Healthy Foods to Eat for Weight Gain (Part 1)

Drinking homemade protein smoothies can be a highly nutritious and quick way to gain weight.

Making your own smoothies is the best way since commercial versions are often full of sugar and lack nutrients. It also gives you full control over the flavor and nutrient content.

Here are just a few tasty variations you can try. You can combine each with 2 cups (470 mL) of dairy milk or soy milk if you have lactose intolerance. Both have more nutrients and calories than other alternative milks.

Milk has been used as a weight gainer or muscle builder for decades (1).

It provides a good balance of proteins, carbs, and fats and is a good source of calcium, as well as other vitamins and minerals (2Trusted Source).

For those trying to add more muscle, milk is an excellent protein source that provides both casein and whey proteins. Research has even shown it can help you add muscle when combined with weightlifting (3).

Additionally, studies have found that milk, or whey and casein combined, can lead to greater mass gain than other protein sources (4).

Try drinking one or two glasses of whole milk (149 calories per cup) as a snack, with a meal, or before and after a workout if you’re training (5Trusted Source).

Milk smoothies are also a delicious way to add milk to your diet. For an easy morning protein boost, try blending up 1 cup of frozen berries, 1 cup of whole milk, 2 teaspoons of honey, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla (about 275 calories).

Rice is a convenient, low cost carb source to help you gain weight. Just 1 cup (158 grams) of cooked white rice provides 204 calories, 44 grams of carbs, and very little fat (6Trusted Source).

Rice is also fairly calorie-dense, meaning you can easily obtain a high amount of carbs and calories from a single serving. This helps you eat more food, especially if you have a poor appetite or get full quickly.

When you’re on the go or in a rush, 2-minute packs of microwavable rice can be easily added to other protein sources and premade meals.

Another popular method is to prepare a large pot of rice, refrigerate it or freeze individual portions, and then combine it with different proteins and healthy fats for varied meals throughout the week.

There are many ways to turn relatively bland rice into a taste extravaganza. The easiest way to add taste, calories, and a protein boost is to simply stir in some of these ingredients after you have cooked your rice:

Red meats are probably one of the best muscle-building foods available.

For example, 6 ounces (170 grams) of steak contains around 5 grams of leucine.

Leucine is the key amino acid your body needs to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and add new muscle tissue (8Trusted Source, 9). It also contains 456 calories and nearly 49 grams of protein.

In addition to this, red meats are one of the best natural sources of dietary creatine, which is possibly the world’s best muscle-building supplement (10).