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What you eat and drink after your workout – and when – can have a big impact on your next performance.

What do you eat first after a workout? Most athletes pay fairly good attention to what they eatbefore exercising, but afterwards – for some – it’s almost as if ‘anything goes”.

Eating the right foods and beverages after exercise does more than just replenish your draining fuel supply – it helps your body get ready for your next round of activity, too. So, if you’re the type who works out regularly (and fairly hard), what you eat – and when – can make a big difference in your overall performance.

Keep in mind that refueling is geared primarily to those who are doing extended and strenuous bouts of exercise. If your usual activity is a daily walk or brief swim, your regular meals and snacks should take care of your nutritional needs as long as your diet is healthy and well-balanced – but always stay on top of your fluid intake.

But, if you’re going the distance, what you eat after your workout is just as important as what you eat before you exercise. You’re not only helping your body recover from a bout of exercise – you’re also helping your body prepare for the next one.

What to eat and drink after exercising

Replenish fluids and salts after exercise

When you exercise, sweating causes you to lose important body salts – like sodium and potassium – that need to be replaced. Many advanced athletes get in the habit of weighing themselves before and after exercise, in order to figure out how much fluid needs to be replaced. For each pound that you lose during activity, you should drink about 2-3 cups of liquid (or about one liter of fluid per kilo of weight loss).

What to drink after exercise

Water is fine as a fluid replacer, since you’ll be eating afterwards – which means you’ll pick up carbohydrate, sodium (and likely some potassium) and from your foods. For those who don’t normally drink high-calorie liquids, this is the one time they might drink fruit juices, since they provide fluid and carbohydrate and – depending on the fruit – potassium, too. Sports drinks are great since they provide not only fluid and carbs (some even have a bit of protein – which your body also needs), but the right balance of salts that have been lost through perspiration, too. And, they usually have a mildly light, sweet taste that often encourages you to drink more.

Your body needs carbohydrate after you exercise

After a hard workout, your body has burned through a lot of carbohydrate – the primary fuel that keeps your muscles working – and it’s important to refuel as soon as you can. The recommended amount is about 1.4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight (or, 0.6 grams carbohydrate per pound of body weight). That’s about 100 grams of carbohydrate for someone weighing 165 pounds (75 kg). Healthy carbohydrates – fruits, whole grains and the natural carbs in dairy products – are a good place to start with post-workout snacking.

Your body needs protein after you exercise

A bit of protein is important in recovery, too, since it helps to stimulate muscle repair and growth after you’ve been working out. It doesn’t take much – about 10 grams of protein or so will do. The ideal post-exercise meal or snack contains a combination of healthy carbs and protein, which is why athletes often turn to foods like a sandwich on whole grain bread, a dish of yogurt and fruit, a protein shake made with milk and fruit, or specially formulated recovery beverages.

Meal timing is important after exercise

When you exercise, your muscles become very sensitive to the nutrients that are available – and that sensitivity lasts for a limited amount of time. That’s why many athletes who want to optimize muscle recovery pay attention to this “metabolic window” – the time period of about 30-45 minutes after exercise during which you should try to eat your carbs and protein. During this critical time after you exercise, your muscle cells are more sensitive to the effects of insulin – a hormone that helps transport amino acids (from protein) into your cells. Insulin also works to drive carbohydrate into the cells, where it is stored in the form of glycogen. This stockpile of carbohydrate can then be used to provide energy to working muscles during the next bout of activity. And, once you kick this fuel storage process into gear, you can keep it going for up to eight hours if you continue to provide your body with a shot of carbohydrate every two hours.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife. Herbalife markets sports nutrition products. Find out more about Herbalife24 – Nutrition for the 24 hour athlete.

Do you have a good handle on carbohydrates? Essentially, you get carbohydrates from a wide range of foods, and you need them to keep your body’s engine running.

Just what are carbs, anyway? As much as people talk about carbohydrates, you’d think that everyone actually knows wherewe get our “carbs” and how much carbohydrate we should be eating every day – or not. In truth, carbohydrates have been both praised and punished… in part because they’re largely misunderstood.

