5 SHOCKING Reasons Why Your “Clean Diet” is actually THE WORST
If there’s three things that getting jacked and getting ripped have in common, it’s this:
- A damn good training split
- An even better diet
That last one being the most important – without proper nutrition, your chances of seeing noticeable results comes to a standstill.
And a clean diet is harder than you think – if you think you’re on top of it, think again.
There’s too many guys out there that believe they’re doing everything right in their nutrition, and then surprised when they don’t see any results. They blame their genetics, their gym’s equipment or any other excuse they can think of when the real problem is right there in the kitchen.
This short article will run you through the critical errors most guys make when planning their diet, and why their “clean diet” is nothing more than a dirty mess.
Check this out:
#1 High in Protein – Low in Results
One of the biggest problems for modern lifters is the high protein diet. You read that right.
Despite what every protein company is telling you, having too much of this macro-nutrient is detrimental to your progress. In fact, if you’ve got a balanced diet already, chances are you don’t even need protein shakes.
We’re deadly f*cking serious. Protein shakes are killing your gains.
We’ve written more about that in our high protein article here, this is the main reason why it’s a bad idea:
An excess amount of protein is a lot for your body to process, and provokes a release of the stress hormone cortisol – this directly affects the amount of testosterone in your body.
Extra protein does nothing for your gains, or your bank balance.
#2 ‘Low Fat’ – Don’t be Fooled
‘Low Fat’ options are more often than not, one of the worst things you can pick up in the grocery store. If you’re on a cut, or lean bulking and think you’re safe with this “healthier” option think again.
For starters fat isn’t bad. If you’re getting healthy, natural fats from foods like eggs or avocados, you’re doing yourself a ton of favors. Fats are great for achieving optimum hormonal balance – particularly if you’re looking to boost testosterone levels.
The ‘low fat’ options however, are not good for testosterone, or muscle gains.
As there is little to no fat in these products, the flavor and overall “substance” of the food has to come from somewhere – and so they use sugar to plug the gaps.
Sugar is the worst food source for nutrition – it’s all calories and zero nutrients and what’s more it raises insulin levels.
High insulin levels are serious problem for 2 reasons:
- It increases your body’s overall fat storage
- Insulin interferes with testosterone levels
Raised insulin levels negatively affect your testosterone levels – without as much T, it’ll be a lot harder to grow. Make sure to get plenty of healthy fats in everyday, we’re talking almonds, avocados, macadamia and eggs.
#3 Soy – The Vegetarian’s Secret to Poor Progress
Again, on paper, soy seems like the healthier option. It’s an all natural food source that contains a good amount of protein and avoids any of the long term health risks associated with consuming meat and dairy.
However, from a hormonal perspective it’s a different story – It increases estrogen storage.
Indeed. Contrary to what the ‘healthy living’ magazines recommend, soy is a bad option gaining muscle as it’s a psytoestrogenic food.
This means it’s going to send your estrogen levels through the roof – Literally the last thing you want to do when you’re training hard, especially when guys go veggie and start using this as their entire protein source – Huge mistake.
#4 Low Calorie Sodas – The WORST
This hits hardest on dudes who think they can cheat their way through intermittent fasting with these ‘zero’ calorie beverages. Unfortunately, the only person you’re cheating in this situation is your health – and it’s all down to that cocktail of chemicals you have in a can.
The first problem is that it spikes insulin levels – even if it doesn’t have sugar. The artifical sweeteners, like aspartame make your body believe it’s getting sugar and trigger a bomb of insulin throughout your system. Like we’ve covered this ups fat storage and shoots down T-levels.
Side effects are another problem you get with diet soda, the aspartame sweetener that is typically used has been linked to headaches and nausea in multiple studies.
They have also been linked to damaging teeth, heart and bone health over long term use. If you’re looking for an easy option on your cut – this definitely isn’t it.
#5 Saying No to Carbs is like saying No to Gains!
Another pitfall of the clean diet (especially for guys trying to get shredded) is going low carb. Sure, it’s a great way to cut calories and reduce your intake, but on the whole you’re going to hold back your ability to maintain lean muscle.
This is because your body doesn’t just need protein to build muscle, it needs energy too. And having a healthy supply of carbs from good quality sources like wholegrain rice or oats are a good place to start – cookies and poptarts aren’t.
For our money, the ideal split should be somewhere around 20-30-50 – that’s Protein-Fats-Carbs respectively.
How not to F*ck Up if you’re cutting…
What you need to do:
Get a good diet going and stick with it. Work out your maintenance amount, undercut it and go from there. If you really want to kick your own ass, we suggest you do some high intensity training.
It’s literally something you can throw on to the end of your session, and the recovery process your body goes through afterwards can help burn fat for up to 24 hours.
You really don’t have to slam cardio everyday to get the results of someone who is completely ripped.
What we recommend for Shreddedness:
If you’re trying to get down to that grainy, lean look, we recommend a fat burner to get you there – and the best one we’ve come across is Instant Knockout.
We’ve even reviewed it, and found it to be f*cking awesome.
It’s great for boosting energy, increasing calories burned and suppressing your appetite. If you’re aiming for that finished fitness model look, read our review on this supp – you won’t be disappointed.
How not to F*ck Up if you’re bulking…
What you need to do:
For guys who are looking to pack on the mass, we suggest you chill the f*ck out on the protein. Like we say in point #1, this is a classic mistake and a good way to sacrifice your future progress.
Keep it balanced, don’t go overboard if you don’t need to, pick a sensible calorie surplus and stick to it. When you get to the point where you’ve stopped growing, put a little more in each day. This is a slow race bro, rushing it will give you a gut and a complex.
What we recommend for getting Jacked:
If you’re tired of making the slowest progress imaginable in the gym, there is one thing you can do to speed up the process: Testosterone Boosters. With the best one out there definitely being TestoFuel.
This is another supp that got a glowing review from us.
Eating Clean Summary
So there you have it. 5 solid reasons why your clean diet, isn’t as clean as you thought it was.
The biggest offender here is definitely the low fat diet – healthy fats are important to testosterone levels. By stopping fats, you’re pretty much doing the same to your gains. Avocados, eggs, macadamias are all good choices to keep on track with effective results.
You also want to avoid not overdoing it on the protein, taking too much of the this macronutrient can do more harm than good to your testosterone levels.
Out of all the T-Boosters we've tried – TestoFuel is by far, the most effective for making serious gains.
It has clinically proven ingredients, generous dosages and refuses to hide any of them behind proprietary blends.
See our review right here!
Lose fat while keeping muscle
Supercharge your workouts
Suppress your appetite while dieting
Read our review right here!
