Nourish Your Body: 10 Protein-Rich Foods for Effective Muscle Gain

Protein-rich foods are simply foods that contain a high percentage of protein. Protein is made up of around 20 amino acids, of which 9 are essential amino acids.

The next big question on your mind must be – Why are protein-rich foods important for muscle gain?

Brace yourself, as the following passage explores this question without getting into too much overly technical jargon.

Once you have gotten a good idea of why protein rich foods are important for muscle mass, we will then give our take on the top 10 sources that you may want to include into your diet.

Why Are Protein-Rich Foods Important For Muscle Gain?

As we now know, protein-rich foods are high in essential amino acids, of which are all three branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine).

These essential amino acids, specifically leucine, are responsible for elevating dietary muscle protein synthesis (muscle building).

So, in other words, when you eat a protein-rich food source, muscle building is turned up.

The research shows that 3g of leucine in a meal is enough to max out the muscle building response for most people.

However, this response lasts approximately 3 hours, where you would need to eat another high protein meal or snack if you really want to maximise muscle growth over the long term.

Do not overdo it on the eating, three to four moderate sized meals or snacks should do the trick.

We do not want to forget to take into account overall daily calories, as you probably do not want to put on too much body fat, but that is a whole nother rant for another time.

10 Protein-Rich Foods That Could Be Introduced Into Your Diet

So, how am I going to rate the protein sources?

I am going to cover the protein sources with the highest concentration of the branched-chain amino acid leucine.

Why so? As we have learned, leucine is the amino acid responsible for elevating and maximizing the muscle-building response per feeding.

1. Whey

Forget about what the ‘gym bros’ have told you about chicken being the ‘best’ protein source and claiming that whey is not real food.

I am here to spill the facts! Whey is food, it is basically the byproduct of cheese, which is then put through a variety of processes to form a flavoured powder.

Why is whey protein powder at the top of our list? It is one of the most bioavailable protein sources that has touched planet Earth, meaning that your body will ‘absorb’ most of it.

Not to mention, it contains the highest concentration of leucine compared to any other protein source, in fact a magnificent 11%.

There is around 3g of leucine per 25-30g protein from whey.

So, what does this look like in the kitchen? Roughly 1-1 ½ rounded scoops of whey protein powder mixed with 200-300ml of your favorite beverage or blended into a smoothie.

Heck, you could even add whey to your baked goods! You can always go right with some whey mixed into egg custard tarts.

What flavor protein powder would you use? Call me boring, but I always go for the classic vanilla, chocolate, or even unflavoured.

2. Dairy

Milk or Dairy protein is next on our list and all for good reasons. Dairy proteins are made up of 10% leucine. Just over 30g of dairy protein can provide 3g of leucine.

Although you may not always get 30g of protein in a single sitting from dairy sources, they can still make a great addition to many meals, snacks or beverages.

For example, you can add some cheddar into a sandwich or pour some milk into your smoothie. My personal favorite evening snack is a tub of cottage cheese with a slice of pineapple.

What’s most unique about dairy protein is that approximately 80% of it is casein and 20% whey. We already know that whey spikes the muscle building response quickly, but did you know that casein slows down the process?

In simpler words, dairy protein can put you into muscle-building mode for longer. For this reason, dairy proteins make an excellent addition to a post-workout snack. Have you ever mixed your whey protein powder with milk? Why not give it a try?

3. Egg

Although I do not agree with entirely everything Eddie Abew says, egg protein is certainly a great protein source.

Not only is the egg high in leucine (~9%), but it comes with a whole load of micronutrients, which are crucial for general health and bodily functions. Thereby, you could make the argument that eggs are the ‘best’ overall.

Give or take, 35g of protein from an egg is enough to max out the muscle building response. Fried Eggs, baked beans, sausage and toast for breakfast, anyone?

4. Casein

On your search for a protein supplement/food source, I guarantee that you came across casein protein power. Casein is a very good quality protein food with around 8-9% leucine.

Due to its slow absorption, it makes a great evening snack.You can simply mix casein powder into any beverage or even used in cooking.

5. Fish

Fish actually ranks pretty high when considering its effects on muscle growth. It contains around 8.3g of leucine.

Other than muscle building, fish is rich in omega-3, which is important for health and reducing inflation.

Fish protein sources that you could introduce into your diet include: salmon, cod, haddock, pollock, tuna etc.

6. Beef

On the fattier side of protein foods, we have beef. Beef is reasonably high in quality when it comes to building muscle mass (8% leucine).

In terms of beef based foods, you can have beef burgers, beef chipolatas, beef mince, beef steak/chunks etc.

7. Pork

Pork is similar in quality to beef when it comes to building muscle. Personally, I do not eat pork but there are many pork based foods that you could opt for. These include: pork chops, pork sausages, peperoni, pork belly etc.

8. Chicken

We all know how chicken is hyped up in the nutrition and fitness industry. Perhaps to your surprise, chicken is not the highest in quality when it comes to muscle building, as it is 7.8% leucine.

This means to get 3g of leucine, you would need 40g of protein from chicken. This could look like a grilled chicken breast.

Some examples of chicken protein include chicken breast, chicken legs, and chicken wings.

9. Turkey

So, who’s looking forward to turkey this Christmas? Turkey is another bird protein similar to chicken.

Here’s a fun fact, turkey is high in the amino acid tryptophan which helps the body make melatonin.

Melatonin is the body’s sleep hormone, hence why you feel drowsy and sleepy after a big christmas dinner.

Other than a nice turkey roast, I really enjoy turkey sausages and salami.

10. Wheat or Soy

Wheat and soy protein is probably the lowest in quality (6.8% leucine) compared to the other animal based protein.

To get a similar muscle-building response to sources like whey, you would need to double the amount of protein from wheat or Soy (50g).

Nevertheless, wheat protein made our list as it is vegan friendly and we did not want to leave them out as we love all our readers.

Conclusion

Eating high-quality protein sources builds muscle protein in the short term, which may help build muscle mass in the long term.

We have learned about ten different protein-rich foods that you could include in your diet if suitable.

Last but not least, we hope you enjoyed reading this short guide and feel free to leave a comment, question or query and we will get back to you as soon as possible.