Everyone knows exercise is important for health, but did you know that your recovery meal is just as important. Whether you're an elite athlete or just someone who loves to move their body a few days a week. No matter what kind of exercise, you need to optimise your post training nutrition to kick-start the recovery and repair process. There are five goals when it comes to post training nutrition:
- recover
- rehydrate
- refuel
- build muscle
- improve future performance
Most people believe high protein is the best nutrient for post exercise, and yes protein is the building blocks of the body so incredibly important. Without a portion of carbohydrate your protein intake is almost useless. The sugar from the carbohydrate helps your body to transport the amino acid (protein) into the cell so it can be used. So aim to consume your recovery meal within 60mins of your exercise.
In this recipe the dates and chocolate are the carbohydrate, the hazelnuts and protein powder are the protein. This is a seriously delicious dish and shows how easy it is to support your training but also make your taste buds go wild.
Post Training Recovery Mousse (makes 4-6 depending on size)
Ingredients
1 cup hazelnuts
4 dates, deseeded
300ml coconut cream
2 TBS cacao
1 serving of protein powder
4-6 squares of 80% dark chocolate
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180˚C.
- Roast hazelnuts for 15mins, remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Soak dates in warm water for 10mins whilst the hazelnuts cool.
- Transfer hazelnuts to a container, cover with lid and shake the skins off the hazelnuts. This should only take a few minutes.
- Pick the hazelnuts out of the container and discard the skin. Place the hazelnuts in a food processor.
- Add coconut cream, soaked dates, cacao, protein powder and 4 squares of dark chocolate.
- Blend in the food processor for 5mins (time will vary depending on the strength of your food processor) until it achieves a mousse like consistency.
- Portion out into whatever jars or containers you have around.
- Place in the fridge for at least an hour to set.
- Optional – grate some dark chocolate on top.
Tips: Add whatever flavour combinations you enjoy; fresh fruit, a tablespoon of peanut butter, crushed nuts and seeds. The options are endless.
