What To Eat After You Exercise, And Why It’s Important To Get It Right.

Posted on February 9, 2009
Filed Under Nutrition | Leave a Comment

Iâ€™m sure that youâ€™ve heard in the past that your post-workout meal may very well be your most significant thing that you consume all day.

This is because when you’re done with an intense workout session, you’re entering a catabolic status where your muscle glycogen is used up and the levels of cortisol in your body have increased and are beginning to break the tissue of the muscle down excessively. In other words, this means the body’s in the survival mode of getting energy by breaking down muscle tissue state… you don’t want your muscles to get broken down, you want to find balance so that you increase muscle instead. What I suggest you do, is to eat an easily digestible after-exercise meal (can be a shake or smoothie) as soon as you are able after exercising.

The purpose is to choose a meal with carbs that digest easily, as well as protein that digests quickly to give you what’s needed to initiate muscular rebuilding. The flow of carbohydrates and amino acids from this quickly digested meal promotes a raise in insulin levels from the pancreas, which propels nutrients into the muscular cells.

The after exercise meal should usually contain between 300-500 calories for optimum results. Case in point, a 120-lb lady may only need a 300-calorie meal, where a 200-lb man may need a 500-calorie meal after working out. Your post-workout meal should also have anywhere from a ratio of 2:1 and 4:1 for carbs:proteins. While the other meals you consume should include a supply of healthy fats, keep the total fat content of your first meal after working out to a nominal quantity, since fat slows the speed of absorption of the meal, which is the not what you want to happen after a workout.

When you choose what to make for your after exercise meal, the first thing to understand is that you DON’T need any of these costly post-workout supplement formulations that all of the advertisments you see everywhere will tell you that are absolutely necessary! I would rather to make my own post-workout milkshakes from pure ingredients as an alternative to using a store bought shake, since many of them are lacking in quality.

A good source of easily digestible natural carbs such as honey, pineapples, organic maple syrup, or bananas are ideal. The more you can encourage the muscle rebuilding process, the faster you boost your metabolic rate and this can assist with weight loss too.

The best way to get of quick to digest protein is a quality non-denatured whey protein isolate and/or a non-fat or low-fat yogurt. Following are a few ideas for tasty post-workout shakes that will boost your recuperation process:

Chocolate Banana – blend together 1 cup water, Â½ cup skim milk, one and a half frozen bananas, 2 tbsp organic maple syrup, and 30 grams chocolate whey protein powder 38 g prot, 72 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 440 calories.

Pineapple Vanilla – blend together 1 cup water, Â½ cup vanilla yogurt, one cup frozen pineapples, 2 tbsp honey (preferably raw), and 30 grams vanilla whey protein powder 35 g prot, 71 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 425 calories.

An additional bonus of post-workout meals is that you can please even the most intense cravings for sweets, since this is the only of the day where you can get away with taking in extra sugars without adding to your waistline. This is true only in the case of a high intensity resistance exercise routine though, so avoid this if you’ve just been doing some modest cardio.
Enjoy!

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