Fruits to gain muscle!

Published: 12/04/2012 - Updated: 11/05/2017

Some foods are better than others for people who are trying to increase muscle mass. These foods can be considered "super foods". A person who wants to gain weight, in this case muscle, should have a good nutrition, and also eat enough calories, however, the ideal is to do it avoiding gain of body fat or endangering health. This is where these fruits help.

The smoothies are a quick way to include healthy calories to your diet. The fruit can also be combined with other ingredients in smoothies, baked products or other recipes to increase the total calories.

Avocados

Avocados may be prepared as guacamole and enjoy as an accompaniment to your meal. Avocados are actually fruits, not vegetables, and the fruits with more calories, about 400 calories per half avocado, with high fat content. It also contains about 20 vitamins. Avocados can be made into guacamole, or added to salads, to burgers, and more.

Bananas

The banana is ideal to combine with other fruits in smoothies. It is also easy to include in your diet, like eating the natural fruit or preparing a peanut butter and banana sandwich. If you like baking, it can be converted into banana bread, banana muffins or banana cream pie. A medium banana has about 105 calories.

Nuts

Nuts offer a variety of benefits, including its amazing combination of healthy monounsaturated fats, phytosterols and amino acid L-arginine. Because of this combination, walnuts provide calories and high levels of nitric oxide, a natural substance in the body that helps stimulate muscle growth and recovery. Nuts even help in preventing heart disease and cancer, and nullify the negative effects of the saturated fats found in foods high in harmful fat. If your goal is to gain muscle, be sure to include about 20 grams of nuts in your diet.

Oranges

Vitamin C is a powerful protector of the body's levels of nitric oxide. Oranges contain a lot of vitamin D, which helps maintain nitric oxide "bioavailable", so you build muscle mass. The effects of vitamin C together with nuts will do wonders to your diet. If you eat an orange 30 to 45 minutes before your workout, it will help you maintain your nitric oxide levels where they should be, while you are training.

Dried Fruit

Although it contains some sugar, dried fruit is also quite rich in fiber. It also includes high amounts of vitamins and minerals that are needed to stay healthy and build muscle. Dried fruits decrease the amount of body fat that is stored and are loaded with calories, which means they can be very useful if you want to gain muscle mass. Eat dried fruit snacks throughout the day, but also be sure to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

Raisins

The traditional oatmeal raisin cookies are used to gain weight. Just half a cup of raisins contains 218 calories. You can have them on hand to eat during the day, or you can use them with other fruits, with some milk, or in preparation for some dessert.

Figs

They can be eaten raw, and are very high in calories, 3 figs can provide up to 111 calories. Do not forget to eat them if your goal is to gain muscle.

About the author
  • Miriam Reyes

    Miriam Reyes is a professional expert in nutrition and dietetics. She has more than 12 years of experience in caring for patients with overweight and eating problems. She studied at the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA), where she obtained a degree in nutrition. Linkedin profile.

2 Replies to “Fruits to gain muscle!”
  • Jacob says:

    Hey! Nice article, I?m trying to gain muscle mass and I?m doing my best! But It?s always good to know about other foods to include in my diet while I perform exercise, keep posting articles to have a healthier body I?m really interested on that kind of stuff.

  • Stacy says:

    We make these really nice fig and fruit bars for while we’re on the bike, and they’re super tasty and just give us so much energy. We take dried figs and blend them up in a blender until they’re nice a sticky. Then place that in a bowl, and mix in whatever dried fruits (craisins, raisins, peaches, banana chips), nuts (sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, peanuts, etc), and we even mix in chocolate chips, or cake granola on the top. Wrap them up in wax paper and take them on the next big ride/adventure!