What exactly are you supposed to eat if you want to build muscles effectively?

[Peegee]

according to conflicting studies you are not allowed to eat anything.

you can either accept the first sentence as fact or dismiss it as gibberish and essentially work out for yourself what you are comfortable doing, and do that.

easy right?

there's 3 basic macronutrients to keep track of. fats, carbs, and protein. dietary fats and carbohydrates provide quick acting energy. protein allows your body to repair tissue - almost all tissue not just muscle.

you need some of all three in all of your meals. things like cholesterol and salt...i don't even factor it in my diet, but if you really wanted to, i suppose you can avoid cholesterol and counter the salt with fruits

eat a good mix of macros and don't eat too much of one over the other - it won't be optimum just because...well, you can only eat so many calories. so if you eat an ice cream you've gone over your calories but you still need 20g of protein. where is that going to come from? now you have to eat 80 more calories!

so to sum it up - 1) don't worry about the myriad information and 2) eat a balanced diet.

grade school teaching was correct. btw don't listen to the food pyramid of any country - they all suck.

edit: i've eaten raw eggs before but the current panic over salmonella compels me to ask you to reconsider. you can eat those things, just separately. i almost only eat boiled eggs now because it avoids having to coat a frying pan with oil.