Raw Food Ideas

Exercise and diet are the two most vital components to a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the ways in which the foods that they can eat can help and support their efforts in the gym.

One issue of particular importance is your post workout meal.  The things that you eat before and after you workout just might be the difference between struggling to improve week and after week and continually making progress in your fitness plan.

Unfortunately, most guides to post workout nutrition usually recommend that you consume things like whey protein, which obviously doesn’t help someone on a raw food diet.  However, a raw foodie can usually find suitable alternatives in the kinds of foods that they eat everyday. 

If you are on a raw food diet and want to make sure that you get the most from your workouts, follow these simple tips. 

Eat Shortly After Your Workout

Ensuring that your post workout meal helps maximize the benefits of your exercise is as much about when you eat as it is what you eat.  For about half an hour after your workout, you have a window of opportunity to fuel your of muscles and help kick start their growth and development.  

During this time, assuming you have a really intense workout, you body is seriously depleted of a lot of essential nutrients.   If you give them what they need during this time, after a while you will notice your fitness level rapidly improving over time.  If you wait too long, such as an hour after your workout, to eat, your fitness progress can be severely hindered. 

Eat Simple Sugars

One of the most important elements of post workout nutrition is carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates give your body the energy it need to operate, and for you muscles to grow.  While generally your body experiences more benefit from complex carbohydrates, because they break down more slowly, the period after you workout is a bit different. 

You want to eat carbohydrates that can be absorbed extremely rapidly, so that your muscles can receive the nutrients as soon as possible.  For a raw foodie, this means eating fruits with high sugar content, such as cherries, grapes, and bananas.   

Fast Acting Proteins

The proteins that you need right after your workout need to be absorbed just as fast as the carbohydrates.  Since you only have a limited amount of time to give your body the rush of nutrients that it needs, you need to try to make them as fast acting as possible. 

For someone on a raw food diet, their best bet then would be either seed or nut milk . Proteins that come in liquid form are generally able to be digested a lot more quickly, and therefore are able to give your muscles a much faster rush of amino acids. You can even combine the sugary fruits and the nut or seed milk to create a delicious post workout shake.

About the Author

Christopher W. McCombs runs a Long Beach Personal Training business, helping people all over Southern California reach their fitness goals. Chris is also a an expert in Marketing Fitness Training and helps fitness trainers all over the globe to triple their income while reducing their overall work hours.