My brand new cookbook is out on Amazon! It’s called “30-Minute Plant-Based Recipes” and it’s perfect for busy vegans. Grab it now!
POST-TRAINING FOOD
Running is considered cardio exercise. Running more than 5 miles (or 8 km) at a time is considered endurance running.
In order to understand which foods are important to consume after you run or workout, it’s first important to understand what happens to your body during the exercise.
When you run or perform a high cardio activity, your muscles use up glycogen stores to fuel your body. What is glycogen? It simply a substance that is deposited in bodily tissues as a store of carbohydrates.
After your workout, the body tries to rebuild the glycogen levels and repair the little muscles tears caused by the workout.
So if you’re hitting your body with cardio, the first thing you should do is replenish glycogen levels.
After a run or any cardio, you should consume high carb snack within 30 minutes. It’s recommended to eat 0.5g – 1.0g grams of carbs per pound of body weight. So for instance, if you weight 120 lbs, you should eat between 60g – 120g of carbs. (translation to kg: eat 1g-1.5g /kg of body weight).
Keep it healthy though! 😉 Fruits are the best post-workout snacks here. Have a bowl of your favorite fruit right after working out. This will help replenish your energy level and bring you back to live! If you know you’ll be short on time, cut up fruit ahead of time so that it’s ready to go.
Smoothies are great for post-running and post-cardio workout. Add fruits, nut butters, even veggies such as kale. Smoothies work great for people who do not like to eat fruits but don’t mind drinking them.
Dried fruits (dates, apricots) mixed with nuts is another good option if you’re in a hurry.
Here’s a quick list with vegan snacks that provide 50 grams carbohydrates per serving:
ERGOGENC AIDS
Do you know what Ergogenic means? I had no idea until I started researching this topic this past weekend. Well…supposedly this is a widely known word in the athlete world which refers to anything that gives you a mental or physical edge while exercising.
Interesting!
I’d like to have the edge too!
Unfortunately, while I was reading up on ergogenic aids, most of them are animal-derived. I won’t even go over those because this is a vegan place after all!
I was able to find two that are vegan: one is familiar to many and another not so much (at least to me!)
Protein powder
I had no idea that protein powder is considered as enhancing physical edge! Protein powder is something you should have as a runner right after your run. The easiest way is to mix it in your smoothie. Or, have a protein-rich bar (I have a recipe for one here).
Smoothies and bars are a great way to replenish both glycogen and protein levels.
Creatine
Now creatine is something that body builder and strength athletes are familiar with. It’s one of the few nutritional supplements that clinical studies have shown to be effective to reduce muscle fatigue and maximize lean muscle gains.
While creatine is derived naturally from animal products, nowadays there’re vegan options as well which have been synthetically produced.
It’s usually recommended to take creatine for short periods a time (a few weeks) when you’re training very intensely with workouts where energy transfer needs to happen such as playing soccer, HIIT, sprinting or lifting weights. Creatine will not help with running where your body is a steady production of energy at a slow rate.
ON THE GO
What if you’re super crazy busy and need something on-the-go? Below I’ve listed some of the store-bought options that are great to drink or eat right after a run or a cardio workout. Note: these products are available in the U.S. since this is where I live 😊 They may also be available internationally, just check your local supermarkets.
- Forager Organic Plant Protein Shake
- Koia Protein Shake
- Orgain Protein Shake
- Papa Steve’s No Junk Raw Protein Bar
- No Cow Protein Cookie
- Lenny and Larry Protein Cookie
FUELING PERFORMANCE
A few closing notes on making sure you’re achieving your peak performance while on a vegan lifestyle. If you’re engaging in aerobic exercise such as running, swimming, hiking, rowing, etc. then it’s always best to up your calorie intake. You need to make sure you’re eating enough to maintain your energy level to perform.
The great source to refer to what an optimal vegan diet should look like is this article: What Vegans Should Eat Everyday to Get all the Nutrients.
Final thoughts:
Eat more to compensate for lower energy density of plant foods.
Don’t skip meals.
Plant foods are less energy dense, so increase your portion.
Add snacks during the meals.
Don’t forget to sleep!
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
My brand new cookbook is out on Amazon! It’s called “30-Minute Plant-Based Recipes” and it’s perfect for busy vegans. Grab it now!
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