Post workout meal

Just had a great workout? Isn’t it feel great? It’s a great feeling having a wonderful workout. However following the workout, your body is in state of repair. Post workout body is a known to be in catabolic state. Exercise makes your body break down muscle glycogen and even some of the muscular protein in the tissues. Body needs to refill its stock of energy and repair various damaged tissues and reverse this state to promote body growth. Hence it is as well important for your to focus on your post workout meal. Objective of any food after intense training and workout is to provide quickly digestible carbohydrate to replenish muscle glycogen and provide enough quickly digestible protein to provide various amino acids required for muscle tissue repair.

Some characteristics of post workout nutrition are as follows:

• Post workout meal should have high glycemic index. Post workout these food promote substantial insulin release which helps body muscles regain carbohydrates and protein.
• Post workout food should be low in fat. Very much obvious, isn’t it! Fat also slows down absorption of carbohydrate in food.
• Maintain a healthy proportion of carbs and protein. Ideally ratio of 2 – 4 can be considered good for post workout meal. While sports drink and other form of post workout drinks provide sugar and minerals, it should be coupled with dose of protein rich food.
• You should consume around 0.03% of body weight of protein and 0.1% of body weight of Carbohydrate.
• Rely on natural sources of post workout food instead of post workout supplements. Some of quickly digestible natural carbohydrates include banana, pine apple, honey, raisins, etc. Natural sources also supply other essential nutrients and minerals which help in post workout recovery process.
• Ideally, 30-60 minutes after workout is the time you should replenish your body. Consumption of post workout meal during this period can help body recovery process.
• Liquid post workout meals digest faster than solid post workout meals. Some people usually prefer whey protein shake after the workout coupled with easily digestible dextrose. You may therefore find various post workout protein shake recommendations. Some research in post workout nutrition have showed that simple carbohydrate like glucose or dextrose along with whey protein is ideal candidate for post workout recovery meal.
• Proper post workout nutrition can also assist weight loss efforts. Correct proportion of carbohydrates to protein in post workout nutrition is key to weight loss. There are several websites which claim to supply post workout protein shake for weight loss. Though all are market designed, most of them maintain ratio of carbs to protein. If you can maintain ratio of 2-4 for carbohydrate to protein, you can save on buying post workout supplements for weight loss.
• Most important component of food which all people forget is Water. Drink lots of water. It should work wonders with post workout meal.