While a majority of us are always concerned about losing weight, there are people who are look to putting on a few kilos. People who are genetically ectomorphs usually have a tough time gaining weight and putting on muscle mass. To gain weight, all you need is a well-structured diet with a few high-calorie foods. Below are four such foods…
Rice
The most easily accessible food on the list, it can be prepared without any hassles at home. Also, it’s not necessary to consume only brown rice, even white is fine. The only major difference between the two is the fibre content, which is high in brown rice. Rice takes only around 15 minutes to be cooked. One cup of cooked rice is around 150 gm and provides around 40 gm of carbs yielding around 180 calories. Such a high percentage of carbs and high calories make rice a perfect food for anyone who wants to gain weight.
Nuts
Nuts are dense in calories and come in handy as an ‘anytime snack’. You can carry them easily with you in a small container – they have a very long shelf life. The best part about nuts is that they provide you all the three macros – fats, carbs and protein. Fats in nuts are the essential fats that your body needs to obtain from outside sources. Nut butter like peanut butter and almond butter are also a good choice to include in your diet but don’t overdo them. The only thing to keep in mind is that nut butter should be preferably free from artificial flavours and sugars.
Starchy Veggies, Carbs
The quality of starchy vegetables is that they are calorie dense. The primary motive for anyone who is looking to gain weight is to increase the daily calorie intake. For this, you need to include as much calorie dense food as possible. Starchy vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, legumes, oats, corn are high in calories. You should include a combination of these items in your everyday meal plan.
Cheese
Since 70 per cent of all cheese is fat, this makes it a high-calorie food. Another advantage of cheese is that it has good taste and can be added to a variety of dishes. Fat has 9 calories per gm which is more than one gm of carb and one gm of protein taken together. Therefore, including a small amount of cheese in your diet is a smart move if you want to increase your caloric intake.