Is the average Italian diet good for body building?

Edited by Roberto Rillo - Book Author: Calisthenics BodyBuilding

How many times have you read or heard that we are what we eat, that in bodybuilding, nutrition is 50% (I found 80% written!). Beyond the percentages, what matters is the principle: food is our fuel, if it is not there we stop, if it is wrong we seize!

But as with all the noise from the mass media, authoritative doctors and nutritionists on the Mediterranean diet, how do you say that we eat badly? I believe that whenever there are too many media outlets to back up a cause, there is someone's interest. In a country like Italy where, after Fiat and Mediaset, the largest company is perhaps Barilla, do you think they might say that spaghetti is bad? This is not to say that spaghetti should be banned, in fact I believe that every intelligent person should eat spaghetti, but when it comes to food aimed at a specific purpose, the speech becomes different and does not always get along with the palates of gourmets . Then it must be considered that the Mediterranean diet as proposed by the mass media does not actually exist in Italy. Therefore the discourse on the Mediterranean diet has rather a value of contrast with respect to the American Mac Donald style diet. Let's analyze the nutritional values ​​of a typical Italian daily diet. Of course it's an average of foods and I can tell you that eating like that isn't bad either. The foods were calculated to the minimum fat index, I did not put for example spaghetti carbonara or ossibuchi, just to not distort too much a general statistic. Here is the scheme:

Schedule	Food	Quantity	Carbo	Protein	Grassi	Calories
Breakfast	Cookies	4	30	4	5	150
	Coffee	1	1	0	0	4
snacks	Cappuccino	1	39	2.8	2.8	80
	Croissant	1	24	2.5	10	200
lunch	Pizza	1	97	10.3	10.3	500
	Beer	33 cl	0	0	0	112
	Coffee	1	1	0	0	4
dinner	Pasta with tomato sauce	150 g	80	10.9	15	350
	Veal steak	100 g	0	20.7	1	ninety two
	Bread	50 g	24	4	3	130
	Banana	1	15.4	1.2	0.3	65
TOTAL			311.4	56.4	47.4	1687
	% nutrients		75%	13:58%	11:41%
	% for men 70 kg		4.4	0.8	0.6

What conclusions can we draw? First of all nutrient percentages. Too many carbohydrates, too few proteins and as far as fat is concerned, well in the scheme there aren't many but in reality I challenge you to bet that they are at least double! Even the total caloric intake is certainly low for an individual who trains with weights. Given the high intake of carbohydrates you could theoretically endure training, but then you would miss the so-called bricks for growth. Furthermore, an important share of carbohydrates is taken in the evening when it is no longer needed and therefore it will be stored in fat. With these or similar nutritional intakes, don't think about putting muscle or losing fat, even if you train with commitment and perseverance.

See also: Mediterranean diet