It’s very easy to fall into the usual schedule of eating processed foods from the local fast food joint or your favorite restaurant down the street. Yes, this food tastes great from time to time - but how healthy is it for you?

Unfortunately, too many days of filling up on junk food will eventually bring negative consequences to your health (and your weight). As they say - junk in, junk out.

Realizing this, many people today are becoming more health-conscious. However, in their zeal to get rid of excess weight and eat more nutritiously, they often make the mistake of cutting out essential nutrients, too, and lose muscle as well as some fat.

Research into fat loss and essential nutrients has shown us that certain fats are beneficial not only for our body’s processes, but also for losing weight.

These fats combined with proteins such as in meat, which is what something like the keto diet emphasizes, can help you to lose weight, build muscle, and strengthen your health. Two of the staples in the keto diet, including any bodybuilder's diet, should be meat and nuts. Let’s see how they work together to benefit you. 

Why Meat and Nuts are Important

Think back to your scavenging ancestors. For much of human existence, we were moderately good hunters, but most humans would be lucky to kill 1 animal a week. For the most part, we scavenged and gathered what we could to feed the population.

What was available in most places? Nuts, seeds, and some meats.  

You can see the importance of nuts and seeds in your diet when you take a look at the caloric value and the essential nutrients they provide. Most nuts are very high in calories (more than 2x that of fruit, vegetables, meats, and other carb/protein sources). This means that they provide quite the punch of energy.  

Building Muscle

Moving away from our ancestors to modern times, many strength experts agree that meat and nuts contribute directly to muscular performance and strength.

One Canadian strength expert by the name of Charles Poliquin even created a diet called the Meat and Nuts Breakfast, where he emphasized the importance of both of these foods in your diet in order to grow stronger and leaner. 

An important aspect to note is that Charles does not advocate for processed meats. He only recommends very lean red meats like venison, bison, and some beef, while the nuts are reserved to mostly cashews, pistachios, and some other popular nuts like walnuts.

In the keto diet, as well, meats and nuts are very important.

Not only do these nuts provide the calories you need, but they also contain many essential nutrients like zinc and magnesium - which both have ties to testosterone and growth hormone production.  

If you’ve been struggling to find more strength from your diet, take a good look at how fresh, lean meats, in conjunction with a variety of nuts, can have a positive effect on your performance inside the gym - not to mention the increased energy you will get.  

While meat will help to provide the bulk of low-fat protein in your diet with a variety of amino acids, the nuts will serve as a huge supply of fat and micronutrients - perfect for cell growth and regeneration of lost amino acid stores.

So, grab some nuts, eat some meat, and watch the muscle pack on!

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