protein

Pre-Workout Nutrition

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Wanna be a beast in the gym?!

Heck yeah!

So fuel up right!

Have a heaping dose of carbs, moderate protein and some fats anywhere from 1 to 1 and half hours before you get started.  We need carbs to lift weights, for explosive power and to sustain our energy level throughout the length of our time in the gym.  Carbs give our amazing bodies ENERGY to do these things. The better we fuel our bodies the more awesome gym gains we’ll see.  On training days consume MOST of your carbs before and after your workouts.  For example, I’m currently consuming about 230g of carbs everyday. So, I’ll consume about 50-60% of that split between pre and post workout meals.  The remaining is spread out between my other meals, which will consist of a lot of veggies and fiber.

Consuming protein in your pre-workout meal will simply keep the body supplied with the aminos to keep the body from breaking down muscle and readily build up what we’re tearing apart during exercise.

Since fats take longer to digest, it’s smart to add a little fats to our pre-workout meal so that the carbs and protein we also eat aren’t burned up quickly, yielding a steady energy duration throughout our workout time.

So don’t be afraid of carbs! They can actually do us some good for our training sessions!

Need help finding macros? Message me, I’d be happy to help =)

Post Workout Eats

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So you just finished crushing a workout, guess what?! Time to refuel!

Eat PROTEIN and CARBS within 30-45min after training, this is the precious time-frame that leads to the best recovery.  The primary goal post-workout should be to provide your body with an immediate fuel source to prevent it from breaking down muscle tissue for energy.  We want to replenish our glycogen stores with fast digesting carbs so that our precious muscles can refuel for our next training session.  We want this happen quick so ditch the fats because fats will slow digestion.  Consuming protein will help repair muscle and encourage muscle growth.

I always have a scoop of Amazing Grass Protein Powder or Garden Of Life Whey in a shaker bottle in my gym bag. So all I’ve got to do is add water and kick it back.  I also have a container of my favorite cereal (because I LOVE cereal) in a container and snack on that as I make my way out of the gym.  My favorite cereal right now is Nature’s Path Honey’d Flakes, it yields 48 total grams of carbs for just one cup. So I have two to help meet my total carbs for the day.  Plan to consume your highest yielding carbs pre and post workout for best carb timing.  Carbs for the rest of the day should be fibrous carbs from fruits and veggies.

Food item of the week, Rainbow Chard!

This week I’m cooking with Rainbow Chard! Rainbow Chard is leafy green with bright red, orange or yellow stems and is actually classified as a beet.  This large “leaf” is similar to Spinach in how it cooks and tastes.  It is slightly bitter but not bad at all, the bitterness goes away when cooked.  It is also known as Swiss Chard, Silverbeet, Perpetual Spinach, Spinach Beet, Crab Beet, Bright Lights, Seakale Beet, and Mangold.  I’ve learned that Rainbow Chard has large amounts of Vitamin A and moderate amounts of Vitamin K and C and is rich in minerals and dietary fiber.

Here, I simply chopped one leaf then sauteed it with grass-fed butter for about 3 min then added whole eggs.

chard and eggs