To stay your fit, regular exercises is one of the most important things to perform. The workout needs lots of physical efforts that improve your performance and you achieve your goals in the process.
After a lot of physical workouts, a vital nutrient from your body decreases and your body needs the right amount of meals to recover them.
Different people need different meals after their workout. It entirely depends on the physique of that person, type of workout he performs, the purpose of workout and age of the person.
Whenever you are undergone workout or exercises, you need food within about 45 minutes after your workout. However, you may extend it to 1 and ½ hour if you have a tendency of consuming pre-exercise meals. Always drink plenty of water after your workout.
Although there is different need of nutrients depending on the things discussed above, there are some common things happening during the process of workout. There is a need for restoring vital nutrients in the form of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. You need the combination of all these nutrients at a glance!
Protein: A much-needed nutrient for building and repairing of your muscles
Glycogen, a vital protein for your muscles has been used when you started workout or exercise. Regular workouts resulted in the partial depletion of glycogen. In addition, some other proteins form can also be burnt or broken down in the workout process.
Your body needs vital proteins and glycogen to build your muscle strength. After exercise, your body gets relaxed and the process of rebuilding of its glycogen and other vital proteins started eventually. You can help your body by eating nutrients that contains enough proteins. This helps your body to restore glycogen protein, stopping of protein breakdown, increase in new muscle growth and strength and also recovery of your muscles.
Below is the list of food by which you can avail a large number of proteins for your body after your workout.
- Eggs: White part of any egg is a rich source of protein.
- Protein Powder: There are various animal-based and vegetable-based protein powders available in the market.
- Protein bar: Nowadays, you can get readymade bars, rich of proteins from the market. You can add them to your breakfast too. These protein bars are a good food to eat.
- Greek yogurt: It is processed yogurt contains rich amount of proteins.
- Salmon: It is made from fish oil. It is costly but effective. make it using right type of kitchen tools and appliances to get maximum flavour from your salmon dish.
- Cottage cheese: it also is known as “curds and whey”. It made from draining of cheese, a great source of proteins.
- Chicken: You can opt for different chicken products in the form of snacks or dishes. Chicken is also a great form of proteins.
- Tuna: A kind of fish, rich in proteins can be a part of your food which is highly rich in proteins.
Apart from these food products, there are other protein-rich foods. These products are chocolate milk, tofu scramble, peanut butter, etc.
Carbohydrates: A vital micronutrient for the recovery process
Carbohydrates help your body in regaining glycogen store post-workout process. It deals with the recovery process of your body. The need for glycogen stores also depends on the exercises you are involved in. For example, highly endurance workout needed more glycogen than simple resistance activity. So if you are involved in more physical workout like running, swimming, playing football, you need more glycogen stores and eventually, you need more food containing carbohydrates when you exercise in gymnasium.
Below is the list of food by which you can get a large number of Carbohydrates for your body after your workout.
- Fruit: Fruits are the rich source of carbohydrates. You can eat apples, bananas, pineapples, kiwi, and berries to recover from the loss of vital micronutrients after a workout.
- Oatmeal: You can avail readymade oatmeal from the market. it is a type of coarse flour which can be eaten as a breakfast after your workout.
- Biscuits: Biscuits can be eating for instant energy.
- Rice: Rice is a great source of carbohydrate. You can always add it in the different form of food like cakes, idli, dosa, etc.
- Sweet Potatoes: Enriched with a high amount of carbohydrates, sweet potatoes have been considered as one of the greatest sources.
- Dark, leafy green vegetables: Vegetables like spinach, cauliflower, peppers, etc. can be included in your meals after a workout.
Apart from the above-discussed products, there are no. of products like chia seed pudding, quinoa, whole-grain cereal, whole-grain bread made in bread maker machine, Chocolate milk (contains both proteins and carbohydrates), potatoes, pasta you can eat to get the maximum amount of carbohydrates after your workout.
Fat: Propels your muscle growth
It is a general observation that many people avoid food containing fat. They think that fat is not beneficial for your body as eating fast food after a workout slows down your digestion process and restricts the absorption of vital nutrients in your body.
Although it is very true that your digestion process and absorption of nutrients may slow down by the fat, it has far more benefits after consumption. The main benefit of fat it propels/promotes muscle growth of your body. The study proved that the main substance, glycogen synthesis process never affected unless fat consumed in a large amount (till 45% energy from fatty substances).
It can be said that you can add fat food in less amount in comparison of proteins and carbohydrates post-workout as it will be beneficial for your muscle growth and not affects the recovery of micro-nutrients.
Below is the list of food items for your body after your workout that contains healthy fats.
- Avocado: It is a fruit that contents a large no of healthy fats which is helpful in muscle growth.
- Coconut oil: It is a natural transmitter of fatty objects. Just prepare your food in coconut oil and you will get enough fats.
- Flax seeds: Both carbohydrates and fats are the substances of flax seeds.
- Nuts and dry fruits: You can go for each and every nut or the products made from nuts after your workout. Dry fruits are also good substances of healthy fats.