When it comes to nutrition, we often think about what you need to eat to fuel your workouts or to achieve the body composition you’ve been working toward. Just like sleeping and resting for recovery, eating for recovery often flies under the radar. However, recovery can be just as important as your workouts. Let’s go over a few tips to help enhance your recovery through nutrition.
Your recovery needs will depend on the intensity of your workouts. If you are completing intense strength training sessions, your recovery will look different than a cyclist or a jogger.
The Three R’s of Recovery
When considering how to build a post-recovery meal, think of the three R’s: replenish, rehydrate, repair (USA Swimming, n.d.).
Replenish
Following your workout, you need to replenish your body’s energy stores. Glycogen is the main store of energy in your body, which comes from carbohydrates (USA Swimming, n.d.). Within one hour of completing your workout, ensure to get 0.25-0.5 grams for each pound of body weight (USA Swimming, n.d.).
Rehydrate
Rehydrating can be about more than just replenishing the water you’ve lost through exercise. If you are participating in strenuous exercise for longer than an hour at a time, you should also consider replenishing your electrolyte stores (Urban, 2023). Electrolytes are minerals that are essential to proper cellular function (Cleveland Clinic, 2021). Electrolytes can be replenished through supplements, drinks/drink powders, or foods.
Repair
Repairing following a workout focuses on obtaining adequate protein intake to rebuild the body’s skeletal muscle (USA Swimming, n.d.). 15-30 grams of protein within 60 minutes of exercising is ideal, and eating 0.68-0.1 grams per pound of desired body weight per day is ideal for muscle growth (USA Swimming, n.d.; Pencharz et al., 2016).
Some sources include a fourth R: Reinforce (USA Swimming, n.d.). This additional step ensures that you select foods that are antioxidant-rich to promote cellular and immune system function (USA Swimming, n.d.). Foods like berries, cruciferous vegetables, nuts, and seeds are full of antioxidants and a great way to optimize immune function and ensure consumption of essential minerals.
References
Cleveland Clinic (2021). Electrolytes. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/21790-electrolytes
Pencharz, P. B., Elango, R., & Wolfe, R. R. (2016). Recent developments in understanding protein needs – How much and what kind should we eat?. Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme, 41(5), 577–580. https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2015-0549
Urban, A. (2023). Hydration: Are electrolyte drinks better than water. University of New Hampshire. https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2023/09/hydration-are-electrolyte-drinks-better-water
USA Swimming (n.d.) Recovery Nutrition. https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/camps/national-select-camp/recovery-nutrition.pdf