Carbs explained

When I say the word, “carb” you probably picture starchy foods like noodles, bread, rice and potatoes. And you’d be right. But you’d be just as right if fruits or vegetables popped into your head. And you’d still be right if you thought of sugar or honey or jam…or even a glass of milk. That’s because lots of foods supply carbohydrate – and it’s a good thing, too. Because when it comes to keeping your engine running, your body’s first choice of fuel isn’t fat or protein – it’s carbohydrate.

We get our carbs from a wide range of foods – but clearly some of them are healthier for us than others. That’s why you sometimes hear people refer to different carbs as being ‘good’ or ‘bad’. What they’re trying to say is that the “good” carbohydrates are those that are the least processed – foods like whole fruits, vegetables, dairy products, beans and whole grains. Dairy products also fall in this category because foods like lowfat milk, yogurt and cottage cheese deliver carbohydrate to the body in the form of naturally-occurring sugars.

The other reason these carbs are “good” is that they provide more than just energy to the body. There’s also vitamins and minerals tagging along – and in the case of fruits, vegetables, beans and grains, we also pick up some fiber and antioxidants, too.

On the other hand, the highly processed refined “bad” carbs – foods like sugars, pastries, white rice, and white flour breads, cereals, pasta and crackers – have little to offer the body beyond just calories. That’s why it’s best to steer towards the whole fruits, veggies, whole grains and beans to meet your carbohydrate needs.

How much carbohydrate do you need?

Sometimes people ask me how much carbohydrate they should eat every day. It’s not a simple question to answer. That’s because the amount of carbohydrate you need to eat depends, in large part, on how many calories you burn every day – but it also depends on how active you are. Generally speaking, it’s suggested that you aim to eat roughly half your calories from carbohydrate. But, if you do a lot of extensive exercise, you might need a bit more. Some people try a very low carb approach to weight loss, but it often backfires. When you cut your intake too far, you may not provide your body with enough carbohydrate to fuel your active lifestyle.

You can estimate your carbohydrate needs fairly simply. If you eat 1600 calories a day, about half of your calories should come from carbohydrate – which, in this case, would be about 800 calories a day from carbohydrate. Since every gram of carbohydrate has 4 calories, you’d divide your suggested carbohydrate calories by 4 to figure out how many grams you should eat per day. In this case, 800 calories of carbohydrate is 200 grams.

But keep in mind that you could eat through your carb budget pretty quickly if most of your carbs are supplied by less healthy foods like desserts, sodas, white bread, crackers and potato chips. So keep your eye on the carbohydrate prize – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and dairy products should be the major sources of carbohydrate in your diet.

Here’s a guide to the amount of carbohydrate you should aim for daily, along with a list of some “healthy” carbohydrate foods with their carbohydrate content. Remember, though, that needs vary from person to person. If, for example, you do a lot of endurance exercise most days of the week, you may need a higher percentage of your daily calories from carbohydrate in order to get enough fuel for such a high level of activity.

Learn your personal carb needs

Daily calorie needs             Suggested daily carbohydrate intake (50% of calories)

1200                                                    150 grams

1400                                                    175 grams

1600                                                    200 grams

1800                                                    225 grams

2000                                                    250 grams

2200                                                    275 grams

2400                                                    300 grams

Essential guide to carb levels in common foods

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife. 

A well-planned vegetarian diet can meet all your nutritional needs, but there’s more to being vegetarian than simply eliminating animal foods from your diet.

Planning a vegetarian diet isn’t really thatmuch different from planning a diet that includes animal foods. Like any other well-balanced plan, a healthy vegetarian diet includes plenty of veggies, along with fruits and whole grains – the main difference is that vegetarians get their protein from plant-based sources rather than animals. And as long as it’s well thought-out, a vegetarian diet can easily provide what your body needs. Let’s explore the options.

