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It seems that a lot of people complain that they find eating a clean, low glycemic index diet to be expensive, so I’ve decided to do a little homework. I’ve selected a local HEB pantry food approximately 1 mile from my home as the only store used, in order to show that one need not even shop at 3 or 4 different stores each week. Using current prices, I’ve come up with a well balanced, diet that provides all the nutrients necessary for muscle growth, and has no deficiencies that cannot be filled for extremely active individuals with the intake of a single multi-vitamin/mineral pack. You will notice that my carb of choice is barley. It is by far the lowest glycemic index starchy carb. It beats brown rice, whole wheat and oatmeal hands down. What about sweet potatoes and yams? They are actually high glycemic index carbs, and I’m not certain how they acquired the reputation of being low GI by the bodybuilding community. In any event, cooking the barely is much like cooking brown rice, and the taste is very much like a mix of oatmeal and rice. I’ve also included fiber, sodium and potassium content, since these three things are often of concern to bodybuilders. Here is the diet
-2 dry cups of pearled barley: fat: 4, carb: 302, protein: 40, calories: 1404, fiber 62, sodium: 36 mg, potassium: 1120 mg
-One head of romaine lettuce (approximately 1 ibs): fat: 5, carb: 10, protein: 5, calories: 105, fiber: 5, sodium: 0mg, potassium: 750
-1.5 ibs of chuck steak (after trimming away excess fat): fat: 120, carb: 0, protein: 184, calories: 1816, fiber: 0, sodium: 408 mg, potassium: 1680 mg
-6 tbs flax seeds (added to barley during last 3-4 minutes of cooking, 6 tbs of seeds will provide the same amount of n-3 fats contained in 4 tbs of flax oil): fat: 60, carb 60, protein: 30, calories: 900 fiber: 36, sodium: 0 mg, potassium: 960 mg
-2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil (1 for the barley to reduce clumping, and 1 for your salid): fat: 28, calories: 252
Totals: fat: 217, carb: 372, protein: 259, calories: 4477, fiber 103, sodium: 444 mg, potassium: 4510 mg
Ok, so we have a diet that will yield an optimal testosterone level (important for natural bodybuilders, and some of you guys who are off cycle and in the middle of PCT), as well as reduced shbg levels by providing large amounts of saturated fat (its almost all sterilic acid, the most benign form of sat fat in this case), and n-3 fats. It has over 250 grams of protein (more than 90% of steroid using bodybuilders actually need), and provides close to 400 grams of carbs, that are lower GI than most consumed by the average bodybuilder. Also note that by adding the olive oil and flax seeds to the barley, the GI will actually be reduced even further. The diet even has an entire ibs of raw greens, which is actually a huge deficiency for American bodybuilders due to a poor early lifestyle that taught then not to eat greens, thus many assume that by simply eating one salad a day that their needs will be met. Also not that due to having no refined or processed foods, the diet has less than 500 mg of sodium, yet is very high in potassium (which has been shown to have anabolic properties in lab tests). In any event, let’s see what it costs. The barley is $0.79/ibs. We used less than ½ a ibs, but let’s just call it an even half, at $0.40. The lettuce was rather pricey at $1.29 for the entire head, but money well spent. The steak, was $2.49/ibs (on sale it’s less), so it comes to $3.74. The flax seeds are $0.79/ibs, and 6 tbs ends up costing less than a dime, but we’ll round up to $0.10. What about the olive oil? Well, bought in large $6 containers it may seem pricey, but only 2 tbs is worth less than a dime as well, but we will round it up also. The grand total comes to $5.63 per day $39.41 a week.
-2 dry cups of pearled barley: fat: 4, carb: 302, protein: 40, calories: 1404, fiber 62, sodium: 36 mg, potassium: 1120 mg
-One head of romaine lettuce (approximately 1 ibs): fat: 5, carb: 10, protein: 5, calories: 105, fiber: 5, sodium: 0mg, potassium: 750
-1.5 ibs of chuck steak (after trimming away excess fat): fat: 120, carb: 0, protein: 184, calories: 1816, fiber: 0, sodium: 408 mg, potassium: 1680 mg
-6 tbs flax seeds (added to barley during last 3-4 minutes of cooking, 6 tbs of seeds will provide the same amount of n-3 fats contained in 4 tbs of flax oil): fat: 60, carb 60, protein: 30, calories: 900 fiber: 36, sodium: 0 mg, potassium: 960 mg
-2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil (1 for the barley to reduce clumping, and 1 for your salid): fat: 28, calories: 252
Totals: fat: 217, carb: 372, protein: 259, calories: 4477, fiber 103, sodium: 444 mg, potassium: 4510 mg
Ok, so we have a diet that will yield an optimal testosterone level (important for natural bodybuilders, and some of you guys who are off cycle and in the middle of PCT), as well as reduced shbg levels by providing large amounts of saturated fat (its almost all sterilic acid, the most benign form of sat fat in this case), and n-3 fats. It has over 250 grams of protein (more than 90% of steroid using bodybuilders actually need), and provides close to 400 grams of carbs, that are lower GI than most consumed by the average bodybuilder. Also note that by adding the olive oil and flax seeds to the barley, the GI will actually be reduced even further. The diet even has an entire ibs of raw greens, which is actually a huge deficiency for American bodybuilders due to a poor early lifestyle that taught then not to eat greens, thus many assume that by simply eating one salad a day that their needs will be met. Also not that due to having no refined or processed foods, the diet has less than 500 mg of sodium, yet is very high in potassium (which has been shown to have anabolic properties in lab tests). In any event, let’s see what it costs. The barley is $0.79/ibs. We used less than ½ a ibs, but let’s just call it an even half, at $0.40. The lettuce was rather pricey at $1.29 for the entire head, but money well spent. The steak, was $2.49/ibs (on sale it’s less), so it comes to $3.74. The flax seeds are $0.79/ibs, and 6 tbs ends up costing less than a dime, but we’ll round up to $0.10. What about the olive oil? Well, bought in large $6 containers it may seem pricey, but only 2 tbs is worth less than a dime as well, but we will round it up also. The grand total comes to $5.63 per day $39.41 a week.
