Tip of the Week- Workout Recovery for Veggies

After a heavy workout it is very important to eat correctly in order to allow the body to recover, to provide you with a sufficient amount of fuel for your next session.

For vegetarians this becomes a much harder task; so here are a few tips of what you can try.

Luckily for athletes studies have shown that vegetarianism represents an effective way to ensure a high carb intake with a low fat diet, with the carb intake replenishing your glycogen stores after a workout.

Although many would frown upon eating carbs later in the day due to the negative impact this could have on weight loss, you need to focus most of your carbs after training in the evening.

This is when the muscle is most primed to store them for subsequent exercise. Whey and dairy are good choices for post- training protein because they will support muscle tissue. Consume these as soon as possible after training with a good amount of simple carbs.

A baked potato with mozzarella, a pint of skimmed milk with fruit, or a lentil dahl with roti and raita are all good meals in this respect.

If this is impractical, drink a recovery shake, consuming at least 20g protein with similar amounts of carbs, then eat a similar meal within four hours.

The idea of good nutrition is to optimise timing, rather than adding additional calories and thereby stimulating fat gains.

These recovery meals contain high GI carbs, so for breakfast and lunch before training eat lower GI sources, such as oats, pasta and pulses, and reduce the overall carb composition of your meals.

Emma Driskel-Fitness Professional@Bexley