It’s essential to fuel your body with the right nutrients before a workout, and it’s just as important to eat the right foods after a workout too! When you push your body hard during a workout, your heart rate goes up, your muscles break down, and you sweat a lot,.
Before a workout, you need to eat foods that will give you sustainable energy (find the best ingredients for pre-workout green smoothies here). After a workout, you need to eat foods that will replenish lost nutrients and help your body rebuild your muscles to be even stronger.
You’ll want to include 10-20 grams of protein, good carbohydrates, and liquids to rehydrate. We discovered ten ingredients you should consider adding to your next post-workout green smoothies to help your body recover from a good workout.
Nut Butter
Getting enough protein after a workout is crucial for proper recovery. Since nut butter is high in protein, it’s a great addition to your post-workout meal or smoothie!
Hemp Hearts
Hemp hearts are also a great source of protein and fiber, which makes them perfect for an after-workout snack. They’re also well known for their role in repairing muscles.
Coconut Water
Coconut water is great for replenishing electrolytes lost during your workout. It’s lower in calories than most sports drinks, which makes it a much better option.
Blueberries
Blueberries are chock full of antioxidants—specifically the kind that help prevent exercise-induced muscle damage. This is great news for you! Eat some blueberries after your workout and you’ll avoid extra muscle pain and help your muscles recover up to three times faster than normal!
Pineapple
Pineapple is another fruit that is loaded with antioxidants that help you recover from your workout quicker and build muscles faster. Add in the bonus of bromelain, an enzyme that helps keep injury inflammation in check, and you can see why we’re so sweet on this tasty fruit!
Kiwi
Kiwi falls into the same category as pineapple and blueberries. It’s full of sore-muscle fighting antioxidants. It’s also loaded with lots of Vitamin C and potassium, which help replenish nutrients lost during a workout.
Tart Red Cherry Juice
Tart red cherry juice has also been found to support healing and recovery. The antioxidants in the juice help fight against inflammation and muscle damage. The bottom line: tart red cherry juice can help you recover quicker, so you can hit the gym even harder next time.
Orange Juice
Orange juice is a great addition to a post-workout smoothie. Like kiwi, orange juice has a lot of Vitamin C and potassium, which are really important nutrients to replenish after a workout.
Bananas
Bananas contain good carbohydrates, which the body quickly and easily converts into energy after a workout. By eating a banana after workout, you help your body recover quickly and rebuild muscles faster.
Sweet Potatoes
Like bananas, sweet potatoes are packed with carbohydrates the body needs to recover from a tough workout. They’re also rich in fiber, Vitamin E, and potassium—all nutrients that aid in quick recovery.
Since you know our favorite form of post-workout food comes straight from our blender, we thought we would share our favorite post-workout green smoothie.
Hint: we used FOUR of the foods listed above. If you really need a pick-me-up, try out our post-workout green smoothie with a spoonful of nut butter on the side!
April 6th, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Loving these smoothies! I made the tropical smoothie! I added cashew cluster to my smoothie for that extra protien.
April 6th, 2015 at 8:06 pm
Rawk on!