First, I want to thank Christine for reaching out to me.  I love what she does and I love her blog so I was more than happy to help when she had the idea of a guest post.  I love talking Paleo, too, and Christine had the wonderful idea of a post dedicated to refueling your body after a workout with Paleo food ideas.  So let’s dive in and have some fun….

The needs of athletes vary greatly depending upon the sport and level of activity. The needs of a triathlete are quite different from those of boxer or Olympic Weightlifter. Despite these different needs all athletes share a few things:

• Means of optimizing performance
• Methods for improving recovery

The Paleo diet is the perfect solution for both performance and recovery. Lean protein sources (such as chicken, lean beef, turkey, pork and seafood) are performance enhancing because of the large amount of Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA’s) which have been proven to be crucial in rapid recovery after hard training, both for strength and endurance athletes.  Most of your recovery meals will start with 4-8 oz of lean proteins.

The next part in determining what is best for your post meal recovery depends on the nature of your sport. High-intensity aerobic or anaerobic sports such triathlons, running, biking, swimming, rowing, soccer, and even certain Crossfit WODs should take advantage of a period of time post-workout when the body is primed for recovery. A meal of 4-8 oz of lean protein PLUS 50-100g of nutritious Paleo-friendly carbohydrate, such as yams, sweet potatoes, squash or fruit, should be consumed within 30 minutes post-workout to optimize the repairing of muscle tissue and to ensure muscle is optimally replenished.

The amount of carbohydrate will vary based on the volume and intensity of your training. The larger you are or the harder/longer the training, the more carbohydrate you will most likely need to optimize recovery. Some athletes may find they require two protein+carbohydrate meals to optimize recovery from particularly grueling work or multi-session training days. When I was training for triathlons a few years ago on days where I was doing two sessions in a day my body needed and craved more.  Meals should be built around lean protein, multi-colored, low carbohydrate density vegetables and good fats.  My good fat of choice is avocado to include in meals because of its other nutritional benefits.

For sprinters and other power athletes most meals should be built around lean proteins, a variety of low carbohydrate density vegetables and liberal use of good fats. Power athletes may find benefit from a higher intake from Paleo-friendly carbs such as yams, sweet potatoes and fruit once or twice per week. This is called a “cyclical-low carbohydrate” diet and has been enormously popular with track and field athletes, football players, Olympic weightlifters and other athletes who place a premium on strength, power and exceptionally low body fat levels. To see the best possible performance and body composition, the power athlete should eat at least 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight per day.

The best way to figure out how well food works for your own performance needs I highly suggest keeping a journal where you track your diet intake and your activities on a daily basis.  This will also help you to determine how your body recovers and performs. 

  

Below are suggestions for refueling your body after endurance training session; for example a long run, swimming, triathlon training, etc.

Post Training Breakfast: (best if consumed within 30 minutes of training)

Southwest scramble and 1 cup mixed berries.

OR

2-3 pastured free-range scrambled eggs, sweet potato carrot cakes, and breakfast sausage.

Lunch:

Simply Grilled Salmon over a spinach salad loaded with vegetables and avocado.

Snack:

Tuna Bacon Cake, medium orange, hand full of almonds.

Dinner:

Grass-fed Moroccan Meatballs with Citrus Glazed Carrots and Cauliflower Mash

Breakfast:

4-6 egg omelet with 1 whole avocado and 1/2 cup blueberries.

Post-workout meal:

Salmon with Sweet and Spicy Rub with Cauliflower Rice and asparagus

Snack:

Chicken, Kale, Sweet Potato Patties with avocado

Dinner:

Sundried Tomato Pesto Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Rounds with mixed green salad with olive oil

Heather Connell is the voice behind Multiply Delicious, a blog where she shares her passion for cooking Paleo.  She is a certified Holistic Nutritionist is currently working on her first Paleo e-cookbook planned to launch in early January 2013 and other exciting Paleo plans for late in 2013.  She is an avid Crossfitter who loves her daily WODs but secretly hates overhead squats and snatches.

Note: This information is for educational purposes and not intended nor implied to be substituted for professional medical advice.