty fast weight loss. One of the key reasons is that plant based diets are very high in water and low in calories.

This means you need to eat more than just protein. That is because many fruits, plants and vegetables deliver a minimal amount of carbohydrates and calories.

Your body needs carbohydrates, calories and protein for a healthy life. Get the right ratio of these healthy fitness requirements into your diet and you can turn your vegan lifestyle into a muscle building machine.

After you strength train, you need carbohydrates for energy and protein to build muscle. Within 60 minutes of working out you want to focus on a meal that is 2 or 3 parts carbohydrates per 1 part protein.

You should also remember your body cannot process more than 1.0 to 1.25 grams of protein per 1 pound of body weight every day.

Use the above information hand-in-hand with your recommended daily caloric intake and you will give your body the perfect plant-based recipe for building muscle.

Strength training (like lifting weights or body weight training) builds muscle much more quickly and effectively than aerobic training.

So make sure you are strength training while enjoying a vegan diet. Make sure you get plenty of rest at night, and stay hydrated. With the above recommended protein/carbohydrate ratio and a sensible calorie count each day, strength training helps to build muscle and promote overall health on a plant-based diet.

Plant-Based Foods High in Protein

Make sure you are eating plenty of protein-rich plant-based foods or you will have a tough time building muscle. Red meat, chicken and fish in many cases deliver more protein per ounce than plants and vegetables. That is why the traditional muscle-building recipe includes lots of animal-based protein.

Look at these numbers though. There is protein in vegetables:

• Cauliflower – 2 grams per cup
• Brussels sprouts – 3 grams per cup
• Broccoli – 2.6 grams per cup
• Mustard greens – 1.6 grams per cup
• Collard greens – 1.1 grams per cup
• Spinach – 0.9 grams per cup
• Artichokes – 3.3 grams per cup
• Sweet corn – 5 grams per cup
• Lima beans – 15 grams per cup
• Peas – 8 grams per cup
• Bean sprouts – 9.2 grams per cup

One of the numbers really stands out doesn’t it? Lima beans with 15 grams of protein per cup. Actually beans in general are amazingly rich in protein.

For vegans to build muscle, that protein needs to be replaced. Focus on the following plant-based foods and you are sure to get plenty of protein for muscle-building efficiency.

The post Can You REALLY Build Muscle on a Plant-Based (Vegan) Diet? appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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Making Changes in Your Head – How Lifestyle Changes Really Happen

We all want to lose weight, gain muscle and be healthier, but the trouble is that these things never seem to come to us.

There is a reason for this and it is simply that we do not make small changes in our mindset to bring about the big changes.

For instance let’s say that you want to lose weight. You try a diet for a few weeks only to fall off and fall into your old habits.

Even the people on the Biggest Loser tend to gain their back and do you know why this is? The mind is not changed, your habits have been short circuited for a brief spell but can still come back.

You need to change your mind before the outward changes are going to manifest for you.

So – How Can You Change Your Mind For Good?

Changing your mind is partly faking it out. If you can just convince yourself that you are in your new goal instead of just hoping for that future goal then your mind can do the work easier to get you there.

The best way to change you mind is not to one day say:

“I want to be thin”

actually the best way to say this in your mind would be:

“I am thin”

since your mind will accept the now but does not really understand the furute and the past when making change.

Make Some Small Changes

The next thing that you need to do to make those changes in your life is to do the small things.

To lose weight of course you need to clean out your cupboards of all of those evil processed foods but that is not going to help you at the grocery store.

Instead you have to change your mind on what you like and do not like for food. No one that I know of really likes rice cackes but so many people will try to eat them to lose weight.

What would be the point of eating rice cakes at home and then eating lots of chocolate cake when you go out for dinner?

The best way to think of what you will eat is to change your mind from craving snacks and desserts all the time to changing your focus to eating different fruits and vegetables in a way that is simple and really tasty.

Change the way you think from wanting pie to wanting fruit salad instead.

This is the real crux of the whole diet dillema. Anyone can do a diet for a week or two but after that you are convinced that you can go back at least a little bit to those foods that you ate before, you fake yourself again into thinking that this diet is temporary and that you will go back to “real food”.

So instead it is critical to change that lifestyle, to eating the foods that are healthy, revel in those new food choices, and make sure they taste good so that the lifestyle is changed to eating those instead of the old apparent comfort foods that are bad for you.

Changing Your Thoughts On Exercise

Food is not the only place where you want to make these changes in your head.

When it comes to evercise often we will think that to lose we have to exercise. Instead the exercise mindset must be changed to

“I want to exercise because it makes me feel good”

So how do you make the changes to have your mind really believe that?

First you need to exercise with the goal in the end not in losing weight but in feeling better, having more energy, and better stamina and concentration.

No one wants that feeling of exhaustion in the gym initlally, it is really uncomfortable and when the going gets tough you will want to stop since it seems like it is doing nothing anyway.

If you focus instead on the idea that every workout is helping all these other parts of your life then you will see the results not only on the scale but in other parts of your life and you will continue to do those workouts for all the right reasons.

The post Making Changes in Your Head – How Lifestyle Changes Really Happen appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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Tips to Help Someone Quit Smoking Maybe Save A Life

Many non-smokers are interested in learning how to help someone quit smoking. If you have a friend or relative who smokes, you may not realize how hard it is for them to give up this habit.

Even though the smoker knows how harmful smoking is, wanting to quit and being able to quit are two entirely different matters.

Tips to Help Someone Quit Smoking

Tips to Help Someone Quit Smoking

You may have already quit smoking yourself, but that doesn’t mean that you can advise another smoker.

Each person has their own reasons for smoking and faces different challenges in overcoming the habit.

A smoking cessation method that worked for you will not necessarily work for someone else.

Figuring out how to help someone quit smoking requires you to be patient and understanding.

Offer compassion, and remember that you can never completely know what the smoker is experiencing.

It’s not particularly helpful to tell someone that you understand how they feel.

Such statements can even be perceived as patronizing. Every smoker’s experience is unique, just as every person is unique.

Here are some suggestions for you if you want to help someone quit smoking

1) Don’t expect the smoker to quit cold turkey

2) Encourage even the smallest steps to cut back smoking

3) Tell them that you have confidence in their ability to quit

4) If you go to a restaurant or bar together, sit in the non-smoking area

5) Encourage them to take up an exercise program — and then exercise with the smoker

6) Acknowledge their efforts to quit and give them positive reinforcement such as praise and hugs

7) Don’t tell them that you know how they feel

8) Be available if they want to talk about what they are going through

9) Help them find other activities to fill the moments during the day when they would normally smoke

10) Ask the smoker what kind of support they need from you

So what if it is really that easy? What if all your beliefs about how hard it is going to be to quit are completely false? What if, after just one session of hypnotherapy or NLP you find it incredibly easy to become and remain a happy, confident non-smoker for life? The reason why hypnotherapy & NLP are so successful is because both our beliefs about smoking and our habitual smoking behaviours reside within your unconscious mind. So whilst consciously we may wish to quit, all too often our all powerful unconscious mind simply would not let us.Check out Quit Smoking Today now.

Stopping smoking is often a frustrating and painful task. The smoker truly needs all the support and encouragement they can get during this experience, in order to quit successfully.

Even if the smoker relapses, you can continue to encourage them to try again.

Supporting your friends, relatives, and co-workers in their bid to stop smoking is very considerate on your part.

As everyone knows, smoking is a deadly habit that is fiendishly hard to quit.

Your support might be the deciding factor that helps the smoker give up smoking permanently.

The post Tips to Help Someone Quit Smoking Maybe Save A Life appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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