5 Foods For Your HIIT Recovery

5 Foods For Your HIIT Recovery : After a sweaty and intense HIIT session, refuel your body with nutritionally-rich and high quality protein foods. Here are our Top 5 to get you on your way.

Eggs

Eggs pack a mean nutritional punch and contain high levels of protein and healthy fats. Roughly each medium-sized egg contains around 5g of fat and 6g of protein respectively.

They are also considered a complete protein source with all nine essential amino acids present which can aid in muscle recovery. Not only this, they are rich in B-vitamins which can help convert nutrients into energy.

How to enjoy in your post-workout:
– Scrambled with spinach
– Poached on a slice of toast with avocado
– On a chopped salad with tuna
– Soft boiled with salt and pepper
Berries:

Berries contain good amounts of fibre, vitamins and antioxidants. As a result, they are sometimes referred to as ‘superfoods’ due to their excellent nutritional content.
A few of the best berries to have (but are certainly not limited to) include:
– Blueberries
– Raspberries
– Strawberries
– Blackberries
– Goji berries

When you go through an intense workout session such as HIIT, it causes undue oxidative stress and disrupts your body’s natural balance between free radicals and antioxidants.

Therefore, It is crucial that you are getting as much antioxidant-rich foods in your diet every day.

How to enjoy in your post-workout:
– Added to greek or vegan alternative yoghurt
– Added to porridge
– Added to smoothie
– Enjoyed on its own
Green leafy vegetables:

Similarly with berries, green leafy vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which makes it the perfect food to have as part of your post-workout recovery.

The best part?

They’re also low in calories which means you are getting all of the much needed antioxidants completely guilt-free.

Their high antioxidant content also helps to reduce the amount of free radicals that might be released in your body during HIIT.

In terms of their versatility, the following are some of the best green leafy vegetables to have (although there is a wide variety available which are all beneficial):
– Spinach
– Kale
– Rocket
– Watercress

How to enjoy in your post-workout:
– Added to salad
– Added to a side dish and drizzled in extra virgin olive oil
– Added to a pasta dish
– Added to a smoothie (spinach and kale only)
Avocados:

Avocados are rich in magnesium which is excellent for muscle recovery and contains more potassium than bananas with half an avocado (100g) containing roughly 487mg of potassium.

Further, avocados are high in folate, vitamin C, K and B-complex vitamins which can all help with exercise-inflicted stress placed on your body during a HIIT workout for better recovery.

But that’s not all:

Avocados are high in monounsaturated fats which helps in lowering LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol so is ideal for those with high blood pressure.

How to enjoy in your post-workout:
– Enjoyed with eggs
– Used as a spread on toast
– Added to a smoothie
– Enjoyed on its own with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper
Protein powder:

Whilst we all lead very busy lives, it isn’t always easy (or possible) ensuring that your body is getting enough whole-food protein sources.

Thus, having a good quality protein powder on stand-by during your post-workout recovery from HIIT training will allow you to ease the effects of muscle tissue breakdown.

They are also very convenient and can be made pretty much anywhere. So whether you’re on the go or relaxing at home protein shakes are a great option if you are short on time.

Conclusion

There you have it.

5 easy foods to help you recover after a tough HIIT session.

As important as these foods might be – having a varied, wholesome diet is key in ensuring you are getting enough macro and micronutrients to optimise your recovery and get you back in the gym in no time.

Author

Joseph Gregorio is a AfN Certified Nutritional Adviser and the Editor-In-Chief of the health and fitness website checkmeowt.co.uk. Joseph has written for some of the biggest sports nutrition brands in the UK and continues to advise a wide range of clients with varying physical capabilities including semi- professional athletes to those with disabilities on sports nutrition, fitness and general lifestyle changes.

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Guide to post Workout and Muscle recovery