Part 1 What to eat?

Part 2 How much to eat?

Part 3 When to eat?
Part 4 Simple Take Aways & Tricks of the Trade
Lets begin with the what to eat as it is the most natural place to start. First, I dont like to break
my eating into clean and dirty. It reminds me of right and wrong and I prefer the right way to do
something. Personally, I never really could comprehend the mass consumption of anything and
everything protocol. It just seemed like an excuse for being lazy and eating crap food. If you follow
the recommendations laid out here you should not have a problem eating quality foods and adding
the necessary bulk.
Protein is a vital part of the diet and will up the focal point of many meals. You ever heard someone
invite you over for a salad with a side of steak?
Our proteins sources come from animals, and we have a simple way to classify which of them we
should include in our diet.
If it runs, swims or flies it is good to eat. If it has a mother, a face or soul then it is on the shopping
list.
This includes meat, fish, fowl, seafood, eggs and dairy.

We always recommend these foods come from grass-fed, cage-free, wild caught sources. Not only
is it healthier for you the consumer, but also healthier for the planet.
Eggs have been taboo for too long and as a result many have missed out on this muscle builder. If
you have some form of autoimmune issues, then I would limit and avoid eggs as they can
exasperate the condition. However, if you are healthy and training hard, fire up the stove and lets
make my favorite recipe for cooking a dozen egg omelette; which I will share at the end of this
write up.

Dairy needs to be separated into two parts: fresh and fermented. Fresh dairy refers to milk. And
when I refer to milk, I mean whole full fat milk. Milk is fascinating as it is the sustenance a mother
mammal feeds a baby mammal in the first period of its life. It just so happens we are the only
mammals that consume the milk of another mammal. Plus we have selected to drink the milk of a
mammal that is born at ~150 lbs and grow to over a 1000 lbs in 3 years.
Just for reference humans are the slowest growing mammals on the planet. And the fastest growing
mammal on the planet...the blue whale.
So we have selected to drink the sustenance that helps a young mammal grow big and strong. From
a larger, robust, stronger mammal with a faster growth cycle. The combination of lactose, protein
and fat is a powerful cocktail for growth.
Will drinking whole milk help you grow big and strong?
Yes.
Fermented dairy refers to cheese, yogurt, kefir, Greek yogurt, sour cream and buttermilk. The
fermentation process blunts the lactose and individuals who consume fermented dairy will not have
the same insulin response as when drinking fresh dairy. Basically, getting the calories, protein and

fat minus the big insulin spike. Another plus for fermented dairy is they contain probiotics that
increase gut health.
Will eating full fat Greek yogurt and cheese help you grow big and strong.
Yes.
The carbohydrate is the misunderstood bastard child in this relationship. With the influx of low
carbohydrate diets we have lost sight of consuming carbohydrates. While I do not eat a carb heavy
diet by American standards, I do eat a decent amount of carbs as training hard will demand it.
The bulk of the carbohydrates recommended here are coming from roots, tubers, vegetables and
fruit. Roots and tubers include carrots, radish, yucca, yams, sweet potato, turnips, garlic, onion and
shallots and any exotic you can find at your local market. We are looking for starchy and fibrous
carb sources to make up the bulk of our carbs.
What about rice and oats as a source of carbohydrates? I can recommend gluten-free steel cut oats
and simple white rice cooked in a rice steamer, as long as they are tolerated. If you find you can not
consume these foods without stomach or digestive issues, then I would steer clear. Personally, for a
long time I had problems with oats. It was not until I did some research and found many types of
oats have gluten. Subsequently, I have not had issues with gluten-free steel cut oats. Simple white
rice cooked in a rice steamer was the bulk of my diet growing up, during college and many years in
the NFL. I have never had issues with white rice and will consume it on occasion. Once again, if
you can tolerate it, then it is not a problem for hard training athletes.
Leaving the best for last, I introduce you to my good friend, fat. The worse thing to happen to fat
was someone confused the fat on their waist with the fat on their plate. We need fat in our diet for a
few reasons; first it allows us to stay satiated longer, as fat takes longer to digest. Second, we need
saturated fat for a healthy androgen profile. Third, we can consume more calories per ounce from
fat than any other macronutrient. And if the name of the game is calories consumption, then fat is
our best friend as fat makes up 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories for carbohydrates and
protein.
Which type of fats should I consume?
You will get your fats from saturated and monounsaturated fat sources. This includes coconut, palm,
butter, ghee, lard, tallow and animal fasts for saturated fats. The mono-unsaturated fats coming from
avocado, olives, macadamia, almonds, pecans and any oil made from these mono-unsaturated
sources.
This concludes the first part of the Bulking Protocol, stay tuned for the second installment.
And as promised...
Dozen Egg Omelette
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons pasture butter
1/2 pound of sweet potatoes, cut into small pieces
12 whole eggs
1/2 large white onion
2 green onion, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large frying pan or skillet, heat olive oil & butter over medium-high heat. Sprinkle potatoes
lightly with salt and pepper. (If you are in rush it is best to cook the potato in the oven for about 15
minutes before hand. This will reduce your cooking time and get the meal on the table faster.) Cook

until brown and crisp.

