Recovery is an important part of any training plan, and if not done correctly it means an athlete is unlikely to perform at his or her best and could be at greater risk for injury. Today, we will discuss how nutrition can help aid the recovery process.
Adequacy
The first step to making sure athletes recover well is to ensure that their overall diet is adequate, which means it meets all of their energy needs.
How can you tell if a diet is adequate? For starters, most athletes will need at least three full meals and 2-3 snacks per day.
Signs that intake is inadequate could be feeling constantly tired or fatigued, having trouble focusing, feeling sluggish at practice, having thinning hair or nails, stress fractures, frequent illness and trouble regulating temperature.
Some of the symptoms detailed above describe the average student-athlete who is busy with lots of activities and homework, so if you are unsure about whether you are meeting your needs, reach out to a registered dietitian for support.
Balance
Once athletes are meeting their needs adequately, it is important to ensure they are getting their energy from a variety of sources. Athletes might be able to meet their total energy needs with just cookies or pizza, but that would not be balanced. Athletes need a variety of foods to get all of the vitamins, minerals and macronutrients their bodies need to recover.
All athletes need plenty of fruits and vegetables, which contain essential vitamins and minerals for recovery work and to reduce inflammation. All athletes also will need a variety of starchy foods, including whole grains, such as pasta, rice, breads, potatoes, squash and peas to rebuild carbohydrate stores (which fuel all of their activity).
A variety of protein sources such as beans, quinoa, fish, tofu, Greek yogurt, nuts and meats ensure that athletes get enough essential amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins (such as vitamin D and calcium for bone health) and minerals (such as iron). Getting enough fats, especially heart healthy oils found in nuts, seeds and fish, ensures that the body properly absorbs all vitamins and minerals, is insulated and has enough energy stores.
Consistency
Consistency refers to regular meal timing and not skipping any meals. Many athletes have energy needs much higher than they might think, and trying to get everything in with only two meals will be challenging.
Consistent meals throughout the day also ensure a steady supply of energy and help athletes avoid periods of low energy that can make it hard to focus or practice.
Post-workout snack or meal
Ensuring adequate energy intake based on balanced and consistent meals leads to a solid nutrition foundation, which is the most important part of recovery and overall nutrition.
Once a solid nutrition foundation is built, nutrient timing can help to add a competitive edge. Nutrient timing refers to meals or snacks provided at specific times before, during or after a workout to support optimal performance or recovery.
After a workout the body starts to repair itself right away, so ideally an athlete would get to a meal or snack within 30-60 minutes to provide the energy and nutrients needed to recover.
An ideal post-workout snack would include a mixture of carbohydrate and protein and could include chocolate milk, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Greek yogurt with fruit or trail mix with nuts, dried fruit and pretzels.
If an athlete can get to a regular meal within 30-60 minutes, then no special snack would be required, and a balanced meal would serve the same purpose.
Summary
Overall, recovery nutrition is really about making sure energy is coming in consistently throughout the day, in amounts that meet total needs, and that come from a variety of sources.
Once the foundation is built, post-workout meals and snacks can help to optimize recovery.
Sarah Gilbert, MS, RD, LDN, is a registered dietitian with a master’s in nutrition from Boston University. Sarah is the nutrition coach for RPM Athlete Performance and helps athletes optimize performance and wellness and reduce risk of injury through nutrition. For more information, visit rpmathlete.com.
