Avedon - Mens Health Muscle Chow: More Than 150 Easy-to-Follow Recipes to Burn Fat and Feed Your Muscles

G regg Avedon and I have a lot in common. Okay, maybe I dont have his physique (not even close), but the fact that I havent appeared on any Mens Health covers doesnt sever the bonds that tie us together. We both love food, are fascinated by the field of nutrition, and have the dubious challenge of managing busy careers while striving to spend more time with the beautiful families we have been blessed with. But the one thing that truly makes us peas in a pod is that we are passionate about helping guys to look and feel their best in the most doable, effective, and sustainable way possible.

Every guys dream is to build muscle and lose fat, and this is what Mens Health Muscle Chow is all about. Gregg knows what it takes to get that ripped look, and it makes sense to take advice from a guy whose livelihood depends on delivering the quintessential picture of health every day365 days a year! Besides, Gregg is a National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified personal trainer and a Mens Health columnist whose expert advice over the years has helped lots of guys build the perfect body.

In this book, Gregg lays out the unique 2-month-cycle plan that he has designed and refined over his amazing career. He attributes his peak physical fitness to this effective and well-thought-out approach. Each orchestrated phase is designed with the sole purpose of achieving lasting results without having to swear off all of your favorite foodsforever! He eases you into it with a 1-week relaxed phase, revs it up a bit with a 5-week lean phase, and closes the deal with a more restrictive 2-week ripped phase thats guaranteed to get you the results youve always dreamed of. And youve got options. You say you dont care to be ripped and would be thrilled to just achieve lean? Skip the ripped part! But watch outGregg gives you a friendly kick in the butt and prods you to take the ripped phase for a little test run, just to see how it looks on you. He gives you the tools you need to achieve whatever level of fitness you desire.

There is brilliance in simplicity, truth, and enjoyment. Mens Health Muscle Chow has them all. What attracted me to this book is its simplicity. What Gregg is asking you to do is not complicated, and the focus is on real food, smart workouts, and optimizing your results with select nutritional supplements. As a registered dietitian, its important to me that my clients get a plan thats based on sound science and equally critical, produces resultsMens Health Muscle Chow delivers on both! No wacky diet to be found hereno sir! Just the following well-founded principles:

Calorie balance is key.

Choose your calories wiselyand get filled up.

Pick the right proteins.

Muscles need lots of protein in order to grow, and Mens Health Muscle Chow allows you to get your protein from a variety of delicious sources, with plenty of recipes for beef, chicken, turkey, egg, and seafood dishes. Gregg is an especially big fan of the most biologically available protein, whey. Whey not only delivers critical amino acids for quick muscle recovery and growth, but it also has been shown to build bones, improve your immune system, and even fight depression. Check out the protein shake recipes in .

Choose the right carbs. Gregg gets it right: You need a variety of both low- and high-glycemic-index foods, depending on what exercise and activities youre doing. This is not a carb-phobic plan! Youll find recipes for pasta and grains ().

Fuel with the right fats. Not all fats are created equal. Want to recover faster after your workouts? Omega-3 fats smother the inflammation that results when you rip apart those muscles cells to prompt them to grow. Why be in pain any longer than necessary? Master the mouth-watering, muscle-building seafood recipes in .

Best of all, Gregg emphasizes the most important aspect of good, healthy food: taste! His delicious recipes have been taste-tested by his entire family.

Mens Health Muscle Chow lays out a program to get you looking your best while increasing the odds that you, and maybe that someone special in your life, will enjoy your body for some time to come! Guess what? You are about to get more than you bargained for!

David Grotto, RD, LDN

Mens Health nutrition advisor

Author of 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life!

National Spokesperson, American Dietetic Association

A chieving your best body ever is only possible when two elements merge as onesolid training and good nutrition. Thats what Mens Health Muscle Chow is all about. Its food for dudes, with more than 150 guy-friendly recipes to help you feed the beast. But its much more than a cookbook. It explains how to tie together training and nutrition, helping you achieve your highest potential so you look your absolute bestall the time.

Most of us have no problem blitzing our muscles in the gym, but we struggle when it comes to maintaining a good diet. Thats because a trip to the gym is a concentrated event with a beginning, middle, and end, helping you stay focused during your workouts. On the other hand, chowing food thats nutritionally sound is an all-day, everyday event thats constantly in your face. This makes it harder to consistently maintain a solid diet.

So lets put this into perspective. Guys ask me all the time how they can achieve a lean six-pack. Truth is, you can do crunches till the cows come home, but until you clean up your diet, youll never have a good set of abs. This is where Mens Health Muscle Chow comes in. It supports both your training and your nutritional habits by giving you a formula that actually works.

Over the past 10 years, Ive become known as the Mens Health magazine cover dude who takes nutrition and supplementation very seriously. At every photo shoot, I sit down with everyone and talk about diet and supplements in a sort of round table. We discuss what the current trends are, how I prepared for the shoot, what Ive been eating, why Ive been eating it, and the supplements Im using. Most people have the impression that I can eat whatever I want, train with moderate consistency, and still be able to shoot a cover at the drop of a hat. But if you ask anyone who knows me, especially the people at Mens Health, theyll tell you how dedicated and hardworking I am when it comes to health and fitness. I enjoy everything about itthe process of getting from one point to the next; the commitment, dedication, and consistency it takes to get there; and the feeling you get when you find the perfect balance that works. Above all, if theres one thing that people know about me, its my sincerity and willingness to always help others discover their highest potential. Thats how the Muscle Chow column evolvedfrom the reputation I earned over the years.

In the spring of 2006, Mens Health editor-in-chief David Zinczenko and I had an informal meeting over coffee to catch up. At the time, the Muscle Chow column had been running for two years with great success. If youve read the column, you know that Muscle Chow is food with a functionmuscle fooddesigned to help you get the best possible results from all your hard work in the gym. David was thrilled with the feedback Muscle Chow had been receiving and encouraged me to consider writing a book based on the column.