Men’s Health Muscle Chow More Than 150 Meals
October 20, 2009 by Jim Made
Filed under Bodybuilding
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Achieving your best body ever requires that two elements merge as one: solid training and excellent nutrition. This book provides the nutritional component of that muscle-bulding equation, offering the Men’s Health take on food for fitness. Men’s Health Muscle Chow gives you more than 150 simple recipes for tasty meals ranging from workout protein shakes to healthy dinners the whole family will delight in.
Inside, you’ll find:
- Eight simple-to-remember dietary strategies to keep your eating habits in line
- Filling breakfasts like Banana Protein Pancakes; energizing entrées including Muscle-Bound Chili and Mahi Fish Wraps; hunger-killing snacks such as Malted Almond Bombs; even desserts like Key Lime Pie—all designed to help burn stout and build muscle
- A shopping list that makes it simple to stock up on essential ingredients and kitchen tools
- A troubleshooting guide for guys with more experience at the gym than in the kitchen
- Insider strategies, tips, tricks of the trade
And Men’s Health Muscle Chow is much more than just a cookbook. It offers a solid foundation for understanding meal timing and the effects nutrients have on your body. Author Gregg Avedon also outlines his program of 2-month diet cycles that help you set and reach your fitness goals.
Chow Now
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
If you’re serious about the business at hand- getting into shape and getting stronger this book provides brilliant information. Understanding without application is fruitless- Don’t ya know?
Fantastic Book!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Very excellent book. Simple to read and tons of brilliant recipes. I’ve been following the diet for four weeks now and I have seen tremendous improvements in my definition(Especially my abs)
Brilliant Book
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book is perfect for someone who wants to know how to take their nutrition to the next level. Greg has done all the work for us. He makes eating healthy while getting fit simple. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is trying to learn how to eat a more healthy diet that will complement and help attain a more fit body at the same time. Although this book is written with men in mind it is fantastic for women too, we just have to make our parts smaller than what he recommends.
Useful, with some flaws
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
What I like about this book is that it addresses something few other books do: a nutritional regimen for a bodybuilder or strength training athlete. There are a number of excellent, healthy thoughts in this book, and the nutritional information is listed for each recipe. The majority of the recipes are simple and quick to prepare and cook, which is nice. Also, many of the recipes taste fantastic!
One thing that some other reviews have said is that there are filler recipes. This is right to an extent, but I don’t reckon it ruins the book. For instance, there is a recipe for putting fruit preserves on some toast for breakfast. This shouldn’t be news to most people, but to suggest it as a healthy option and to list the nutritional information could be useful. The goal of the book is not necessarily to provide recipes that you might not know, but to suggest healthy options for the amateur nutritionist. And certainly, there are recipes that I had never made before that I just like, like Burmese chicken curry.
Unfortunately, this book falls small in a number of ways. First of all, I bought this book on amazon.com as a paperback, and the binding was horrible. Within a couple months it completely disintegrated, which is terrible for a cookbook because it’s hard to flip through and keep it together. Cookbooks need to be heavy duty.
The other way this book falls small is that it is a bodybuilding foods book more than it is a strength training nutrition book. I make the distinction because bodybuilding in and of itself is not a healthy sport. Real bodybuilders use a variety of tricks to get their bodyfat below healthy levels for contests, and often tout distorted nutritional thoughts promoted by the supplement business. Some certainly use steroids, which the general consensus is that they are unhealthy. I digress. This comes into play in this book because it suggests using supplements I don’t agree with (e.g. creatine), and also uses stuff like protein powder in some of the recipes. Some recipes otherwise use ingredients that aren’t necessarily “whole foods.” The bottom line with all the supplements and junk out there, I picked this book up looking for a cookbook with balanced, whole-food meal options. But, I find myself omitting or substituting ingredients in some recipes, or simply avoiding them. To be honest, this probably will not concern most people buying this book.
Overall, this book has some fantastic thoughts and recipes, as well as some useless ones. It probably makes a excellent addition to the average weight-lifter’s cooking arsenal. The only caveats are don’t rely solely on nutritional information from this book, and pray it doesn’t fall apart!
Muscle Chow
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Brilliant book compiled by someone who knows both fitness & nutrition. Very excellent read with practical suggestions for properly fitting nutrition into fitness workouts.
