Awesome question! I might just be saying that because this one is really easy for me to answer. Ultimately a (protein rich) shake is your best bet after a workout or run. The liquid form of the protein allows your body to digest it easily and put it to work for protein synthesis to occur. Your cells will be able to actively get to work on the amino acids, create protein and deliver it to the damaged muscles. Typically you only need around 30 grams of protein post-workout for a male and around 20 grams for a female.

Pound A Shake

A protein shake isn’t just about putting protein powder and water in a shaker bottle and slamming it down. If you can, you should put a few other ingredients to make it a great recovery shake. Depending on your goals there are a number of things you want to add into the shake. Your protein powder likely has pretty much just protein and around 5 grams of carbs at the max. The carbs are essential for getting a little insulin spike which will speed up the rate at which the protein gets to the muscles. So add some fruit to get some extra carbs. The fruit will also bring in some antioxidants which are beneficial in fighting some of the toxins that are in your system after a workout. Also, I like cinnamon in my shakes to help regulate insulin a little better and some natural nut butter, mostly for flavoring. If you want to lose weight, leave out the nut butter. If you are looking to gain a little weight, keep the nut butter and even throw in some coconut oil or olive oil.

Grab A Meal

Alright enough about the shakes. Some people can’t slam shakes down and like to eat something after a meal. The key is to get a solid protein source and a little bit of a fast acting carbohydrate. You can check the insulin chart at the bottom of this article to see what is fast acting. Stick to something that is rated in the 80 range. I used to give my athletes that wouldn’t drink shakes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so even that will work.

The great thing is that you have a little more leniency with what you eat after a workout. You body is primed to take the nutrients from the food and put them to work in a good way. That’s not the right to go eat whatever you want but if your faced with the situation, it’s better to eat something than not to eat at all. Just try to get some source of protein rich food in you within an hour after you workout, the sooner the better.

I hope that helped answer your question. Any more questions please comment at the bottom of this post.

The Good

Not being a vegetarian, it’s a little harder for me to answer this realistically because I am not faced with the same problem each day. But I think I can still come up with some good answers for you. The easiest route is to go buy some protein powder and start to get creative with it. If you are vegan and don’t want to buy whey protein, look for brown rice or hemp protein. Start to add a scoop to your yogurt, oatmeal or anything else that looks like it could use some protein powder. Also, drinking a shake or two a day with some nut butter, it will help raise the protein count.

Lentils are a crazy good source of protein (~18g per serving) and can be thrown in salads, soups, rice or eaten all alone. Also, almonds, cashews and other nuts are a really really good source as well. You can also use different beans in your meals to add not only protein but fiber too. If you start to make lentils, nuts and beans a part of your daily food intake, you will be alright.

The Bad

Obviously dairy is high in protein, but I am not a huge fan of it because most of it is from grain fed cows (see here for more info) . If you like dairy, than you can get some good protein sources and avoid high fat from yogurt, cottage cheese or skim milk.

I also am not a huge fan of the soybean so would keep soy or tofu consumption to a minimum. This may be a crazy theory, but I think in the next 10 or so years we are going to discover the health harms harm of our current soybeans. Around 90% of the soybeans today were grown using the same patented soybean. That soybean was engineered by scientist and is basically cloned a billion times over, giving us the exact same soybean every time we eat them. Patented food doesn’t seem right to me, so I choose to dodge them any chance I get. If you still choose to eat soy, tofu will net you a good amount of protein if you substitute a serving size of meat (around 3 oz) for a service size of tofu.

The main thing for a vegetarian or vegan it to remember to get a good serving of protein each time you eat. A meat eater can get 30-40 grams of protein out of one steak or chicken packed meal, you will have a hard time getting that much protein out of one meal. The answer to that is to make sure each meal has a protein rich food in it. Even though you will never be able to get much more than 20 grams of protein out of a meal, each meal will add up and allow you to meet you protein goals for the day.

Again, any questions or comments please submit below.

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