Cottage cheese ticks many boxes when it comes to improving your health. A 120g of half a cup serve will give you one of the serves of dairy you need a day for strong bones and teeth. Have you considered how cottage cheese could enhance your muscle gains?
You need all the amino acids or building blocks of a protein to make muscle cells. Of these amino acids there are 9 essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are a group of amino acids your body cannot make by itself and you need to eat them from foods therefore they are called essential.
Of the essential amino acids, the ones which plays a key role in stimulating the factor or ‘go signal’ for your body to build new muscle are the BCAAs or branched chain amino acids and specifically leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Leucine is an especially important amino acid as it stimulates a factor called mTOR which sets off a cascade of processes ultimately leading to muscle protein synthesis.
Research suggests around 3g of leucine is needed for optimal lean muscle synthesis. Coming back to cottage cheese this is achieved by eating around 210g of cottage cheese and will give you 37g of protein and around 795kJ. A bonus it is one of the cheapest foods to get your optimal amount of leucine to promote gains from a workout. 37g of protein after a full body workout like BodyPump or CrossFit is close to the optimal amount shown to increase lean muscle mass and may be a bonus.
Casein and whey are two proteins which contain all the essential amino acids. The whey protein is good to use when you need quick digestion of protein while casein is slower to be metabolised. Casein is found in good quantities in cottage cheese and can be a good snack before bed to help you gain muscle as you sleep and help prevent muscle breakdown.
The road to results doesn’t end there, including 20-40g of protein at regular intervals of around 4 meals a day is optimal. This can suit most lifestyle eating patterns with 3 meals and a snack. Eating all your protein at once has been shown to be less effective at maintaining and improving lean muscle. Eating well for a single meal post workout then forgetting about it is a common mistake as your body is repairing and rebuilding muscle 1-2 days!
If you are not a fan of eating cottage cheese straight from the package, try these easy and delicious ways to enjoy the cheese:
- In the morning enjoy ½ -1 cup of warm porridge with milk then add the cottage cheese, your favourite fruit and cinnamon to sweeten.
- For recovery after a workout spread 1/2 cup cottage cheese over 2 Weetbix which you use as a biscuit then add berries and cinnamon.
- An easy winning sandwich is 2 slices of whole grain sourdough bread with cottage cheese, 80g of turkey breast, cranberry sauce and your favourite salad vegetables.
- For dinner try adding the cottage cheese to a pumpkin soup instead of using sour cream.
- For dessert try half a cup of cottage cheese mixed with a small piece of melted dark chocolate and lemon rind, delicious!
Take home message: You work hard at the gym and deserve to achieve results. Try adding cottage cheese as a part of your go to foods to meet your regular protein needs for muscle gain success.
References:
- Churchward-Venne, T. A., Breen, L., Di Donato, D. M., Hector, A. J., Mitchell, C. J., Moore, D. R., ... & Phillips, S. M. (2014). Leucine supplementation of a low-protein mixed macronutrient beverage enhances myofibrillar protein synthesis in young men: a double-blind, randomized trial. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 99(2), 276-286.
- Rowlands, D. S., Nelson, A. R., Phillips, S. M., Faulkner, J. A., Clarke, J., Burd, N. A., ... & Stellingwerff, T. (2015). Protein-leucine fed dose effects on muscle protein synthesis after endurance exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 47(3), 547-555.
- Moore, D. R., Robinson, M. J., Fry, J. L., Tang, J. E., Glover, E. I., Wilkinson, S. B., .. & Phillips, S. M. (2009). Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 89(1), 161-168.
- Rustad, P., Sailer, M., Cumming, K., Jeppesen, P., Kolnes, K., Sollie, O., Franch, J., Ivy, J., Daniel, H., & Jensen, J. (2016). Intake of protein plus carbohydrate during the first two hours after exhaustive cycling improves performance the following day. PLoS ONE, 11, e015322.
