Yes—if your goal is to increase muscle mass, food matters, but muscle growth comes from adequate protein + enough total calories + resistance training.
🥩 6 foods that can help build muscle
- Eggs 🥚
High-quality complete protein and a convenient source of leucine and other amino acids. - Chicken breast 🍗
Lean, protein-rich, and easy to include in meals. - Milk & Greek yogurt 🥛
Provide high-quality protein, including both whey and casein. They also supply calcium. - Fish 🐟
Salmon, tuna, sardines, and similar fish provide protein; oily fish also provides omega-3 fats. - Beans & lentils 🫘
Good plant-based sources of protein and carbohydrates. Combining different plant proteins can help provide a broader amino-acid profile. - Nuts & peanut butter 🥜
Provide protein, calories, and healthy fats—particularly useful if you struggle to eat enough calories.
💪 The important part
No single food builds muscle by itself. Aim for roughly 1.6–2.0 g of protein per kg of body weight per day if you’re actively resistance training, spread across several meals.
For example, at 70 kg, that’s about 112–140 g of protein per day.
And don’t forget the key stimulus: progressive resistance training. Without training, simply eating more protein is unlikely to produce substantial muscle growth.
