One of the highest glycemic load carbohydrates is glucose. By adding glucose to the homebrew, you replace the body’s expended carbohydrate stores more quickly than by eating fruit and drinking fruit juice alone, because these foods are rich in fructose, which the body takes somewhat longer to digest. Pure glucose, sometimes referred to as “dextrose,” is difficult to find, although it is typically in commercial sports and recovery drinks. You can purchase glucose from various sources on the Internet, such as amazon.com, bulkfoods.com, carbopro.com, honeyvillegrain.com, iherb.com, and nuts.com. As of this writing it cost about $3 per pound.

Goal #2: Rehydrate. Chances are good that you are experiencing some level of dehydration following a long or hard workout or race. Losing a quart of fluids an hour—about 2 pounds—is fairly common, especially on hot days. At the greatest sweat rates, an athlete may lose around a half gallon (1,800 milliliters) of sweat per hour. That’s about 4 pounds. Among the highest sweat rates ever reported in the research literature was about 1 gallon per hour in one of America’s best all-time marathoners, 147-pound Alberto Salazar. That would be about 8 pounds—roughly 5 percent of his body weight. Replacing such high rates of fluid loss during exercise is difficult, if not impossible, potentially leaving the athlete in a dehydrated state as the postexercise stage of recovery begins.

Recovery Drink Calories by Body Weight

Electrolytes in Juices and Fruits Used during Recovery

Research has shown that fruits and vegetables have a net alkaline-enhancing effect. Table 4.4 demonstrates the acid- and alkaline-enhancing effects of various foods. The foods with a plus sign (+) indicate increased acidity; the greater the plus value, the higher the acid effect. Those foods with a minus sign (-) decrease the acid of the body fluids in direct proportion to their magnitude. So, by preparing a recovery drink with fruits and juices that have a net alkaline-enhancing effect (they reduce acidity), you are doing more than merely replacing carbohydrate stores; you’re also potentially sparing bone and muscle. Interestingly, a recent study by Cao and associates at the US Department of Agriculture found that although animal protein increased the urinary excretion of calcium, it did not have any negative consequences for bone health.

Start by filling a blender with about 12 to 24 ounces of fruit juice, based on your body weight (see Table 4.5). Apple, grape, grapefruit, orange, and pineapple are good choices due to their relatively high glycemic loads and electrolyte contents. Next, add a fruit from the list in Table 4.3 and glucose, also sometimes called dextrose (see Table 4.5). Then, with the blender still running, add protein powder from either egg or whey sources (see Table 4.1). Sprinkle in two or three pinches of table salt. If you didn’t use frozen berries, add a handful of ice. There you have it—a fairly inexpensive drink that has all of the ingredients needed for immediate recovery.

Ingredients for Homebrew Recovery Drink (by body weight)

Each smoothie also includes one fruit and two or three pinches of table salt.

Stage V Recovery Guidelines

In terms of athletic performance, the nutritional goals and guidelines for this stage of recovery are as follows.

Maintain glycogen stores. For some time prior to this stage of recovery, you intently focused your diet around carbohydrate, especially high glycemic load sources such as the sugars in starchy foods. While these foods are excellent for restocking the body’s glycogen stores, they are not nutrient dense (see Table 4.7). There is no longer a need to eat large quantities of such foods; in fact, they will diminish your potential for recovery. Every calorie eaten from a less-than-optimal food means a lost opportunity to take in much larger amounts of health- and fitness-enhancing vitamins and minerals from vegetables, fruits, and lean animal protein. The more serious you are about your athletic performance, the more important this is.

TABLE 4.7

Comparison of Vitamin and Mineral Density of Selected Foods (standard units)

The highest vitamin and mineral contents in each column are indicated by a bold listing.

* No information available

Furthermore, one of the beauties of the human body is that, regardless of which system or function we are talking about, it takes less concentrated effort to maintain than to rebuild. This means that by eating prodigious quantities of high glycemic load carbohydrates in the previous stages, you’ve rebuilt your body’s glycogen stores, and now less carbohydrate is required to maintain that level. Low glycemic load fruits and vegetables will accomplish that while also providing the micronutrients needed for this last stage of recovery.

Rebuild muscle tissues. Despite your best efforts to take in amino acids in recovery, if the workout was sufficiently difficult, you will have suffered some muscle cell damage. If you could use an electron microscope to look into the muscles used in an intensely hard training today, it would look like a war zone, albeit a very tiny one. You would see tattered cell membranes and leaking fluids. The body would be mobilizing its “triage services” to repair the damage as quickly as possible. To do this, the body needs amino acids in rather large quantities. Most needed are the branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) you read about earlier. Without them, the body is forced to cannibalize other protein cells to find sufficient amounts of the right amino acids to complete the job. Also needed are the essential amino acids, those that the body cannot produce and that must come from food.

