Is Cottage Cheese Good for Building Muscle?

You can train as hard as you like, but unless you’re also taking good care of your nutrition, you will never achieve the results you want.

That’s a fact of fitness.

Many people put all of their effort and attention into the training side of things that they completely forget about the fuel.

But, just like a car can’t get far without getting refueled, so can’t the human body.

Today, we’ll go over cottage cheese and its role in muscle growth – is it any good, or should we go about finding a better alternative?

Is Cottage Cheese Good for Muscle Growth?

Muscle growth heavily relies on three things:

• Adequate protein intake (1);
• Sufficient sleep (2);
• Effective stimulus (training) (3);

So long as you cover sleep and training well, you also need to get enough protein because the nutrient provides the body with amino acids.

Almost all processes within the body need amino acids in some capacity, and protein synthesis is one of them. Even if you sleep well and train hard, you also need to have an adequate supply of these building blocks if you ever hope to build new muscle tissue.

Is cottage cheese good for building muscle? Absolutely. The fact is, cottage cheese is jam-packed with high-quality protein that makes muscle growth possible.

For reference, half a cup of 1 percent cottage cheese has about 82 calories and 14 grams of protein – pretty neat for an overlooked muscle-building food (4).

What’s more, cottage cheese is highly satiating (most likely thanks to the fact that casein accounts for nearly 80 percent of its protein content), which makes it an excellent option for fat loss (5).

Also, as you’ll see below, there are several great ways to prepare cottage cheese and reap the full benefit without having to consume it in its plain form.

The truth is, if you’re looking for an affordable food to add to your diet, cottage cheese should be one of your go-to sources. It’s versatile, high in protein, relatively low in calories, and highly satiating.

Suggestion: If you are in a major US city, you can actually buy cottage cheese on amazon and have it delivered to your house the same day!
Click this link to check it out. I buy the Daisy low fat / 2% variety.
Pin

Is Cottage Cheese Healthy For Us?

In short, yes.

For one, thanks to the fact that cottage cheese is high in protein, it benefits us on numerous health-related fronts (6). More specifically:

• Cell creation;
• Hormone synthesis;
• Production of enzymes, neurotransmitters, and antibodies;
• Transportation of various substances within the body;
• Growth and repair;
• Bone health;

What’s more, cottage cheese is full of various nutrients that play vital roles for our health, including (4):

• Calcium;
• Phosphorus;
• Selenium;
• Sodium;
• Vitamin B12;
• Riboflavin;
• Folate;

So, is cottage cheese healthy for us? Absolutely.

Five Great Cottage Cheese Recipes For Muscle Gain

Let’s face it:

Cottage cheese might be incredibly beneficial for us, but consuming it in its plain form is not the most pleasurable of things. With that in mind, here are five easy and creative ways to prepare it.

The best part is, each of these recipes takes nothing but a couple of minutes to put together. Plus, all of them work great as an addition to a meal or as snacks in-between meals.

1. Cottage Cheese With Jell-O

Cottage cheese with Jell-O is certainly not a common combination, but they work great together. Here’s how to make it:

1. In a large bowl, mix half a cup of cottage cheese, half a packet of Jell-O, and one to two spoons of sweetener.
2. Enjoy!

This recipe only has about 130 calories and 14 grams of protein – the perfect option for when you’re trying to lose some fat.

2. Cottage Cheese With Cinnamon

If you’re a fan of cinnamon, then you’re in luck because it goes incredibly well with cottage cheese. Here’s how you can make it:

1. In a large bowl, mix half a cup of cottage cheese, cinnamon to taste (a teaspoon per half a cup works great), and one to two spoons of sweetener.
2. Enjoy!

And the damage? Eighty calories and 14 grams of protein.

Suggestion: You might be interested in another article on Pump Some Iron “Is Milk Good for Building Muscle” Click this link to check it out. 

Pin

3. Cottage Cheese With Salsa

If you’re looking for a savory and high protein addition to a meal or something to help you curb the afternoon hunger, this recipe is a perfect choice:

1. In a bowl, mix half a cup of cottage cheese with about 5 or 6 tablespoons of salsa.
2. This is it. Enjoy!

This recipe barely has 120 calories and about 15 grams of protein.

Above, you see cottage cheese with salsa on top of a plate of beef! Now that’s how I like to do it! This was actually one of my meals.

4. Cottage Cheese Dessert

This is one of the tastiest ways to end the day with a high-protein dessert. If you find yourself craving something sweet in the late hours of the night, whip this up for five minutes and enjoy:

1. In a bowl, mix half a cup of cottage cheese, a tablespoon of peanut butter, two tablespoons of cocoa powder, a teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional), and about a scoop of protein powder.
2. Throw it in the fridge for about twenty minutes.
3. Enjoy!

This whole recipe has about 340 calories and a whopping 40 grams of protein.

5. Cottage Cheese And Peanut Butter

Peanut butter goes incredibly well with many recipes, especially when it comes to chocolate.

1. In a bowl, mix half a cup of cottage cheese, a scoop of chocolate protein powder, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and one to two spoons of sweetener.
2. Enjoy!

This recipe has about 300 calories and a whopping 44 grams of protein.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, cottage cheese is among the best bodybuilding foods out there. It’s incredibly cheap to get, offers high-quality protein (and lots of it), has little calories (especially the fat-free kind), and it’s healthy for us.

What’s more, there are tons of ways to prepare cottage cheese, and you can have it both sweet and savory. All you need are a couple of ingredients, a few minutes of spare time, and voilá.

What’s more, thanks to its slow-digesting protein content, cottage cheese is the perfect food to have at night, so your body has a steady supply of amino acids in the hours after you fall asleep.

Personally, I eat cottage cheese every day. I like to put it on top of my chicken or beef. Meat and cottage cheese compliment each other and make each other easier to eat.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this article, please share it and then, go Pump Some Iron! After that, maybe eat some cottage cheese.

Follow me / Pump Some Iron on Instagram for updates @pump.some.iron