In
this article, I’ll share with you a natural alternative for creatine and a list
of different foods that are “high” in creatine, when compared to other types of
food.
If
you want to get the creatine effect in your workouts without taking
supplements, include one of these in a meal (or meals) every day.
The
list of Creatine-Rich Foods is short because creatine is only found in
reasonable amounts in meat, chicken, and fish…. that’s
And
they don’t contain nearly as much creatine as a typical pure creatine
supplement.
Keep
in mind that the typical daily dose of creatine monohydrate powder is 5 grams
as you read the creatine amounts in the foods below.
A
pound of steak contains less creatine (2 g) than a 12 teaspoon of creatine
monohydrate powder (12 g).
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A
pound of steak will cost you between $8 and $30, depending on the cut.
Meanwhile,
a 12 teaspoon/2.5-gram dose of creatine monohydrate, which contains more
creatine than a pound of steak, costs between a dime and a quarter, depending
on where you buy it.
Creatine from our diet + what our body makes
is enough
Our
bodies produce one to two grams of creatine per day, and the average person
consumes another 1-2 grams per day on top of that.
And
2-4 grams of creatine per day is enough to build muscle and increase strength
without the need for additional supplements in your diet.
One thing to keep in mind…
Several
sports science studies have produced similar results to this one: Creatine’s
Effect… On… Muscular Strength and Body Composition, in which groups of
experienced weight lifters were divided into a creatine group and a
non-creatine placebo group.
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The
creatine groups frequently doubled the strength and muscle gains observed in
the placebo groups.
The
significant difference in strength and muscle gains in the study I shared took
only 28 days.
Before
creatine, there were strong, good-looking muscles.
And,
as I previously stated, thousands, if not tens of thousands, of lifters,
bodybuilders, athletes, and physique models built awesomely strong and
awesome-looking bodies long before anyone knew what creatine was.
Consider
this Arnold Schwarzenegger photo from the late 1970s, pre-steroids and 15 years
before creatine first appeared on the scene in the 1990s in the form of
Phosphagen:
I’ve
had this copy since 1982, so I know the photo of him was taken before the book
came out in 1977.
Arnold’s
body contains no creatine, but rather a lot of good food and hard work.
When it comes to food…
The
best natural creatine alternatives……are the foods that contain the most
creatine when compared to the rest of our food options.
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That
includes meat (beef, chicken, pork, wild game) and fish.
Foods that are high in creatine
The
grams of creatine listed are approximations based on the standard USDA serving
size for meats and fish — 100 grams, or about 3 12 ounces.
Red Meat
Most
red meat creatine numbers I saw were for less than a gram per serving (0.9g per
3 12 oz. meat).
Steak
contains approximately 1 gram of creatine per 14 pounds.
Ground
beef contains one gram of creatine per quarter pound.
Aside
from steak and ground beef/hamburger, this category also includes game meats
such as venison and buffalo.
Pork
As
you’ll see later in this section, not all pork products make a good creatine
source team.
But
many pork lovers’ favorites, such as chops, ham, tenderloin, and other
unprocessed forms of pork, do.
Most
unprocessed pork cuts, such as chops and tenderloin, contain around 34
milligrams of creatine per serving.
Cured
ham has 0.6 grams of creatine per serving, which is slightly less than the pure
pork we just looked at.
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Fish
The
“Creatine Amounts In Food” lists I found didn’t include every type of
fish people eat, but there are enough options to figure out what’s going on.
And,
as far as fish go, herring and salmon have the highest concentrations of
creatine.
They
both have around 0.9 grams per serving, which is similar to red meat, so this
is good news for people who are sensitive to red meat.
And
if you can stomach raw herrings (unlike me), you’ll get a little less than 1.5
grams of creatine per serving.
Other
popular fish, such as tuna and cod, contain less than a quarter of the creatine
found in salmon and herring, but they contain enough to be eaten and mentioned
here.
Who
knew that the food with the most creatine in it? I mentioned raw herring, which
contains 1.5 grams of creatine per serving.
