After working out why am I starving for food?

Great question!! Most people believe that when you workout you build your body but that is incorrect! What really happens from your intense workout is that muscles are broken down and your body is weakened so naturally afterwards your system goes into recovery mode.

The body uses up hormones (free testosterone, serotonin, nitrogen, etc.), glucose (blood sugar), glycogen (protein in the muscle),  middle and long chain triglycerides depending on several factors (fat). Your hunger for food is your body doing its job making you stronger, healthier and balanced.

I recommend a High GI simple carbohydrate such as a banana or fruit juice and fast acting protein powder Whey Isolate such as VPX Protein within 15 minutes post workout. In general, use a 3:1 carb to protein ratio. Make sure you do not add any fat to your shake such as peanut butter. It will slow down the nutritional upload or intake.

1 hour after your shake eat a low fat fish, chicken or turkey breast with a white potato, white rice or white pasta. Again no fat in this meal or vegetables. Use the same 3:1 ration. We are focusing on maximizing protein and carbohydrate intake for a speedy recovery. Take a shot of wheat grass and/or Acai berry juice (high antioxidants) with a Animal pack or a good multi-vitamin for your immune system and essentials.

Some Facts on Eating After Exercise:

“Research has shown that eating 0.3-0.6 grams of carbohydrate for each pound of body weight within two hours of endurance exercise is essential to building adequate glycogen stores for continued training. Waiting longer than two hours to eat results in 50 percent less glycogen stored in the muscle. The reason for this is that carbohydrate consumption stimulates insulin production, which aids the production of muscle glycogen. However, the effect of carbohydrate on glycogen storage reaches a plateau.”

This may be shocking to you…. smoking, drinking alcohol and intense exercise will create free radicals which kills blood cells. High free radical causes premature aging and accelerated cancers cell growth. Antioxidants helps place oxygen in your system so new cells are created.

Small fact, an average smoker needs 5 times the micronutrients (vitamins etc… ) to replenish daily cells being killed. For example, a non smoker would need only 500 to 1000 milligrams of vitamin C where a smoker would need a minimum of 5000mg. I use this example because most people believe exercising alone is enough and will produce the results there looking for.

Most experts and I would agree that fitness and health results are based mostly on nutrition and supplementation, 60 to 80 percent. But if you’re just getting started and you’re tackling the exercise part for now, more power to you!!! Everything else will evolve with a clear balanced plan and time.

Important Tip, Hydrate After Exercise:

The first nutritional priority after exercise is to replace any fluid lost during exercise. In general the best way to determine how much to drink is to:

• Weigh yourself before and after exercise and replace fluid losses.

• Drink 20-24 fl oz water for every 1 lb lost.

Fadi