What you eat and drink post-workout is really important and can make a huge difference to your healthy lifestyle and the benefits you’re getting from your workout. Giving your body the fuel it needs can help you to recover faster from a workout and to perform at its best!
Are you often starving after a workout? There is a good reason for that, often hunger is just your body’s way of tell you it needs some fuel — if you’ve worked your muscles super hard, they need to be refueled. Sometimes all you need to get your body what it needs is a supercharged protein smoothie from Kauai
To understand how the right foods can help you after exercise, it’s important to understand what happens to your body when you work out. When you’re working out, your muscles use up their glycogen stores for fuel. This results in your muscles being partially depleted of glycogen. Some of the proteins in your muscles also get broken down and damaged.
BTW, not 100% sure what glycogen is? Here you go: When your body doesn’t need all its glucose, it stores it in your liver and in your muscles. This stored form of glucose is called glycogen. When your body needs a quick boost of energy (ie. Working out) or when you’re not getting glucose from food, glycogen is broken down to release glucose into the bloodstream to be used as fuel for the cells.
After your workout, your body tries to rebuild its glycogen stores and repair and regrow those muscle proteins and eating the right food is the best thing you can do for your body and the perfect way to optimize your workout.
So to break it down, eating mindfully after a workout helps your body:
1. Decrease muscle protein breakdown.
2. Increase muscle growth.
3. Restore glycogen stores.
4. Enhance overall recovery.
Let’s get to how you can do this…
Protein Helps Repair and Build Muscle
As mentioned above, training triggers the breakdown of protein in your muscles. The rate at which this happens depends on the exercise and your level of training. Consuming protein after a workout gives you the amino acids you need to repair and rebuild these proteins. It also gives you the building blocks required to build more muscle.
Ingredients to look out for here are pretty obvious: Protein. The easiest whey (see what we did there) to get protein is to look out for good quality, grass-fed whey protein or clean, plant protein powder. The Kauai protein smoothies are made with their own protein powder that they meticulously developed to make it a top quality source of protein. Nuts also have some protein in them so look out for nut butters! Smoothies to try: The Cinnabomb and the Salted Caramel! Both have nut butter and grass-fed, whey protein. You can also get a quick fix with one of the super delicious Kauai protein bars, you won’t regret it and it’s also great for an on the go snack.
Carbs Help With Recovery
Your body’s glycogen stores are used as fuel during exercise, and consuming carbs after your workout helps replenish them. Consuming even a little bit of carbs within 30 minutes after training can help replenish glycogen.
Ingredients in smoothies to look out for to get healthy carbs are fruit. Luckily all the Kauai protein smoothies have some fruit in them to naturally sweeten them and for the little bit of carbs you need to restore you glycogen levels. PS. Peanuts also have a little bit of carbs in them but not like you needed an excuse to reach for the Peanut Butter Bomb. Also try the Nature’s Protein with pineapple and banana for a glycogen boost.
Finally, Make Sure to Drink Plenty of Water
It is important to drink plenty of water before and after your workout. When you are properly hydrated, this ensures the optimal internal environment for your body to maximize results. During exercise, you lose water through sweat. Replenishing these after a workout can help with recovery and performance.
Kauai has implemented the necessary precautions in-store to protect their staff and their customers against COVID-19, read it here.
App your game: Download the Kauai app for Android and Apple. Have your smoothie ready when your workout is done with the order ahead feature or use the contactless payment option if you’re ordering in store. We won’t be allowing sit-down meals in the Virgin Active Kauai stores for a while after reopening (for your safety and to give more of you guys access to the clusb) so this app will come in handy.
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