What Should You Eat After a Workout?

A popular exercising myth is to starve oneself after working out. It is believed that if you eat after
exercising, you gain all the weight you lost and pile on even more pounds. But the exact opposite is true. To aid your weight loss or workout, you must eat something after a workout. Eating after a workout is like filling petrol in your car, after a long drive. It re-energizes you and strengthens you for the day or night ahead. But what should you eat after a workout? Eating chocolate or drinking coke sounds very tempting, but your body takes that sort of food and immediately turns it into fat.
What Food to Eat, Post Exercise?
Post workout nutrition involves the following food groups:
Water: You workout and sweat, so you should make up for the loss of water from your body. Keep yourself hydrated, during and after your workout. Try to drink 16-20 ounces of water, immediately after your workout.
Calories: Okay, this sounds confusing, working out means losing calories right? The idea here, is to eat enough calories, to equal 50% of what you lost during your exercise. For e.g. If you lose 300 calories, make up by eating 150 calories later. This does not affect your weight burning efforts.
Carbohydrates: When you workout, your muscles lose whatever energy they have stored up. So yes, you do lose weight, but you need some energy for the next exercise session as well. If you don't fill up on energy, then the muscles remain tired and you have less vigor and zest for your next workout. So stock up on carbohydrates, to restore your energy levels.
Proteins: These are necessary to start the muscle rebuilding and repairing process.
So to sum up, foods high in carbohydrates, moderate protein content, no fats and plenty of water are what you should eat after a workout! Here are some post workout snack ideas:
1. Lean turkey, chicken, ham, tuna or roast beef sandwich
2. Low fat yogurt and fruit
3. High fiber cereal with skim milk
4. Dried fruits and nuts
5. Omelet with veggies
6. Energy bars
7. Reduced fat cheese and crackers
8. Rice cakes
9. Stir-fried veggies with chicken/shrimp/tofu
10. Pancakes (not laden with syrup or butter) and eggs
11. Fruit smoothies or juice
12. Bread, bagel or muffin with peanut butter or cheese slice
13. Non-fat chocolate milk
14. Hummus and pita
15. Cottage cheese with fruit