What to eat after a workout

Thursday, 10 May 2012 7:42 AM

Don't ruin all your hard work in the gym with a fatty post-workout snack. Rather than reaching for a chocolate bar or high-sugar juice, experts now recommend having a small, balanced meal within one hour of your exercise to refuel.

Nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton said: “Many people are not only consuming unnecessary calories but fail to get the balance right between carbs, for topping up energy stores; and protein, for repairing muscles.
 
“What you eat before and after exercise is important for optimum performance and recovery. Experts now recommend a post-exercise meal that combines protein and carbohydrate. Other choices can be a waste of money, or loaded with unnecessary calories.”

Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Ennis, Michael Phelps and Paula Radcliffe have all been quoted recently saying they eat eggs as part of their training. A poll for British Lion eggs found around one in three women (31%) have a savoury snack of nuts or crisps, and 29% have a glass of fruit juice or a smoothie.

A more sensible choice could be eggs on wholemeal toast; apples and seeds; cottage cheese and fresh fruit; rice cakes with nut butter; vegetable omelette with wholemeal bread.

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