Effective Muscle Toning Diet with Menu Examples

Anyone who exercises usually wants to see results as soon as possible. To aid in this process, there are foods for toning your muscles that help reduce sagging.

In this article, we’ll show you the keys to a muscle toning diet that will give effective results whenever it’s properly combined with exercise.

Protein

Proteins are the key substance related to good muscle health. In this sense, you must choose the most adequate sources of protein to provide your body with the necessary nutrients in its proper measure.

The most important thing about the protein sources in this muscle toning diet is to reduce your consumption of red meat.

These foods are the ones that contain the most protein. However, they also increase the risk of heart problems. Therefore, consuming it once a week is enough.

White meat and fish will be two good substitutes for red meat. With foods such as turkey, chicken, or blue and white fish, we can tone and firm muscles without experiencing large increases in body mass. Here, white fish will be especially interesting, since it’s the lowest in fat.

On the other hand, eggs provide protein thanks to their egg whites, since the yolk has a higher concentration of fat. Therefore, eat and omelette with two egg whites and one yolk, for example.

As for dairy products, it’s best consume those with a low-fat content.

Moving on to vegetables, the best source of protein is legumes. These are a cheap and healthy food and, to prevent gas, can be cooked with cumin.

You can also include nuts, preferably raw, in this diet. In the case of toasting them, it’s best to ensure that they do not have sugar or hydrogenated fats.

Consume Healthy Fats

Fats are an essential food for the body. However, it’s advisable to limit their intake to the necessary amounts.

To make this muscle toning diet effective to lose weight, you must considerably reduce your consumption of saturated fats, such as those present in industrial baked goods, and replace them with healthy fats.

Some of these can be vegetable oils, such as olive or even primrose.
You can also consume nuts, blue fish or egg yolks, which also have this fat.
Also, you’ll find a good amount of healthy fats in avocados and seeds, such as sesame or sunflower.

Carbohydrates

Among the most suitable sources of carbohydrates to achieve results in this muscle toning diet are fresh fruits and vegetables, whether raw, cooked or in shakes.

You can also eat whole grains or flours, or tubers such as potatoes.

Example of menus for muscle toning diet

To properly distribute these foods, we’ll show you some muscle toning diet menus for some help.

There’s a menu with meat or fish, a vegetarian option and also a vegan option among the three examples.

Traditional menu

Start the day with a breakfast that’s toasted bread with cheese, to which you can add honey and seeds.
At mid-morning, try an appetizer with nuts and fruit.
Later, at lunchtime, prepare a dish that combines grilled chicken (or a fish fillet) with sautéed vegetables.
At mid-afternoon, you can incorporate a dairy product into the diet, like a yogurt with nuts.
Finally, you can end the day with a dinner from a vegetable cream or an omelet.

Vegetarian menu

As for the vegetarian option of the muscle toning diet, you can prepare a breakfast with a yogurt, fresh fruit and nut yogurt.
The mid-morning appetizer could be some corn cakes with cheese, and for your meal, whole-grain pasta with mushrooms, tomatoes and vegetables.
For a snack, you can eat an integral toast with peanut butter, preferably homemade and without salt.
At the end of the day, at dinner, you can add quinoa to an omelette.