Which carbs to eat after workout

Hard workouts leave your muscles starving for fuel. Without adequate nutrients to restore depleted glycogen stores, protein balance is said to remain in a negative state.

Skipping meals post-workout can contribute to an imbalance or negative physiological environment not conducive to building muscle tissue or repairing tissue damaged from exercise. The goal is to maintain a positive or net protein balance achieved by eating adequate amounts of macronutrients before, during, and especially after exercise.

Improved muscle protein synthesis rates were shown for athletes consuming both carbohydrates and protein immediately following exercise. The post-workout meal doesn't have to be complicated nor does it require expensive shakes or supplements. The most important part of eating right is planning and preparing your meals.

Your body will appreciate a meal ready to go when the workout is done. Costly commercial recovery foods like protein powder can be purchased and some people opt for this convenience.

However, it's just as easy and more budget-friendly to buy and prepare healthy food. You will have a ready stock of quality whole foods for frequent meals to keep your body fueled after a hard workout. Preparing your post-workout food is also part of the fun of maintaining a healthy body and lifestyle. Below is a sampling of meals that can be enjoyed after a great workout. Additional snacks to enjoy recommended by the American Council on Exercise:. Finding what healthy foods work best for you post-workout will be through trial and error.

Having a nutritional strategy in place will create the success of your food plan post and pre-workout. Eating the right foods to fuel your body after exercise will be the most important part of achieving your goals. Other suggestions are not to skip meals and remember to drink plenty of water. Get nutrition tips and advice to make healthy eating easier.

J Int Soc Sports Nutr 14, 20 You can buy this as a powder from various different sources. It has a rating of 96 for a 50 gram portion. This is one of the more common sugars used in post workout shakes. Dextrose is a good choice, however, some users find that they have a spill over effect that results in fat gain, so that makes more of an individual choice as you would have to test it and assess the results.

Sucrose —this is common table sugar. It's made up of one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose. It has a rating of 60 for a 25 gram portion. So as you can see, other than dextrose, most of these sources are not ideal as part of the post workout shake. Maltodextrin is actually a complex carbohydrate made from either corn, rice or potato starch, but its molecular chain is shorter than other complex carbs. As well, it consists of loosely bonded glucose molecules.

And like dextrose, maltodextrin is absorbed directly through the gut. So it raises blood sugar and insulin levels as much as dextrose does. However, before maltodextrin can be utilized, it must first pass through the liver for the bonds between the glucose molecules to be broken down.

So the rate at which it is used for glycogen replenishment is slower than with dextrose. However, because it is metabolized slower, there will not be as quick of a drop of insulin and blood sugar levels as with dextrose. There appears to be no potential for fat gain from the use of maltodextrin.

So here we have two good choices: dextrose and maltodextrin. This makes sense because consumption of dextrose by itself can be inferior for several reasons. We do not offer individual medical advice, diagnosis or treatment plans. For personal advice, please consult with a medical professional. Forbes Health adheres to strict editorial integrity standards.

To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. Stacey Colino is a Maryland-based writer and author who specializes in health and psychological issues.

She is also a certified health coach ACE , certified group exercise instructor and Spinning instructor. Select Region. United States. United Kingdom.

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Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. Get A Custom Plan. On Noom's Secure Website. Free Trial. But this is where the type of exercise you do has an effect: endurance sports require your body to use more glycogen than resistance training, so runners or swimmers tend to need more carbs than bodybuilders. Lambert advises focusing on easily-digested foods to promote faster nutrient absorption.

These could be:. Drinking plenty of water before and after exercise is also crucial to replenish the fluids and electrolytes you sweat out. The timing of your post-workout meal matters. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies.