Three Super Quick & Easy Meals for Perfect Post Workout Fueling
Check out these super quick and easy meals for post-workout fueling from registered dietitian and running coach Serena Marie, RD. Serena offers running recovery nutrition tips that will help you run happy and injury-free. Whether you are training for a marathon or your first 5K, these nutrition tips for runners will help you stay healthy and running strong.
We all know that training makes us hungry and sore, but we do it anyway! As a dietitian and fellow runner, I totally understand that RUN- ger is real, and I’ve made it my life mission to help runners feel less hungry and sore by tweaking their diet!
Post-Workout Fuel
Nutrient timing is a really powerful tool to help athletes perform better, recover faster and control the endless desire to snack.
So today we are talking about ONE part of the nutrient timing equation: post-workout nutrition. Manipulating your post workout nutrition helps you refuel to prevent you from feeling famished (and overeating) later while speeding up the recovery process.
After a workout, our body has used up a lot of the stored sugar (called glycogen) from our muscles and liver. Additionally, many workouts create micro-tears in muscles which need to be healed before our next workout. The right post-workout nutrition repletes glycogen while helping to facilitate the healing of damaged muscle tissue (and help it actually become an even stronger muscle!).
Carbs and Protein for Runners
So here’s the simple post-workout rule of thumb: carbs and protein are super-duper important.
It’s important to get the right amount of protein at that post-workout meal to stimulate “muscle protein synthesis” or, basically, muscle building. In order to stimulate this fancy-schmancy process, we need to eat 20-30 grams of protein in our post-workout meal. This looks like a palm sized portion of meat, seitan or fish, 2 cups of edamame, 4 ounces of bean pasta, a scoop of protein powder, ¾ cup egg whites or about ¾ scup Greek yogurt. That list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a good place to start!
Carbs are a little trickier because the amount of carbohydrate you’ll need depends on your activity, your size, age, your weekly mileage, etc. Helping athletes figuring out the right amount of carbs their body needs is one of my main roles as a dietitian! However, it is important to stress that you need a generous serving of carb post-workout. A good rule of thumb is to choose at least 1 cup cooked starch such as beans, quinoa, farro or rice. Choosing fiber rich carbs (like beans and quinoa) will really help that post-workout meal keep you fuller longer.
As much as I’m sure you love the science, I bet you came for the food! So let’s talk about really easy, quick ways to meet your carb and protein goals post-workout. I made this short video to walk you through three vegetarian friendly post-workout fueling options that will take you minutes to make while keeping you full for hours. This video will walk you through three easy recipes that will give you enough protein and carbs to re-fuel and heal after a challenging workout.
Running Recovery Recipes:
Protein Pasta Recipe
1/2 cup Barilla Protein-Plus Pasta or Banza Protein Pasta
1/4 cup Organic Pasta Sauce
Boil pasta in water and cook until tender (about 10-12 minutes). Add pasta sauce and serve. Enjoy your super quick and easy post-run recovery meal!
Protein Smoothie Recipe
1 Banana
1 serving of protein powder (check out our post on the best supplements for runners to help you pick a protein powder)
1 cup of milk (regular milk, oat milk or almond milk, depending on your preference)
Put the banana, protein powder and milk in your blender and blend. If you like a really cold smoothie, freeze your banana first. Enjoy your post-run recovery smoothie!
Protein Snack Recipe
An alternative to pasta sauce is to add some olive oil, gralic and pepper to your protein pasta. You can also add spinach or any vegetables you like.
2 slices of whole wheat bread
1/4 cup cottage cheese (I love Good Culture cottage cheese)
Optional toppings: honey, everything bagel seasoning
Toast your whole wheat bread. Spread cottage cheese on each piece of toast. Add toppings that you like. Some topping options include honey, everything bagel seasoning or fruit. Enjoy your protein-rich recovery snack!
These high-protein recipes include at least 20 grams of protein and adequate carbs for your post-workout recovery. Eating enough protein and carbs will help your muscles repair and build so you will be ready to go out and slay your next run. If you’d like to learn more about running nutrition, check out our Nutrition for Runners Guide from a Dietitian and our Supplements for Runners post to learn how to pick a protein powder and what vitamins you need to fuel your running program.
Have you tried any of these recipes? Comment below with your favorite post-run recovery foods.
If you have any questions about fueling, do not hesitate to reach out to Serena Marie, RD. You can email her at serena@serenamarierd.com , join her free Facebook community or hang out with her on Instagram @serenamarierd. Serena is a runner too… so you know you can always reach out to her to just talk about food and running!!
Related Posts: Healthy Smoothie Recipe, 8 Tips for Muscle Recovery, Organic Food Guide, What to Eat for Running, Nutrition for Runners Guide
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