Bodybuilding - Fructose and Your Bodybuilding Efforts

If you're currently on a bodybuilding plan and are trying to pack on a maximum amount of weight gain, there is no doubt that you also need a good bodybuilding diet. Since what you eat will determine about 90% of the muscle building results you see, if this factor is not taken care of, you are going to miss out on the progress you should be getting.

One food group that may dieters question is fruit. Some believe that because it contains natural fruit sugars, if you are trying to lose weight, you should avoid it. What about those who are trying to gain weight though? Is fruit a good option for you?

Fructose In The Context of Bodybuilding

The thing that sets fruit apart from say a bagel, is that approximately half of the carbohydrates contained in it come from fructose, which acts differently in the body than pure starch or glucose does.

What happens when you consume fructose is that these calories are going to be directed right to the liver rather than being dispersed into the blood, raising blood sugar levels and then either being used for energy or being stored in the muscle as muscle glycogen.

While this is good in the fact that it's not going to raise your blood sugar levels, causing a big blood sugar spike followed by a drop, it is bad because it means less fuel to the muscles, which is what you need when you are actively trying to build new muscle.

The Other Issue With Fruit

Now, that's not it - there is yet another issue to consider here. We've already established that some of the carbohydrates contained in fruit are going to be sent to the liver, now consider the fact that the liver can only store so many carbohydrates before any addition consumed turn directly to body fat.

Since when bodybuilding you are already consuming more calories than you need (this is necessary to build new muscle tissue), adding more fat is the last thing you need. If your diet is very high in fructose coupled with that hypercaloric intake, you may just find that you start packing on the pounds, but rather than these pounds being rock-hard muscle, they are rather squishy. Not something most of you are going for.

So What's The Deal With Fruit Then?

To summarize and put this into perspective for you, the liver can store about 50 grams of fructose a day. Each fruit you eat is about the equivalent of 5-10 grams each. So, theoretically speaking you could eat between 5-10 pieces of fruit a day without any problems - that is, of course, assuming the rest of your diet is devoid of fructose.

Paying attention to other things you may be eating that do contain fructose (often termed 'high fructose corn syrup) is potentially one of the smartest moves you can make in your quest to gain lean muscle and keep fat levels under control.

It is much smarter to do this and keep moderate amounts of fruit in the diet because fruit itself does supply the body with lots of nutrition - nutrition that many of those other high fructose foods lack.

This then will also allow for more carbohydrate calories to come from starch or glucose, which will work very well in the body to build that new muscle you're looking for.