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Paleo Post WOD Nutrition #withmomentum

Posted 29th July 2013 by Josh Schouten

You just gave your Workout Of the Day (W.O.D) everything you’ve got.  Shifting large loads through a full range of motion has left you lying on the floor in a puddle of your own sweat. Well we hope it’s your own!  You SMASHED IT, and now your body is ready for some quality post-W.O.D nutrition.  So what do you eat after your W.O.D?  Is a simple protein shake really enough?

Did you know post-workout nutrition can help you burn-fat, build muscle, restore tissue and build strength?  Remember that training is a physical stress and stimuli that we place on our body in order for adaptation to take effect.  Training damages muscle tissue, deplete energy stores, elevate cortisol levels and fire off many different metabolic responses in our bodies.  In simple terms, you’ve just burned a tank fuel of energy and your body is screaming to be refueled before it goes catabolic and starts catabolizing your valuable lean muscle mass.

Remember, the more lean muscle mass you have the higher you metabolism.  With a higher metabolism you can eat more food and possibly end up being even leaner.  Body fat percentage is a ratio of lean muscle mass to body fat.  Trust me, you want to increase/maintain you lean muscle mass at all cost.  This goes for female and male clients alike.

Not a week passes that I don’t have someone ask me about post-workout nutrition.   I’m a big believer in liquid protein shakes (whey, pea, rice, hemp, anything but soy).   I also believe you should rotate your liquid protein shakes as overuse can cause food intolerances, inflammation and digestive issues.  Unfortunately, whey is not Paleo!

Liquid protein is ideal after a W.O.D as it digested quickly and it influences several hormones, including insulin, that, in turn, have a great impact on body composition.  No matter your goal having the right intake of protein is critical.  It’s also a lot easier to drink your protein than chew on a steak immediately after your W.O.D.

So what about carbohydrates? Post W.O.D is the best time to consume carbohydrates, as the high intensity movements have depleted your glucose/glycogen stores.  How much carbohydrate?  This really depends on your fitness goals.  If you’re trying to loose weight I suggest you try to eat carbohydrates that are high in fibre.  Fibre slows down the release of sugar in the blood stream and help control insulin levels.

Personally, I’m a big supporter of Paleo and eating real whole foods.  I would rather you get your carbohydrates for good healthy sources of fruit and vegetables than grain (I do make an exception for rice and sometime ice-cream). Again this depends on your goals and your current body composition.

So here is a Paleo post W.O.D dish that I’ve been enjoying lately.

 

Baked Sweet Potatoes and Apple

Ingredients:

2-3 Large Sweet potatoes washed with skin on

3 Apples pealed and cores removed

3 Tablespoons of organic coconut palm oil

1-2 Teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1-2 Teaspoons of cinnamon

 

Recipe:

  1. Heat oven to 180deg
  2. Melt coconut palm oil in a small pan
  3. Dice sweet potato and apple into small pieces and pace in a baking dish
  4. Pour melted coconut oil over the sweet potato and apple
  5. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over sweet potato and apple
  6. Mix it all together with you hands
  7. Bake in the over for 50minutes
  8. Remove from the oven and mash the sweet potato and apple together
  9. Eat hot, or store in the fridge for super post W.O.D nutrition

 

Note: This recipe can be modified slightly depending on you goals:

Weight Loss: Enjoy as is, or add some more fibre to the mix.  For example you could add ground flaxseed after cooking and allowing cool.

Weight Gain and Multiple workouts in a day: You need to fuel the high performance machine and be ready for the workouts to come.  You need additional calories to help the body grow.  Add a banana near the end of the cooking time an then add some nuts, or nut butter, to the mix before you eat it.  Almonds, hazelnuts or Brazil nuts taste awesome in the mix.

 

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.  You MUST know what your post-W.O.D nutrition is going to be before your W.O.D.  Always have a fool proof plan in place for what, where and how soon you can refuel the high performance machine….. your body!

 

Enjoy.