For an athlete or someone into a nutrition and fitness regime, the post workout meal is the most important meal of the day. However the presence of so many shakes, the hassle of fitting these shakes with your diet and plain lack of information on whether to eat or not to eat after workout confuse him.

Understanding what nutrients will your body need or not and where to get these nutrients from, will result to the simplest and quickest meal of the day. So what will you eat or should not eat after workout?

First of all, drink water. Your post workout meal should contain two things. You should be eating proteins and carbs but not fats. There are good and bad fats. It just happens that, on a certain of the day, fats should not be taken. This is during post workout because it slows down the digestion of protein and fat. The following three questions will naturally need to be answered:

1. How soon should I eat?
   

2. How much of protein and carbs should I eat?
   

3. What foods should protein and carb be coming from?
   

The "window of time" is that time that exists after a workout when it is most beneficial for the body to receive its nutrition. Take it within one hour after workout. If possible, take it within 30 minutes. Eating long digesting foods like egg whites, chicken and tuna fish is not advisable after a workout since these foods are whole foods and not easily digested. Thus when eating these foods after workout and by the time, the body is ready to receive them, lots of time would have passed. It is a reason why whey protein powder is the best. Just mix it with some type of liquid thereby making it a shake, you are ready to go.

Whey protein powder is digested in your body faster because it is liquid. No wonder why it is the choice of most people as a workout meal. As for how much, consume 0.15 to 0.25 gram of protein per pound of your body mass. Thus a 175lb person should eat between 26 to 43 grams.

Carbs are important after workout. It is used by the body to restore muscle glycogen. The absence of carb in the post workout meal will break down muscle tissue. But there good and bad carbs. Examples of these are whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc. They have fibers. They are good at any time of the day but not after workout because they slow down digestion. And take note post workout meal is all about speed. Thus a baked potato is a good choice of carb. The presence of dextrose makes it a good choice. Dextrose is not a supplement. It is a type of sugar. While eating sugar most of the day is bad, post workout meal is the exception. So get your shaker bottle. Make a shake out whey protein powder, dextrose, glutamine and creatine. Then you are okay.