Eating Healthy and Refueling Your Body
July 21, 2009
You've just expelled a ton of energy on your latest run, what do you do to refuel? Most of us are famished after a laborious workout and tend to eat whatever's readily available. If you're training for a race, your post-work out snack should include 15-30 grams of carbs and 6 grams of protein within the hour of cooling down. How do you get that combination? Self.com nutrition experts suggest pairing a ½ cup of nonfat cottage cheese with 2 whole-grain crackers, a medium orange and ¼ cup raw almonds, or a medium apple with 1 reduced fat cheese stick.
Looking for something quicker? Try a handful of trail mix, but make sure it contains dried fruit and mixed nuts, or grab a Luna or Pria bar. The combo of protein and carbs helps muscles recover and rebuild without undoing your work. Other ideas: a small bowl of edamame or soy crisps, which you can stash in your gym bag. Eating after a workout can even help you avoid muscle soreness.
Additional food for thought:
Drink milk. Exercisers who had 2 glasses of skim milk right after toning and another two an hour later lost 2 pounds of fat in 12 weeks, while those who gulped a sports drink lost only about 1 pound. To get even more specific, cow's milk drinkers dropped four times more fat than those who sipped soy.
Save your cereal for breakfast. Eating carbs before exercising may reduce the amount of fat you burn, researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reveal. To fight fat, try a pre-workout, protein-packed snack like low-fat string cheese or peanut butter instead.
Self.com and Fitness Magazine always have great tips for healthy snacking AND some killer recipes. Personally, we're a fan of the curried sweet potato fries. What are some of your favorite post-workout snacks? We'd love to hear from you.
Posted by orbike at July 21, 2009 12:28 AM
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