What does your body need after a workout?

You might feel more flexible and energetic after doing sports, yet your body needs to regenerate after the strain. What and when you eat and drink after your workout are just as important as the exercise itself. Your muscles need nutrients, particularly protein, to recover and grow.

Although there are no strict rules on how long you should wait before eating after exercise, there's no sense in waiting too long. If you feel hungry 15-20 minutes after working out, feel free to have something light, yet generally speaking, your body needs more time to get ready to consume food. In some extreme cases, you might wait 2 hours until your next meal, yet you can consider this as an extreme limit. Never wait longer than this before consuming nutrients. Forget about starving yourself, it will just make you feel weaker.

If you want to loose weight, eat some fresh fruit or have a small, normal meal after exercising. If you want to increase your muscle mass, choose dishes with a high protein-content after your workout combined with a healthy amount of salad greens.

I heartily recommend brown rice for everyone because it's digested slowly, providing an even source of energy. Banana is a good choice of fruit, due to its ideal carbohydrate content. It contains potassium and magnesium, thus preventing muscle cramps. Pineapple is also a sure-fire hit, since it puts no strain on your digestion and contains a high level of fibre.

Apart from dietary considerations, I must stress the importance of water intake.

It can only help to sip some water during your workout, yet it's also important to have healthy water reserves before exercising. Drink at least 2 litres of water during the day - 2.5 or 3 litres on hotter days - in order to avoid post-work headaches or dizziness. Regardless of your liquid intake before or after workout, drink at least half a litre of water after exercising in order to replace the liquids used up while sweating.