Your muscles need the proper nutrients if they are to grow and give you the body you want. Of course good nutrition is important for overall health, which is a nice bonus.

In this article I'm going to give you a few guidelines on getting the right amount of the right types of foods for growing more muscle.

First of all, your eating patterns are going to have to change a bit. Rather than two or three larger meals a day, you want to eat smaller meals frequently throughout the day.

The point of this is to increase your metabolism. This will help you burn fat and help your body get into muscle building mode. In fact after 4 hours without food, your body switches into catabolic mode, where you begin to accumulate fat; a biological function of the body from the days of being hunter/gatherers who literally didn't know where their next meal was coming from.

Instead, eat four to six meals a day, about three hours apart.

What should I be eating?

Glad you asked. When you're trying to build muscle, balance is the watchword. You want protein, carbs and fat in every meal.

The ratio you should be aiming for is roughly 40% of carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat. Getting all 3 at once helps your body use each element and gives you sustained energy without energy "crashes".

What about calories; don't those matter?

Yes, calories do count, but here is how you should pattern your caloric intake: You want low calories (about 2,000 for men and 1,200 for women) for 2 weeks followed by higher calories for 2 weeks (about 2,500 for men and 1,500 for women).

This will give you what every bodybuilder wants, it will help you lose fat and build lean muscle mass -- all at the same time. But remember this: You should adjust these numbers upwards somewhat if you are doing energy intensive training such as running.

"Ok, so what are some specific 'good things' to eat while muscle building?"

You'll want both complex and simple carbs - while I don't have enough room here to go into an entire menu plan, here are a few ideas:

Complex Carbs: Oatmeal, sweet potatoes, rice, broccoli, spinach Simple Carbs: Fruit is your best bet for simple carbs; whatever fruit you like is fine here.

Focus on these Proteins: skinless turkey or chicken, eggs, tuna, very lean beef, fish, etc.

Fats: Stick with the healthy oils such as olive oil, canola oil, fish oils, and flaxseed oil, also natural peanut butter is a good source of protein/fat.

Last, and this is important, water - you NEED plenty of water to keep your system adequately hydrated and flushed of toxins.

If you follow everything in this article it will get you started on your way to a nutritious diet for lean muscle building.