4 Yummy Foods Proven to Help You Recover Faster
By Emma Merrill
Most swimmers know that recovery is important after a long practice or multi-day meet. It’s essential to refuel your body with the necessary balance of carbs, protein, and fat to get the most out of every workout and recover faster after multiple races. Protein is especially important to help rebuild the muscles you’ve just broken down during a long set.
But it’s probably safe to say that most swimmers would much rather eat a yummy snack post-workout than force down something “healthy,” but not delicious.
Here are 4 yummy foods that will help facilitate that recovery process:
1. Chocolate milk
Photo Courtesy: Cedar Summit Farm
This delicious drink is the perfect recovery beverage for swimmers. According to USA Swimming’s Chris Rosenbloom, a registered dietician, chocolate milk is both a significant source of whey and casein proteins as well as “the natural sugar lactose that stimulates insulin, a hormone that helps feed the amino acids into the muscle.” He says that two cups of chocolate milk contain the calcium equivalent of 10 cups of spinach and helps maintain bone strength. Plus, chocolate milk is way more delicious than gimmicky protein shakes.
2. Eggs
Photo Courtesy: Julian Burgess
Eggs are easily one of my personal favorite foods of all time. With their versatility—think scrambled, fried, omelet, in a breakfast sandwich, ect.—they are also a great post-workout option. Kris Gunnars, a certified personal trainer and writer on Authority Nutrition, boasts about the nutritional benefits of eggs, noting that one egg contains six grams of protein as well as plenty of healthy nutrients. They are also eggs-cellent at satisfying the post-practice monster of a swimmer’s stomach.
Here are some ideas to spice up your eggs if you feel like branching out from the plain scrambled variety.
3. Peanut Butter
Photo Courtesy: Denise Krebs
Yes. Peanut butter might be the only recovery food that gets me more excited than eggs. According to both Rosenbloom and Chrisine Marquette, a registered dietician from Marquette Nutrition, their high levels of natural protein make nut butters awesome recovery foods. Marquette suggests around 10-20 grams of protein after an intense workout, and PB has 8 grams per serving. Combine a serving of PB with a glass of chocolate milk (8g per serving) and you’ve easily met your protein target.
The possibilities with peanut butter are endless. Of course, a PB&J sandwich always satisfies, but why not branch out? You could make a PB and banana panini, PB energy bites, healthy PB muffins, and more.
Here’s a link to several healthy PB recipes to help jumpstart your recovery.
4. Greek yogurt
Photo Courtesy: Janine, Flickr
This yogurt manages to combine a great recovery option with a semi-dessert! Rosenbloom notes that greek yogurt has more protein than the regular variety and has a thicker (some would say more decadent!) consistency.
As a great source of protein and lower in fat than other dairy options (ice cream, gelato, frozen custard, ice cream, you get it), greek yogurt is a satisfying addition any swimmer’s recovery repertoire.
Plus, you can freeze it into popsicles or even by the tub to create the perfect frozen recovery snack!
Joana Severo
Steve Kent check number 1 hahaha
Steve Kent check number 1 hahaha
I don’t know if it’s my phone or what but every time I click any swimming world link Facebook crashes
My too.
What type of phone and are you using the FB app?
Very glad in our time, the girls were not muscular like this….could imagine the beating I would have had on every date !!!!!
So you’re saying you did stuff on dates that would make women mad enough to hit you, and only got away with it because they were physically weaker than you?
Zephie Villalobos
I want to receive new posts with email
Rhian Purdy
John Gatfield
Mohamedsherif Aly
Yohan King
Mila Hrustić
Ooao
Sliabh Beagh ASC Yum! Chocolate Milk, Peanut butter, Greek Yogurt and Eggs!
✅✅✅✅
Jeffrey Camphens,Odette Helsloot,Bido Mohamed,Anouk Nulkes,Hanne Keijzer,Emre Uysal
Ik zat al aan de Griekse yoghurt? nu de rest nog
Dan is die warme chocolademelk om op te warmen na het trainen lang zo slecht nog niet 😀 De rest zat al in m’n patroon.
Als ik dan ook zulke spieren krijg???
Something different for you Craig Magnusson.
No dairy for me – my preference would be a sizeable steak and vegetables! Problem with chocolate milk is the sugar content – would you like some milk with that??
No dairy for me – my preference would be a sizeable steak and vegetables! Problem with chocolate milk is the sugar content – would you like some milk with that??
Laura Sogar you should have a flex off next week for the classroom
?
Paul Sandford
Kaia Tom
Koen, good reminder here.
Que fuerza en brazos hay!!!!
here’s our young version of your very fit women swimmers!