A 4 oz. serving of salmon contains about a
gram of creatine.
Every 3 12 ounces of tuna contains about a
half gram of creatine.
Because
cooking any creatine-rich food reduces the creatine content, raw fish contains
slightly more creatine.
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White
fish, such as cod, contains only about 13 grams of creatine per 3 12 oz.
serving.
One-third
of a gram isn’t much, and that’s about as low as I’ll go in terms of
recommended creatine sources on this list.
Chicken
Chicken
contains roughly the same amount of creatine as tuna — about 12 grams per 3
12-ounce servings.
Meats
containing very little creatine
Not
surprisingly, popular processed meat products contain less creatine than even
cod.
So
I left them off the list of Creatine-Rich Foods, except to mention them here in
the “You’re no good, you’re no good, you’re no good, Baby you’re no
good…” section:
- Frankfurters/hot
dogs - Sausage
- Bacon
Summary Of Natural Alternative For Creatine
So,
there we have it: several options that we can mix and match as needed to
(hopefully) mimic creatine’s delivery of performance-enhancing and
muscle-building benefits.
Alternatives to creatine supplements
- Caffeine
- Water
- Protein
- Beta-alanine
- Pre-workout
carb - Essential
amino acids
Food alternatives to creatine
- Pork
- Salmon
- Herring
- Chicken
- Whitefish
- Red
meat
FAQs Related To Natural Alternative For
Creatine
Is it OK to take creatine before a workout?
On
workout days, research suggests that taking creatine shortly before or after
exercise, rather than long before or after, may be preferable. It may be beneficial
to take it with food on rest days, but the timing is probably not as critical
as on exercise days.
Is creatine better than protein?
While
creatine allows for longer and more intense workouts by increasing readily
available energy stores, whey protein provides all of the essential amino acids
required for muscle building and strengthening. It depends on your diet and
fitness regimen whether creatine or whey is better for you, or if you should
take both.
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What can we use instead of creatine?
Like
creatine, beta-alanine is a naturally occurring compound in your body. Amino
acids are the different building blocks of protein, and beta-alanine is one of
them. It works by increasing carnosine levels in your muscles.
What is a natural form of creatine?
Creatine
is an amino acid found primarily in the muscles and the brain of your body.
Most people get creatine from seafood and red meat, though at much lower levels
than those found in synthetically manufactured creatine supplements. The liver,
pancreas, and kidneys can also produce about 1 gram of creatine per day.
How can I make natural creatine?
The
key is to focus on a diet rich in natural creatine sources (aiming for 1-2
grams per day), foods that help our bodies make creatine (eating arginine,
glycine, and methionine foods), and an overall nutritious and balanced diet.
Can I drink coffee instead of creatine?
Numerous
studies have found creatine and caffeine to be both safe and effective
performance enhancers. They have been shown to improve muscle building,
strength, and performance in power, sprinting, and high-intensity sports in
particular.
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Can I grow muscle without creatine?
Does
this imply that we should supplement to maximize our creatine stores? No, by
relying on a progressive resistance training program and a diet rich in natural
creatine sources, you can still build muscle and get stronger without
supplementing with creatine.
Are eggs high in creatine?
Meat
contains a lot of creatine, especially steak (5g of creatine per kg of uncooked
beef), chicken (3.4g/kg), and rabbit (3.4g/kg). Creatine is also found in eggs
and fish. Even so, it’s unlikely that you’re eating enough meat to not need to
supplement. The daily recommended creatine dose is five grams.
What plants have creatine?
Because
creatine is not found in any plant foods, vegetarians and vegans must rely on
supplements to obtain it.
How much creatine is in one egg?
It
has also been established that creatine can be transported from the hen to the
egg via the hen’s diet and the hen’s own creatine synthesis. However, the
levels transmitted are extremely low5,3. Murakami discovered around 20 mg/kg DM
in the eggs of meat-type quail breeder hens.
