Fast food: a dangerous weight trap or a convenient dinner solution?
But if you eat “junk food” often, you should think about your choices: some options are healthier than others.
Here we list the best fast food – and the worst kind for bodybuilding.
Fast food doesn’t have to be dangerous for your weight and well-being – it’s all about balance and what you eat in general. You can have a pizza or a burger instead of a ‘health wrap’, as long as you don’t do it too often.
If you don’t eat fast food several times a week, I think you should choose what you feel like eating. It’s only when you do it often that it matters.
And NOW when you do eat the stuff that’s not so great, don’t feel guilty. Otherwise, it’s kind of a lose-lose.
“Don’t wash it all down with sugar-sweetened soda”
To make fast food as good as possible, there are a few things to keep in mind. For example, you should choose as many fast food dishes as possible that contain a lot of vegetables and preferably alternate them with vegetarian options.
That tends to be good. Kebabs, for example, can be quite a healthy composition if you ask for vegetables to go with them.
And if you’re very fond of sausages and other meats and eat them often, it might be a good idea to have falafel or something else vegetarian from time to time,” says Sara Ask.
The most important thing, she says, is to think about the accompaniments
Don’t wash it all down with sugar-sweetened soft drinks, but rather choose water.
Best Fast Food for Bodybuilding
GOOD SNAP FOOD
1. Kebab
Eat like this: Kebab in bread or kebab salad.
Kebabs can be quite healthy. It can be kebab on bread with lots of vegetables and yogurt sauce of some kind. You might have mineral water to go with it and then it’s a good meal. With the vegetables, you get fiber and vitamins and the kebab itself contains iron and other minerals which are important to get in.
The vegetables also contribute to saturation, although it is usually the water-rich variety that is served in kebabs.
The kebab only becomes bad when eaten with side dishes such as chips and soft drinks.
Soft drinks only add sugar, and sugar in liquid form is tricky because you don’t seem to register the satiety it should provide. And fries provide a lot of energy and salt, but very little nutrition.
So: eat kebabs with lots of vegetables, in bread or as a kebab salad. It’s much more valuable calories.
2. Falafel
Eat like this: In pita bread, with hummus, for example, or as a salad.
Falafel is good because, unlike some other vegetarian options, such as Greek salad with a little feta cheese, it’s quite filling. Pulses, however you handle them, have a low glycemic index, which means it’s energy that lasts.
What’s more, pulses like chickpeas contain a wide range of nutrients, such as folate. Falafel is also rich in iron, which is not true of all vegetarian foods, and fiber, which is good provided you don’t have IBS.
As with kebabs, it’s when falafel balls are combined with side dishes such as French fries that things become critical. Rather eat with pickled vegetables and hummus, in the traditional Middle Eastern way.
Hummus is great. Not only is it tasty, but it also keeps you full for a long time,
3. Sushi
Eat like this: The “regular” way with soy, pickled ginger, and wasabi.
Sushi contains very few vegetables, but you get other important nutrients of the kind not found in many other foods. For example, vitamin D, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids.
Admittedly, white rice is used, but carbohydrates are part of a balanced diet, so I don’t see a problem with that. However, you should be aware that soy sauce contains quite a lot of salt, so you might not want to over-consume it, especially if you are at risk of high blood pressure.
4. Fish burgers
Eat like this: With salad and/or vegetables.
Burgers with fish are a great alternative to a regular burger. For example, you get selenium, which is not found in many foods, and better fats, at least if it’s a salmon burger.
With a good bun and no fries, the fish burger is a perfectly acceptable meal.
Especially if accompanied by vegetables and water.
5. Macka
Eat like this: A sourdough sandwich with lots of vegetables.
A hearty sourdough sandwich with lots of vegetables and maybe a dollop of hummus on top is great. It adds satiety and nutrition, unlike a white limp sandwich that you stand on for fifteen minutes.
Sourdough is good because the body absorbs nutrients more easily from bread that has undergone that process. Especially if it’s wholemeal bread.
Worst Fast Food for Bodybuilding
Worst snap food
1. Why you should be careful with pizza?
Pizza is often very fattening, it’s high in fat and low in nutrients. Depending on who you are, it can cover your entire daily energy needs, without contributing much else. In addition, pizza is often very salty.
You could opt for a pizza made with sourdough, with less cheese, more vegetables, and better meat: it is more likely to have better nutritional content. But personally, I like the bachelor’s pizza” better. If you don’t eat pizza that often, I think you can choose the one you like best.
2. Why you should be careful with hamburgers?
One of those double burgers that grow on you, with lots of meat and lots of dressing, can be too much of a good thing. You definitely get nutrition with the meat, but also a lot of energy in the process.
I don’t usually like to talk in terms of calories, but the downside of bad fast food is precisely that it provides a lot of calories and little nutrition. If the burger is eaten with chips and a soft drink, the meal becomes even more critical,” says dietitian Sara Ask.
3. Why you should be careful with hot dogs?
Of course, you can have a hot dog now and then, but the classic hot dog is often quite salty and low in nutrients, especially if it’s served in plain white bread.
It is also quite rare to be able to choose vegetables to accompany the hot dog: the side dish is usually shrimp salad. And it doesn’t really enhance the meal as such, as prawn salad usually consists of a lot of mayonnaise and not many prawns.
Final Thoughts
Bodybuilding is the toughest game and not all food is healthy. That’s why I’ve given you the list of best fast food for building and worst food for bodybuilding.
So you can safely eat to build your muscle.
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