Promote muscle recovery with your nutrition
By: Romy and Lieke – Fit female academy
Drinking a protein shake within 30 minutes for optimal muscle recovery and eating maximum protein? According to us this really fits under the heading ''Bro science''. We are happy to explain what you can do to help your muscles recover optimally.
First of all, we would like to introduce ourselves. We are Lieke and Romy from Fit Female Academy. We help young women create a fitter lifestyle. This is not by prescribing standard nutritional regimens, but by truly coaching them and working together on all aspects that fall into someone's lifestyle.
We believe that being aware of your choices and knowing your own body makes for a better relationship with yourself. In doing so, we help create more self-confidence and teach how to really take care of your body now instead of exhausting it.
In addition to (sports) nutritionists, we also specialize in orthomolecular therapy. This allows us to dive deep into the human body and link and solve various ailments to one's lifestyle.
Before we go deeper into body recovery, we want to briefly explain the basics about nutrition. We will discuss the three macronutrients with you and we need all of them.
The basics of nutrition
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are avoided by many people. This has unfortunately been taught from diet culture. Avoiding carbohydrates affects your fluid levels. Per gram of carbohydrates you retain about 3 grams of fluid. So it makes perfect sense for you to lose weight and lose weight if you suddenly start eating a lot less carbohydrates! Now, most people who aim to lose weight want to reduce fat mass, but you don't necessarily do that by avoiding carbohydrates. In fact, they have an important function, which is to provide your body with fuel. Carbohydrates provide energy, including energy to your metabolism (combustion) AND they are the primary fuel sources for your brain. Also, many carbohydrate sources are rich in fiber. So it is not very convenient if you leave these out.
Protein
Proteins are building blocks for your body. For example, they are important for repairing and building your muscles and other tissues such as your brain. In addition, proteins provide enzymes to digest your food. We often see people eating a lot of protein to build muscle, but more protein does not equal more muscle mass. Eat enough protein for your body and spend the other calories on other useful nutrients.
Fats
Fats are another source that unfortunately people categorize as bad. We love fats! Why? They are incredibly important for your body, but this is often forgotten because in today's diet culture there is such a focus on "low carb - high protein." Everyone, but especially women, can notice many benefits from eating enough unsaturated fats. After all, you need them for hormone production. Your brain and immune system also need fats to function properly. So please don't forget to eat your fats and don't be afraid of them, because they are good calories.
Inflammations
Now that we know a bit more about the basics, it is interesting to highlight certain nutrients a bit more. In fact, if you are looking for better recovery, it is beneficial to look at anti-inflammatory foods. This is because during a workout you damage your muscles; small tears form. This triggers an inflammatory response in the cells, which will cause recovery to begin. Thanks to a smooth recovery, new proteins will be built, causing hypertrophy (getting bigger or thicker of a muscle) to take place. Provided, of course, that you also train properly with overload and supercompensation.
So if you want to promote muscle recovery with your diet, you want to ingest more anti-inflammatory foods and less pro-inflammatory foods. Anti-inflammatory foods include omega 3, especially the EPA and DHA fatty acids. Unfarmed fatty fish are a good source of these, as is the plant source of omega 3, algae.
Foods that can worsen inflammation levels in your body include: sugar, dairy (casein), gluten and alcohol. By the way, this does not have to be the case for everyone. Each individual varies what you may react more strongly to. Our advice is to use these products consciously, so in moderation. Balance is the key to keeping it up in a nice way.
What nutrition do you need for proper muscle recovery?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not so black and white. It involves several factors in your diet and lifestyle. For example, variation of protein source is important to get all the different building blocks (amino acids). Also, the amount per day per person depends on several factors. For an average athlete you can assume about 1.6 grams to 2 grams of protein per kg body weight. (If you work with cut/bulk phases, this can also be adjusted within your calorie intake).
Finally, we must not forget that adequate recovery time and sleep is essential for muscle recovery. Do you train too often in quick succession (the same muscle group)? If so, you will actually rob your muscles and not make any progress. During the rest periods between your workouts, the tiny muscle tears can actually heal, which will increase your muscle volume and/or strength.
Conclusion
Recovery cannot be linked to one type of diet and there are no miracle cures. With only a protein shake you will not recover sufficiently. Taking into account mainly the quantity of food, variety of protein sources and a good work-rest ratio will optimize your muscle recovery.
Do you want advice to get your nutrition and lifestyle optimized so you can recover better? You can visit our website www.fitfemaleacademy.nl schedule a no-obligation coach call to see what we can do for you.
Love, Romy and Lieke