It’s busy, busy around here! Between classes, clients, and carving time for work-life balance, the days are zooming by!
Last week I taught two classes – one with my husband Dave at Whole Foods (more on that in a minute + two recipes!) and the other was the first in a two-class Physicians Committee cancer prevention cooking nutrition class. I got an email from a student a few days later:
I sure enjoyed your class on Saturday — mind boggling, actually! Almost everything was new to me!! But you’re a great teacher, and LOTS of fun! Looking forward to Class #2!
Yay! If you’re in Colorado Springs and want to join me for Class 2 (topics include Discovering Dairy & Meat Alternatives and Cancer Fighting Compounds & Healthy Weight Control), register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-for-life-cooking-nutrition-class-for-cancer-prevention-tickets-12155271745,
Back to the class Dave and I taught last week.
My friend Cindy – the Healthy Eating Specialist at our local Whole Foods – invited us in to lead a Lunch and Learn to discuss how to use plant-based foods to recover after big workouts. Here are a couple key points from Dave, who is the head coach at Podium Training Systems.
1. When workouts last for an hour or more, or have a lot of intensity, you need to refuel! Do this within the first hour after your workout is over.
- Include some carbs and protein. If it was a long, or high intensity, workout target at least 50g of carbs. If it was quite a long workout (2 hours) target 100g.
- This is done to replenish glycogen stores in your body, and to help muscles begin the repair process from the workout, as efficiently as possible.
- If your next meal is schedule within that hour, then eat your meal. Just ensure it’s rich in carbs and good, whole food sources, of protein.
- If after your refueling meal / snack, so long as your next meal is within two hours, go about your normal eating schedule. If your next meal is more than two hours away, have another snack in-between (a smaller one) again with carbs and protein.
2. You also need to rehydrate after a longer workout – especially on warm days – so know your sweat rate.
- Weigh yourself before your workout.
- After your workout, get out of your sweaty clothes and weigh yourself again.
- Multiply that difference by 16 (to convert to ounces).
- Add in the amount of fluids, in ounces, you took in during your workout.
- That number is the amount of liquid you lost during your workout.
- Multiply by 150%, This is the amount of water / hydration fluids, in ounces, that you need to consume.
I made two simple recipes to demonstrate how easy it is to fuel up on plants after a big workout.
Recovery Smoothie
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats
- 1/2 cup frozen cherries
- 1 banana (fresh or frozen)
- 1 tablespoon flax or hemp seeds
- Coconut water (or water), as needed
- Place all ingredients in a blender; blend for 20 to 30 seconds (add water if too thick).
YIELD: Serves 1
Quinoa and Bean Stuffed Potato
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 medium sweet potatoes (baked whole or steamed diced)
- 1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
- 1 can dark red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
- Cook quinoa, with chili powder and salt, according to package instructions
- Cook sweet potatoes (bake, steam, etc.)
- Add rinsed and drained beans to the cooked quinoa.
- Split the baked sweet potatoes and spoon in the quinoa and beans or serve quinoa and beans over cooked, diced potatoes.
YIELD: Serves 3 – 4
This is the second class we’ve taught together and it’s so much fun! Dave knows his stuff when it comes to fueling an endurance and performance athlete and I know how to turn that info into simple – and delicious – recipes. If you want to work with Dave and I on a plant-based meal plan to support your training, check us out here.
I’ll conclude by sharing a link to my friend Jackson’s new podcast.
Jackson Foster is a student at Colorado College and a fierce vegan activist. You can find him at Plantriotic where he has launched a podcast and this week yours truly is the featured guest. You can listen to my interview Redefining what it means to be a vegan woman on Jackson’s site or on iTunes. I think Jackson chose the podcast title because I talk about going vegan older and how I reject the idea that vegan = skinny or guaranteed perfect health. It was a fun conversation and I’m grateful for people like Jackson – he’s everything good and right in the world!
