Elena Ivanova

After a workout, a brutal appetite wakes up. This is normal: the body requires to compensate for what it just spent - energy. To restore it, you need calories, that is, food. In order not to negate the results of intensive training, it is necessary to organize proper nutrition: specifically determine what you can eat after a workout.

Why You Should Eat After a Workout

The best time to eat after a workout is the first 20-40 minutes, so it's a good idea to prepare your meals ahead of time so you don't miss out on this wonderful time. Why wonderful? Here's why. Immediately after training, the so-called anabolic window (or carbohydrate-protein) opens in the body for the most beneficial use of proteins and carbohydrates (not fat!). The assimilation of these nutrients proceeds in these minutes 3-4 times faster than usual. This is due to the powerful energy consumption during physical exertion. This ability persists for those 20–40 minutes, which are commonly called the anabolic window. Everything that you eat during this period of time will purposefully go to muscle recovery, and not a single calorie from what you eat will go to fat. This is extremely important.

Another reason for the expediency of eating immediately after a workout is that intense physical activity provokes a kind of stress in the body and an increased release of hormones (the most famous of them are adrenaline and cortisol)

Hormones rebuild the metabolism so that the loads do not cause excessive damage to the body structure and energy (take care), they translate the biochemistry of the body in a different way, in which a person gets a special mood, feels sports excitement and a surge of strength. If you don’t eat after a workout, i.e. do not give hormones a signal that everything is over, everything is in order, then their action will continue for a long time after class. And this is fraught with the fact that the body will continue to retain everything possible and spend the accumulation very reluctantly, including fats.

carbohydrate window

Their biochemical antagonist, insulin, can neutralize the action of stress hormones. It is able to transfer the metabolism from a state of alarm to a calm recovery mode. With the help of insulin, the process of replenishing the body's energy resources spent during training and restoring muscle proteins begins. A well-known and quite natural way to increase the level of insulin in the body is to eat carbohydrate food.

Nutritionists advise to consume carbohydrates after training in liquid form, from elemental sources with a high glycemic index. In this case, there will be a sharp jump in the level of insulin, which is characterized by anabolic and anti-catabolic qualities. Simply put, drink grape and cranberry juice after exercise because they are known for their high glucose to fructose ratio.

Calculate the amount of juice you need for yourself according to the following scheme: 1 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of ideal weight. For reference: a glass of grape juice contains 38 g of carbohydrates, cranberry - 31 grams

It is also shown to eat fruits and any carbohydrate food that does not contain fat:

• Boiled potatoes
• boiled rice
• steamed or boiled vegetables
• pasta
• sugar
• jam
• marmalade, etc.

It is clear that portions should be reasonable. The use of these products will lead to an additional release of insulin, which in this case normalizes the metabolism and replenishes the energy spent during training.

protein window

Bodybuilders and bodybuilders consider the use of protein shakes from ready-made protein powders (sold in pharmacies and sports nutrition stores) after training to be the best option. Owners and builders of beautiful sculpted bodies are convinced that after an intense workout, protein synthesis in muscles increases by 3 times (compared to starvation) thanks to a cocktail drunk after an intense workout. So you can take a bottle of powder and juice shake with you if you're not at home and drink it right after your workout.

The amount of protein powder per 1 kg of ideal weight is 0.55 grams. If for some reason you cannot drink protein shakes, use egg whites.

If you do not want to take powder shakes, eat any protein food, having previously calculated the amount you need. The simplest scheme is this: a portion should fit into your palm. Since nutrition after training has one important goal - to restore muscles as efficiently and quickly as possible and to ensure the growth of pure muscle mass (instead of flabby), protein foods should not contain fat. Not one gram. Fat will delay the flow of proteins and carbohydrates from the stomach into the blood.