MUSCLE CHEW
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I accidentally ordered two, gave the other one away to a friend, whom raved about the book. I have two reservations about some of the recipes. Did anyone check these recipes out in a test kitchen? Reason I question is some of the recipes leave out ingredients or don’t tell you where to place the ingredient in or the recipe doesn’t turn out right. Some not enough ‘wet’ ingredients for batter consistency. But this is all forgiveable because there are some really fantastic recipes: Eggplant Lasagna (pg 142), Tarragon Chicken with Vegetables (83), Hearty Oatmeal’n'Bran (107), Eggs’n'Oats (107), Muscle Toast (42), Avocado Breakfast (38), Giant Scramble – I added asparagus (101), Tuna in Celery Stalks – I’ll never make tuna the ‘other way’ again (209), Zucchini pasta (133). A hint for the Muscle Toast, which is like ‘French Toast’, make up all the soakings of the bread first before frying. I found more bread is needed than the recipe calls for, which is gr8! I freeze leftovers and warm later in the toaster. Last BAD comment, which leaves no excuse, the book is falling apart, terrible binding job, Rodale! Other books I’d recommend using with this: ABs diet books series by David Zinczenko – responsible for me losing 120 pounds. ‘Powerfoods’ Nutrition Plot by Susan Kleiner, addresses men’s health and is a fantastic resource/reference guide. I’m learning alot from it. ‘The Portable Personal Trainer’ by Eric Harr, daily devotional ‘health’ inspirations. ‘Pilates for Men’ by Daniel Lyons Jr., ‘Anatomy Stretching’ by Arnold Nelson, ‘Powersculpt for Men’ by Paul Frediani (CORE-lots of exercise ball illustrations and included DVD) OT: ‘Deep Survival’ by Laurence Gonzales – get a bicycle and don’t forget the helmet! Get a Bianchi C2C 928 Carbon Monocoque ‘Centaur’ 10sp-mix compact
Feed your muscles and Fuel your workout
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I loved everything about this book. He seems to have all of the bases covered. I would highly recommend it.
Get some things straight…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Ok. I’ll start with this: I am a firefighter, not a bodybuilder or extreme athlete. So, I do NOT make a lot of money. Your average parking meter makes more than I do, as a matter of fact. I also never cooked once before joining the fire service. Plus I come from a Mexican upbringing, so you can imagine the food I am used to eating.
I bought this book mainly because I wanted a excellent cookbook so I could learn some cooking skills along with some healthy dishes. I am a pretty avid reader of Men’s Health, and after reading Greg’s columns I finally caved in and bought the book. This book is very greatly organized and gives some fantastic tips for anyone who IS looking to increase muscle mass, or things like that. (such as tips on creatine intake) Now, it is also organized so it can also be a fantastic resource for someone who just wants to get leaner or just wants to eat cleaner. The book starts by telling you that this book is also a diet program, which works in three phases. This program basically works by starting your diet nice and simple and then restricting it more and more throughout the workout program. By the most restricted phase of the program, you can only eat foods labeled “Ripped” in the book. And as I thumbed through the book, I thought to myself, “The ripped phase is gonna suck. There doesn’t seem to be many recipes that you can eat in this phase.”
Well it turned it around on me when I really focused on the chapters. There are a fantastic amount of options you can choose from for this phase and they all ROCK! Not too mention, the Ripped phase is only for 2 weeks! Now, let me clear this up even more: there are three phases to this program. They are:
Relaxed: 1 Week
Lean: 5 Weeks
Ripped: 2 Weeks.
In the fire station, we usually never eat earlier than 11 PM. And even for me, the program was VERY simple to handle! I never got bored, or aggravated with repetitive recipes. My personal favorite recipe was the avocado toast. It is fantastic! My commitment was there, and I was sick of making excuses. If you have the same, this plot is EASY! Granted, you have enough money of course, which brings me to my next point.
Greg gives you two shopping lists in the book: one for ingredients and another for tools and utensils. ANYBODY who has ever been in a grocery store will tell you: Eating healthy is EXPENSIVE! Some of these ingredients are really not very expensive at places like a Wal-mart or Costco. But finding things like organic ingredients can be a pretty huge chore. I am lucky enough to have a store that provides these close-by but it can get quite expensive. But honestly, the shopping lists save you quite a bit of money if you go into a grocery store blindly looking for healthy foods. I didn’t see this until further down the road.
Now, for my last point. You’re not a huge fitness enthusiast? Neither am I! I despise counting calories like bodybuilders do. Greg made it VERY simple to balance out your meals for max effectiveness. The beginning of the book gives some priceless tips on general health, supplements, meal timing, what to eat more of and what to eat less of, etc. So even if you do not plot on following the diet like I did, the tips and recipes are worth it alone. I passed the book on to a fellow fireman because of his high cholesterol. Withing something like two months, he was a cardio machine. He did not follow the diet like I did, so the results were not as dramatic, but they were still awesome. Now I have the entire firehouse stealing recipes for our dinner from the Muscle Chow book. Trust me, that says a lot!
