Peanut butter is one of those classic bodybuilding foods. Incredibly cheap, tons of calories, and tons of protein. So- should you eat peanut butter before bed when bodybuilding?
The answer is: yes! Peanut butter has a ton of fat that will slow digestion, and that will give your muscles and body a ton of nutrients to grow muscles with, all while keeping you full throughout the night.
Let’s cover this a little more in-depth.
Cottage Cheese and Peanut Butter, An Old School Bodybuilding Classic
If you’ve read my post about the best cheeses for bodybuilding, you might’ve picked up on the fact that cottage cheese is a superfood for any bodybuilder.
But, if you haven’t read that, you might’ve heard from a ton of bodybuilders to eat a mix of cottage cheese and peanut butter before bed. Everybody says it’s delicious, but there’s another reason for it.
Cottage cheese and peanut butter truly are a superfood for bodybuilding. They COMBINE giving you slow-digesting casein proteins that will keep your body in a muscle-building state, keeping you feeling full, and give tons of nutrients to help your body grow.
But, for me personally, I’ve never liked cottage cheese. In fact, I’ve always taken a different approach of having 4 slices of peanut butter toast and milk before bed.
But why is peanut butter so good before bed? Why is it recommended by nearly every bodybuilder?
Peanut Butter Has Great Nutrition
Peanut butter has great nutrition. That’s why it is recommended so much as a bodybuilding super food.
When you start hard lifting, you’re likely looking to dirty bulk to maximize your muscle gains. You’ll likely be burning around 3,200 calories a day if you’re on a seriously tough program like Arnold’s Blueprint to Mass.
Now, most people go from eating 2,000 calories a day or under that as the average American to having to eat 1.6x the normal food, and well, it gets expensive.
As a bodybuilder, you need a ton of protein to ensure your muscles are growing, and peanut butter gives that. Furthermore, peanut butter gives a ton of calories! Like, a ton, nearly 200 calories per tablespoon.
Well, let’s just look at the nutrition facts.
Peanut Butter Nutrition
- Serving size: 2 tablespoon/32grams
- Calories: 190
- Carbs: 7g
- Fats: 15g
- Proteins: 7g
As we can see, that’s just in 2 tablespoons/32g of peanut butter. That’s absolutely nothing to devour. You could eat 2 tablespoons and barely feel full.
That’s why peanut butter is a perfect food for bodybuilding in general. It’s cheap, high protein/fat/carbs, and has tons of nutrients to supercharge your muscle growth.
But, there’s something else that makes it special.
Peanut Butter Slows Your Digestion Due To Its Fat Content
Peanut butter is a slow-digesting food, it is higher in fats. It’s also a healthy fat if you’re wondering, not anything bad like trans fats or whatever.
This is really where the question, should I eat peanut butter before bed when bodybuilding, gets answered.
When you eat peanut butter, the high-fat content (nearly 15g) will cause the digestion of protein to be slowed down drastically. It then gives your body a protein supply lasting longer throughout the night.
There have been endless arguments on whether having slower digestion or whatever helps. That’s, fortunately, not my point.
Sleep is CRITICAL To Bodybuilding, Peanut Butter Helps That
I’ve always had trouble sleeping. And sleeping is one of the most important parts of bodybuilding. In fact, I would say sleeping is more important than the training itself. You can train hard for 8 hours a day, but if you sleep for 1 hour, you’ll see no results.
Having food that slowly digests and doesn’t overwhelm your body lets you sleep better. In my post, Should I Eat Oatmeal Before Bed When Bodybuilding? I talked about how eating all those carbs will keep you up at night and make it harder to fall asleep as your blood sugar spikes.
Furthermore, peanut butter has a TON of calories that are easy to digest.
The real secret to bodybuilding is just eating more calories than you burn every day. Peanut butter has a ton of calories that are easy to consume with high protein, so you’re helping yourself reach that high-calorie goal easier. This helps muscle growth.
Plus, sleeping is when our body grows the most muscle. If you give your body a ton of calories and protein before going to sleep, it’s like giving construction workers a ton of wood to build a house. They’ll get right to work!
Peanut Butter Has a Ton of Nutrients
If you’re still asking yourself, should I eat peanut butter before bed when bodybuilding?– Here’s where you’re finally going to cave in.
Peanut butter is incredibly nutritious. In fact, it contains:
- Manganese
- Zinc
- Potassium
- Zinc
- Vitamin B6
- Copper
- Tons of Anti-Oxidants
All of those vitamins are incredible and essential in growing muscles and keeping you alive! Often times when we work out, we sweat out a ton of vitamins that aren’t usually replenished.
Unfortunately, the typical american diet doesn’t have a great amount of vitamins in it. Thankfully, eating food like peanut butter helps replace some of that.
Peanut Butter Recipes
Okay, now that you’ve stopped asking if you should eat peanut butter before bed when bodybuilding, here are some recipes that will supercharge your weight lifting.
Most of these are for bulking, because well- if you’re cutting, just try to skip the peanut butter. (It’s just too high calorie for the rewards)
Peanut Butter Protein Shake
I used to hate the peanut butter protein shake until I actually tried it. I thought it’d be disgusting, but now it’s one of my favorite things to drink.
- Chocolate protein powder. (I recommend Muscle Milk’s Genuine Protein Powder as it doesn’t taste like sidewalk)
- 1/2 cup of Banana
- Ice
- Peanut Butter (really, put in as much as you like for peanut butter. I really LOVE peanut butter so I put a TON in.)
- Milk (any milk)
- Some whipped cream (you don’t have too, but I find it makes it taste better)
That will give you a ton of protein and calories, and you’ll probably fall asleep pretty fast. Ready to grow some serious muscles.
The Tommy Classic, 4 Slices Peanut Butter Toast & Milk
Yeah, I mentioned this earlier. But this is a staple for me. If you haven’t read my about me section, I’ll fill you in, I didn’t grow up in a rich house.
And that’s why you never see me pushing BS $50 supplements on this site. I know what it’s like to not have money. But, I still wanted a ton of muscle so…
I mean, even in the poorest houses you’re likely to find bread, milk, and peanut butter. And if you don’t have it, they’re some of the cheapest items you can get. A gallon of milk is like $2 (read: drinking milk is the key to bodybuilding), a loaf of bread is like $3, and peanut butter is like $4. And this will last you like a week.
So here’s the recipe:
- 4 Slices Whole Grain Bread, toast it in a Toaster (or don’t, up to you)
- Lather peanut butter all over the toast
- Get 2-3 cups of milk in a glass.
- CONSUME.
I did the math on the nutrition, it’s something like 1200 calories and 51g of protein. Needless to say, it’s food that will get your muscles growing, and most people can acquire it.
Plus, it actually tastes REALLY good…
Conclusion, Should You Eat Peanut Butter Before Bed When Bodybuilding?
Yes! Eat peanut butter before bed when bodybuilding! It’s a slow-digesting food that will keep you full, it’s cheap, it has tons of nutrients, it will get you to your calorie/macro goal, and it tastes amazing!
So, let’s get big, and start eating!
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