What you eat is important. However, when you eat it can be just as critical.
What is post-workout nutrition?
Post-workout nutrition is an intriguing topic and rightfully so. The basic idea is threefold:
- The body deals with nutrients differently at different times, depending on activity.
- What you consume before, during, and especially after your workout is important.
- By consuming particular nutrients after your workouts (aka post-workout nutrition), you improve your body composition, performance, and overall recovery.
Generally, post-workout nutrition has three specific purposes:
- Replenish glycogen
- Decrease protein breakdown
- Increase protein synthesis
In other words, athletes/exercisers want to:
- replenish their energy stores
- increase muscle size and/or muscle quality
- repair any damage caused by the workout
In doing so, they want to increase performance, improve their appearance, and enable their bodies to remain injury-free.
Your Post WOD Meal is best centered around protein and with carbs added in for high-intensity athletes (like CrossFitters) and endurance athletes.
Whole, lean sources of protein – think meat, fish and eggs. For carbs, you’ll want to think about starchy veggies such as sweet potato or hard squash as your go-to source with fruit and other starches (think white rice, white potato or tapioca) as alternatives. Just a note: fruit contains the sugar fructose which preferentially replaces glycogen in the liver, NOT the muscles. Your muscle glycogen tank is empty after hard training. Fill it up!
Check out this recipe from Stupid Easy Pale – Avocado Bacon Sliders!!! Made them the other day. Sweet Potatoes are used instead of a hamburger bun. Nutrient Dense & Delicious! What do you eat for your post workout meal?
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