Broccoli

High-volume, low-calorie foods like broccoli and cabbage are typically withheld from muscle-building diets as they can cause the early onset of satiety and fullness, which makes hitting a high-calorie target harder. But withholding broccoli and other vegetables that are members of the cruciferous family is a mistake, because they provide a hormonal advantage by reducing estrogen.

These kinds of vegetables, especially broccoli, contain several unique antioxidants and compounds that can help to improve your health in a variety of different ways, not limited to fighting cancer. Indole-3-carbinol and D-glucaric acid are two other nutrients found in cruciferous vegetables that aid in clearing excessive estrogen and toxins from your body.

These compounds not only play a role in the binding and clearing of naturally occurring estrogen, they can also bind xenoestrogens—synthetic compounds that mimic estrogen. Indole-3- carbinol in particular can interact with the genes responsible for putting together estrogen receptors by either blocking their action or decreasing their effectiveness.

The combination of these two unique compounds in broccoli works to clear excess and chemically similar estrogens while also impacting the ability of estrogen to work on target tissues. This allows you to minimize the negative effects of estrogen on your muscle-building goals. If you’re still worried about the satiating effects of broccoli, roast or steam it; this will remove some of the intra-vegetable water content, making it easier to eat and less filling.