Refuel and Repair: Post-Workout Recovery Snacks

Editor’s note: this post was actually written by CE dietician Abby Pattison, RD.

Our bodies use two fuels while training: fat and carbohydrate. As the intensity increases, we use more carbohydrate as it’s more readily available to working muscles, in the form of stored glycogen. Training increases your catabolic hormones to facilitate breakdown of glycogen, causes you to release sodium and electrolytes  in your sweat, and causes exercise-induced inflammation. So, when you have a workout that depletes glycogen, it’s important to refuel so you’ll be ready to go the next day.

The post-workout window is a magic time where you can optimize getting all the  goodness of a proper recovery meal into your muscles. While certain exercise allows for a longer recovery window, our muscles are the most responsive within 30 min of finishing a workout, after which we have a diminishing ability to refuel and repair. If you have another demanding workout without fully recovering, you’ll not only not perform your best, but you’ll also start digging a caloric deficit hole that is challenging to get out of.

A good post-workout snack includes about 30g Carbohydrate and 20-30g protein. Eating a combination of both macronutrients leads to faster recovery: the carbohydrate replaces glycogen stores in the muscle and the protein helps repair muscle tissue. Eating protein with the carbohydrate also increases your muscle glycogen stores.

Finally, you can give yourself an added boost (and high five) by including antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins, to your snack. Antioxidant-rich foods can help reduce the later onset post-workout fatigue or delayed muscle soreness. Foods high in anthocyanins are tart cherries, red onion, red grapes, raspberries, strawberries and many more deep red and purple foods. 

The attached graphic shows serving sizes and ideas for snacks I recommend, but remember nutrition is personal: as long as you get 30g of both macros you are doing great with whatever you are eating and whatever works for your specific body. 

Mix and match according to your tastes, have fun, and If you have questions, reach out!