Health Series: Myths that Break the Bank – Exercise

This next health myth looks at building muscle, and shows you how to save time and money while maintaining a great physique. Normally this requires going to the gym. This step can be eliminated by understanding the processes in your body when you work out.

Muscle growth is caused by repairing damage to muscle fibers. This damage is the result of repeatedly straining the muscles, through the lifting of weights, or repeated movements. Luckily, there is another way to cause this muscle damage, without all the lifting, sweating, grunting and admiring yourself in the mirror between reps.

In about an hour, this man will be covered in a thin film of grease, accompanied by acute muscle soreness.  Unfortunately, it can't fix his face.  Image from White Castle.

The trick is to eat foods high in both saturated fats and protein. By itself, saturated fat will just make you gain weight. When combined with protein however, the fat cannot be properly absorbed into your bloodstream. It makes its way to your muscles where it just sits, producing strain and tearing up the muscle fibers till it can be released through the skin. The foods which work best for this include Taco Bell cheesy bean burritos and White Castle sliders. Anyone who's eaten one too many of these foods can attest to the previously unexplained muscle soreness, followed by a day or two of feeling greasy. As explained, that muscle soreness is the strain from the saturated fat and the greasy feeling is that fat being excreted from the body through the skin. If you were to replace your monthly gym membership and daily protein shakes with a Crave Case every week or two, you would find yourself putting on the same mass at just a fraction of the cost and effort.