Different types of vegetarian diets

Generally speaking, a vegetarian diet excludes animal flesh – so vegetarians as a whole don’t eat meat, fish or poultry. In its strictest form, the vegan diet, even animal products – like milk, eggs or honey – are also excluded. But there are plenty of variations on the vegetarian theme. There are lacto-vegetarians who eat dairy products (but no eggs), ovo-vegetarians who do just the opposite (eggs, no dairy) and the pescetarians who eat a plant-based diet – but they also eat fish.

Getting enough protein on a vegetarian diet

One of the biggest dietary challenges – especially for strict vegans – is getting adequate protein from plant sources. Proteins are made up of small units called amino acids, which your body uses to manufacture body proteins like hormones, enzymes and muscle tissue. Your body can make some amino acids, but others are called essential – because your body can’t make them, so they have to come from the diet.

All animal products – from meat, poultry and fish to milk and eggs – are called completeproteins because they contain all the essential amino acids, and in the right proportions. The challenge for vegetarians is that – with the exception of soybeans – most plant foods lack one or more essential amino acid, so they’re considered incomplete.

Fortunately, there’s a fairly easy work-around – and that’s to combine plant sources in such a way as to provide all the building blocks that the body needs. The essential amino acid that is lacking in beans, peas or lentils, for example, is abundant in grains – and, conveniently, what grains lack, beans can provide. So, when you pair black beans with rice, or a bowl of lentil soup with whole grain bread, you can provide your body with all the essential amino acids it needs.

One of the most common mistakes that many of my clients make when they decide to “veg out” is to simply eat everything that used to be on their plates – minus the ‘flesh’. That might be okay if you’re already eating plenty of plant foods and are getting adequate protein from plant sources. But I see lots of people who start out with a pretty bad diet, but don’t do anything other than to cut out all the animal foods. In the end, they just wind up with the poorly-balanced diet they started with – only now they’re not getting enough protein, either. In short, they’re paying too much attention to what they’re cutting out and not enough attention than what they needed to add in. A diet made up of little more than pancakes and French fries might qualify as vegetarian…but it’s hardly healthy.

Planning a vegetarian diet

A healthy diet – vegetarian or not – consists of a balance of important food groups – fruits, vegetables, proteins and grains. Here are a few basics to get you started:

Have a fruit or veggie at every meal and snack

That’s good advice for everyone. I generally recommend that people strive for at least 3 fruits a day, and then two servings of vegetables at lunch and another two servings at dinner. As calories allow, you can increase these numbers.

Whole grains contribute to protein needs

Whole grains provide some (although not all) essential amino acids, which makes them an important component of a vegetarian plan. The amount you need to eat each day will depend on your calorie and protein needs, but you’ll need a minimum of two daily servings.

Beans, peas and lentils help complete your protein needs

The amino acids found in beans, peas and lentils (and products made from them like tofu, tempeh or protein powders made with soy or pea protein) complement those found in grain foods, which is why these foods are so important. You don’t necessarily have to eat beans and grains at the same meal, but you should make a point to have some of each throughout the day. Again, the amount you need will depend on your calorie and protein needs, but as with any other plan, you should aim to have some protein at each meal and snack to meet needs and help with hunger control.

Dairy and eggs are great protein sources for lacto-ovos

It’s somewhat easier to meet protein needs if you’re vegetarian (not vegan) and include dairy products and eggs in diet. These foods provide high quality protein at a relatively low calorie cost.

Protein powders can help meet protein targets

Protein powders made from plant proteins – like soy, or rice and pea – are great for vegetarians and vegans alike, since they help boost your protein intake at a relatively low calorie cost. They’re easy to add to foods like protein shakes, cooked oatmeal and even soups to boost protein– and, you can tailor the amount you use to your individual needs.

Protein content in vegetarian foods

Note: Pay attention to the calorie cost of some of these foods. Nut butters, for example, do provide some protein, but the calorie cost is relatively high. Also, I included rice, hemp and almond milk on the list because many people use them as alternatives to dairy milk, but notice that they are quite low in protein. Also, I’ve included information on eggs, egg whites and milk-based products for the lacto-ovo vegetarians.

 Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.