April 1, 2009

Using Nutrition to Optimize Your Recovery

Did you know that adjusting the timing and nutrient composition of your after workout meals can increase your energy, enhance your ability to gain muscle mass and improve your performance in subsequent workouts?

The 2 hour Window
Your body has an enhanced ability to replenish muscle glycogen stores (one of your main fuel sources during workouts) and repair muscle tissue during the 2 hours following a workout. In order to optimize recovery, make sure to consume a recovery snack within 30 minutes of your workout and a real meal within 2 hours. The recovery snack and real meal should include carbohydrate and protein.

When choosing drinks, bars or other recovery foods, look for a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein.

Here are a few recovery recommendations for drinks, bars and other foods.

Recovery Drinks
Low fat milk, chocolate milk or soy milk
Recovery shake made with milk/yogurt, fruit & 1 scoop of whey protein
Light Muscle Milk with a banana
P90X Recovery Drink
Endurox R4

Recovery Bars
Kashi Go Lean
Luna
Powerbar Harvest
Clif
Balance or Zone Bar with fruit

Other Convenient Recovery Foods
Low fat yogurt or cottage cheese & fruit
Sandwich containing lean meats or peanut butter
Lean Ole’ frozen burrito from Costco
BRC burrito from El Pollo Loco

Recovery nutrition is most important following:
• Intense aerobic workouts longer than 90 minutes with less than 24 hours of recovery
• Intense resistance training

This information was brought to you by OC Nutrition, Your Trusted Source for Health & Nutrition Advice.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please contact:

Kristy L. Richardson, MS, MPH, RD, CSSD, CHES
Registered Dietitian & Exercise Physiologist
(949) 933-6788
kristy@ocnutrition.com
www.ocnutrition.com