In closing, what do you have to lose? The book is inexpensive and if you have distress with affording the ingredients, just save for a while and you will see it was worth it in the long run with all the stuff you learn. Especially if you don’t know the 1st thing about cooking. Try it and stick with it. You’ll see what I saw.
Absolutely Incredible
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this book to teach me how to cook. Being a single guy in my mid-twenties my cooking skills were dismal at best. I figured if I was going to learn I might as well learn right and do it as healthy as I could. I’m very glad I picked this up.
This book will teach you how to get the most benefit out of every meal and how to space your meals to keep your metabolism’s fire roaring all day long. Best thing about this book is all the meals are tasty AND simple. It is not just recipes, its an education (why we eat certain things and why we don’t eat others etc etc.)
I was a lean guy even before i even started using recipes out of this book. I was working out 4 to 5 times a week so looking at me you wouldn’t reckon I was carrying much (if any) excess body stout. After just a few small weeks I could feel a huge difference in how I felt. I felt clean. After my first 8 week cycle (1 week relaxed phase, 5 weeks lean phase, 2 weeks ripped phase) I could notice a huge difference in my physique (muscle definition was vastly improved). Best thing was, it wasn’t just me. Family, friends, co-workers all commented on how excellent I looked, how much leaner I looked.
I LOST 7 pounds of stout I didn’t even know I had!! I ate more but lost weight and still gained strength.
This book is geared more towards those with active lifestyles but I would certainly recommend this to EVERYBODY. Anyone who wants to learn how to eat right and make a habit of it will benefit from this book.
Huge disappointment
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Bottom line: not the quality of book that I have come to expect of a Men’s Health endorsed author. The glossy, high production photos of dishes are unnecessary and the only useful info (phasing a plot, what are the basic foods you should store) could fit in to a magazine article. I recommend that instead of buying this book you just search the Men’s Health website for recipe thoughts and training/diet articles. That is all
Makes Eating Right Simple
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Numerous tasty meals that are simple to prepare. A simple to follow guide for building muscle.
Excellent For Women Too!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I got this Book , becuase I never knew what to eat Before and after a work out. I do a Lot of cardio, and I wanted to ensure I wasnt Burning up my hard earned muscle! This book is very excellent, not just for men , but women as well. Yes the recipies are SIMPLE, but I LOVE simple. It tells You HOW , WHY and WHEN to eat for maximum effect. The recipies are Not gourmet, But when your training you really have to eat CLEAN, and this is what it is. I would reccomend this Book for it’s information, and How it tells You EXACTLY what you need to do. I Havent had it long enought to comment on the recipies, but I Browsed them and Id eat everything in there, and theres No Fancy Ingredients You cant Find. ( except for a few Reccomendations he has, and he gives you websites to find the food if you want it) The ONLY Flaw I Found was On Page 14, it says to SEE RECOVERY FOODS ( AFter WOrkout) on Page 224. They are Not on Page 224, they are On Page 204. Printer error I Guess.
Excellent Book- ! I am Not trying to Bulk up, as I Am a Female, I am Toning, and want a Small Muscle definition. So you do have to adjust the recipeies and calorie counts for Days, to Your own body, but he tells You How! Excellent Stuff in this Book, worth the Price!
Certainly worth it!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book is very cool. Gregg does a nice job of compiling recipes that are simple and taste excellent. Also, the three phases he recommends (Relaxed phase, lean phase, ripped phase) really helped me to strike a balance in my nutrition plot.
Bottom line: I am in much better shape than I was before I started using Gregg’s nutrition guidelines. I consistently use this book 5-6 days out of the week–certainly worth the $13.
Awesome Book, For guys AND girls interrested in Health & Fitness!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is an awesome book that gives REALISTIC information on health and fitness. I origionally bought this book becuase I wanted to impress our personal trainer friend with some yummy recipes that were also healthy, but I soon realized this book is much more then just recipes, it is filled with so much more useful information then I had originally bargained for! This book helped me learn what to eat and when to eat it so I stay looking and feeling my best. I have already noticed a change in my appearance after a few weeks of purchasing this book and that is WITHOUT rigerous cardio workouts- it’s just eting better, walking a small further then usual and weight training!
You have to try this!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Muscle Chow is the best cook book that I have ever bought. The meals in this book are simple to cook up. It provides step by step explanations on how to make each meal, along with an effective program you can follow that ensures your muscles get what they need. If your going to buy a cook book for your muscles, this is it.