How to eat the first meal after working out

    The success of your post-workout nutritional supplement depends on how you consume your carbohydrates. Consuming carbohydrates after a workout increases the secretion of insulin, an anabolic hormone. Insulin plays three important roles in muscle recovery:

　　1. It can "drive" sugar from carbohydrate foods into muscles to reserve energy for the next training.

　　2. It can "drive" amino acids from protein foods into muscle tissue to promote muscle growth. 3. It can inhibit the catabolic effect of adrenocortical hormone (a hormone secreted by the human body during intense training).

　　Average carbohydrate intake female 2-2.5 grams per pound of body weight per day, male 2.5-3.5 grams. In order to maximize the anabolic opportunities after exercise, it is best to arrange for 25% of the total daily carbohydrates to be consumed immediately after exercise.

　　After exercise, consuming complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates in a ratio of 3:1 is beneficial to the rapid and sustained release of insulin and avoids hypoglycemia. Don't just eat simple carbohydrates because they are digested the fastest and cause insulin secretion to peak and fall back quickly. The side effect is to stimulate the terrible catabolism, because in order to prevent the rapid drop in insulin levels, the body will secrete another hormone that can cause catabolism and destroy muscle tissue.

　　Heavy training depletes the muscles' amino acid and glycogen stores (the latter is the main source of energy during training). As training progresses, the body continuously depletes the muscles' glycogen stores. If glycogen stores get too low, it forces the body to change its energy source - using more protein as fuel. Some protein comes from food, while most comes from muscle tissue.

　　Protein supplement after fitness. The meal after fitness should avoid ingesting protein foods that are difficult to digest, such as chicken, beef, steak, etc. Instead, choose milk, egg , high protein and other easily digestible foods. The purpose of eating at this time is to deliver sufficient amino acids to the muscles and provide raw materials for muscle growth.