5 Superfoods to Grow Muscles for Vegans

We are going to discuss five superfoods available in the market, which helps to boost energy, build stamina, and building muscles. If you want to build some muscle you should eat at least 0.8g of protein per lb of your body weight. You should count your everyday protein intake to build muscles.
You might be thinking of consuming only superfoods, right?
Well, it’s not like you only need to eat these superfoods to grow muscles, but they are just the add-on to your daily diet to support your workouts. You anyway should calculate your intake of calories, fat, protein, and other minerals.

So, what are those vegetables or you can say superfoods?
1. Spinach
2. Broccoli
3. Sweet Potato
4. Quinoa
5. Lentils

1. Spinach

Spinach is a Superfood. It has low calories and filled with tons of nutrients. It contains high amounts of carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid, iron, and calcium.

Spinach is an Iron enriched food, and lack of Iron in your diet can affect how efficiently a body uses energy. Iron is an important component of hemoglobin, the substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to transport it throughout your body.

More oxygen in your muscles during a workout will add more repetitions to your every set, which eventually helps to grow muscles. You can consume Spinach twice or thrice in a week.

2. Broccoli

Broccoli may not be among your favorite foods or it may not be best known for building muscles, but you should consider making it a part of your diet.

You just need more of it and different proportions of it. Your body needs protein to use it in building your muscles. Well, Broccoli is not a good source of fat and carbohydrates, a mediocre source of protein, but an excellent source of fiber and vitamin C, and some other vitamins and minerals.

It is one of the vegetarian muscle building food which has a high protein as compared to any other vegetables. So, you can add Broccoli in your regular diet, which will make an add-on to your daily protein requirement.

3. Sweet Potato

Sweet potatoes are the best source of carbohydrates for refueling and assisting with muscle growth. Well, Rice and glucose powders can be useful, but nothing compares to the power of the sweet potato.
Sweet potatoes are not only packed with nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, copper and B vitamins, but also rich in potassium. Many people have poor potassium: sodium ratio.

This is a result of consuming too many processed and refined foods. If your body consumes a good amount of potassium through your regular diet, then it will lower cardiovascular disease risk, help to increase bone density, and regulates blood pressure.

More importantly, potassium protects lean muscle mass. You can consume sweet potato every day to refill your body with an adequate amount of carbohydrates, potassium, and other minerals.

4. Quinoa

Quinoa is actually a seed and not a grain. Taste-wise it is very similar to rice or couscous. The good thing about quinoa though is that it has more protein than rice or couscous.

One cup of quinoa contains 222 calories, 8 grams of protein, more zinc and magnesium than brown rice, and almost twice the fiber. But where quinoa really sets itself apart as a top-notch muscle-building food is in its amino-acid profile and its place on the glycemic index:

The glycemic index value of quinoa is only 53. This means you get a slower burn from the carbs in quinoa, giving you a sustained infusion of calories—and therefore energy—following your meal. Unlike the other carbohydrates in your diet, quinoa contains all the essential amino acids.

It can be eaten as a hot side dish with your protein of choice or mixed in cold as the base of a muscle-building salad.

5. Lentils

Lentils are a triple threat. They’re packed with fiber, protein, and low-impact, slow-digesting carbohydrates. One cup of cooked lentils contains 230 calories, 18 grams of protein, and 16 grams of fiber.

Lentils come in three main varieties—brown, green, and red. These amazing little legumes can be used in many recipes and they are a great way to up your protein intake in a very cheap way.

When eating Lentils just remember to eat them with the grain so that the meal then becomes a complete protein source. Consume lentils at least 3-4 times a week to boost your protein intake and build muscles.

There are no specific foods that you need to eat to gain muscle mass. Gaining muscle is the result of 3 things:
1. Adequate calorie intake.
2. Progressive overload of muscles.
a. Which is adding weight to the bar, and dumbbell over time.
3. Adequate protein.