Once the potatoes are soft and looking good, stir in the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until
onions soften and begin to brown.
Meanwhile in a separate bowl, beat eggs together. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Then pour eggs
into pan and stir gently to combine. Remember you are going to need large pan for this. Reduce
heat to low and cook until eggs begin to brown on the bottom.

Loosen bottom of omelet with a spatula, invert a large plate over the pan, and carefully turn the
omelet out onto it. Slide the beast back into the pan with the uncooked side down. Cook until eggs
are to your liking. Add some cheese on top and serve.

Battling a 12 egg omelette is no joke. It will take practice and determination.

However, the Harris-Benedict equation will give us a moderately accurate number for the purposes
of this blog post.
Male: 66.5 + (13.75 x W) + (5.003 x H) (6.775 x A) = BMR
Female: 655 + (4.35 x W) + (4.7 x H) (4.7 x A) = BMR
W = actual weight in kg (weight in lb/2.2 = kg)
H = height in cm (height in inches x 2.54 cm/in)
A = age in years
Lets examine our test subject Nate A.
Nate A.
62
220 lbs

28 years old
66.5 + (13.75 x 100) + (5.003 x 187.96) (6.775 x 28) = 2192 cals
Based on this, Nates BMR is 2192 calories a day. This is the minimum energy requirement for Nate
to sustain his bodys function while awake. Personally, I find this number to be low. In my
experience, most hard charging athletes have a metabolism more akin to a furnace and require 11-12
calories per lbs of body weight sustained function. My BMR was as high as 14 calories and the test
I took last month had me at 12.8 calories. Also remember, this does not take into account his
activities during the day. If an athlete is lifting weights, sprinting and conditioning he will need a lot
more calories.
Therefore, for Nate to bulk up he is going to need to consume between 3750-4000 calories a day.
This number can increase or decrease based on individual results, but this is a good place to start for
most athletes.
A problem I find happening all too often is athletes becoming obsessed with daily calories. One day
they under-eat, then feel they have to over-eat to make up for the deficit. So, I found an easy way to
alleviate this problem by counting the calories in a weeklong block instead of day to day.
Nate will need to consume 26,520 and 28,000 calories over the course of 7 days for his bulking.
Now the division of calories and macronutrients becomes even more important when our goal is to
increase the scale weight and muscle and not add globs of body fat.
The calories and macronutrients are broken into heavy training days and light training days.
I learned this trick from Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale when following the anabolic diet. The anabolic diet
asks an athlete to eat a ketogenic diet (no carbs) Monday through Friday, then consume massive
amounts of carbohydrates during the weekend. While the effects can be beneficial for body
composition, they are not always advantageous during training. My heaviest days of training were
Monday through Friday and I found myself hitting the wall while training on no carbs.
The tweak I learned was to use carbohydrates as fuel and consume them on my heavy training days,
then go back to a modified keto approach on lighter days. This was my first experience with
carbohydrate/caloric cycling.
Nate trains 5 days a week. He lifts weights, sprints and conditions on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
and Friday. His lighter days of Wednesday and Sunday he walks and moves around as a recovery
tool. Saturday is his big conditioning and movement day but we will keep the carbs low on this day.
Nate would match up Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as his heavy training days and
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday as his lighter days.
Heavy training days called for the Diet of Thirds. This is where Nate will cut his macronutrients in
thirds or 33%/33%/33%.
This means he will cut his 4000 calories into 33% protein, 33% carbohydrates and 33% fat. The
number wont come out exactly right; so just make up for the extra by dumping the surplus into
carbohydrates.
4000 cals x .33 = 1320 calories
1320 / Protein (4 calories) = 330 grams of protein
1360 / Carbohydrates (4 calories = 340 grams of carbohydrates
1320 / Fat (9 calories) = 146 grams of fat
Nate will need to consume 330 grams of protein, 340 grams of carbs and 146 grams of fat on his
heavy training days.
On his lighter training days, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, Nate will need to switch up his
macronutrients by dumping the carbs down to 10% of his total caloric intake, or 100 grams, and up
his fat to make up the calories.

1320 calories / Protein (4 calories) = 330 grams of protein

400 calories / Carbohydrates (4 calories) = 100 grams of carbohydrates
2280 calories / Fat (9 calories) = 252 grams of fat
On the off days, Nate will need to consume 330 grams of protein, 100 grams of carbohydrates and
252 grams of fat.

This should keep you busy for a few days and get you headed in the right direction. Stay tuned for
the third and fourth installment of the bulking protocol where we discuss meal timing and tools for
success.