BCAA and essential amino acids are most abundant in animal products. If you’re hesitant to eat red meat from feedlot-raised animals, we don’t blame you. The common beef products you buy in supermarkets are a poor source of food. While certainly rich in BCAA, meats from feedlot-raised animals are also packed with omega-6 polyunsaturated fats and other questionable chemical additives and are best avoided.

So what should you eat to provide BCAA and the essential amino acids for your rebuilding muscles? The best possible source would be meat from game animals such as deer, elk, and buffalo. Of course, chances are that you don’t have the time to go hunting, given your workout and career choices. (For our ancestors, hunting was exercise and career all rolled into one activity.) No, it’s unlikely that you will find game meat outside your back door, and it can’t be sold in supermarkets, either. But there are other readily available choices that are almost as good.

TABLE 4.8

Suggested Daily Protein Intake per Pound of Body Weight

TRAINING VOLUME IN HOURS/WEEK	PROTEIN/DAY/POUND OF BODY WEIGHT IN GRAMS (calories)
< 5	0.6-0.7 (2.4-2.8)
5-10	0.7-0.8 (2.8-3.2)
10-15	0.8-0.9 (3.2-3.6)
16-20	0.9-1.0 (3.6-4.0)
> 20	1.0 (4.0)

Ocean- or stream-caught fish and shellfish are among the best protein sources; they are, after all, wild game. It’s best, however, to avoid farm-raised fish, which is essentially the same as feedlot-raised cattle. Another good choice is turkey breast. It comes as close to providing the lean protein and fat makeup of game animals as any domestic meat available. It’s still a good idea to seek out meat from turkeys that were allowed to range freely in search of food. The same goes for any meat you may choose. Free-ranging animals have not only exercised but have also more likely eaten foods that are optimal for their health. This means that omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are in better balance. You’ll find that such meats are more expensive than the more common meat of penned-up animals. It’s just like so much in life: Quality costs more. You get what you pay for.

In Stage V, continue to take in 0.6 gram to 1 gram (2.4 to 4 calories) of protein per pound of body weight relative to your training load. The longer or more intense your exercise was, the more protein you should take in, as shown in Table 4.8.

Maintain a healthy pH. In our discussion of Stage III, we told you about the acid- and base-enhancing properties of foods, illustrated by Table 4.4. The need to maintain a healthy pH continues in this stage in order to reduce the risk of losing nitrogen and calcium. This is especially critical for older athletes whose bodies tend toward acidity more so than young athletes’. As explained earlier, nitrogen is an essential component of muscle, and calcium is crucial for bone health. Fortunately, the very foods that are the most nutrient-dense are also the ones—the only ones—that reduce blood acidity: fruits and vegetables. Any fruit will do now, so eat whichever appeal to you. As for vegetables, it’s best to choose those of vibrant colors—red, yellow, green, and orange—while avoiding white ones. Be aware that beans, although often categorized as vegetables, are net acid-enhancing and best avoided. This includes peanuts, which are legumes.

Prevent or reduce inflammation. All athletes are susceptible to inflammation of muscles and tendons—it comes with the territory. You may have a tendon that is a persistent problem for you following high-effort workouts and sometimes flares up, causing pain or discomfort. Muscle tissue damaged during an intense workout may also result in inflammation. If allowed to go unchecked, nagging inflammation can become a full-blown injury, causing you to miss training and lose fitness. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fat supplements have been shown to reduce inflammation by lowering the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids, which should be approximately two parts omega-6 to one part omega-3 or less. Due to the high intake of omega-6 from snacks and other packaged foods that are abundant in our society, the average American diet has a 10:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. In fact, avoiding omega-6 is quite a challenge in Western society. By consuming foods that are rich in omega-3—cold-water fish, leafy vegetables, macadamia nuts and walnuts, eggs enriched with omega-3, and liver—you can lower this ratio and reduce your inflammation risk. We recommend that to improve the odds of accomplishing this, you take an omega-3 supplement, such as fish oil or flaxseed oil.

Optimize body weight. For most endurance sports, maintaining a low body mass translates into better performances (see Chapter 6 for more details on this). Yet, even with a lot of daily exercise to burn calories, avoiding weight gain can be a struggle for many endurance athletes. We think you will find that by eating a Stage V diet made up primarily of fruits, vegetables, and animal protein, weight control will not be a problem. It’s when you eat less-than-optimal foods that you tend to add body fat.

STAGE V AND CARBOHYDRATE

On a conventional Stone Age nutrition plan, such as the one described in The Paleo Diet, a person would be eating much more protein and less carbohydrate than the diet we suggest here for athletes. The shift toward more carbohydrate is due to the need to quickly recover from strenuous exercise, a need that the average, sedentary person does not have—and that our Stone Age ancestors did not have. For the athlete who trains more than once per day or has exceptionally long workouts, as is common with many serious athletes, the absolute carbohydrate intake is even higher because the need to recover increases as the number of training hours rises.

For example, an athlete training once a day for 90 minutes may burn 600 calories from carbohydrate during exercise and needs to take in at least that much during Stages I, II, III, and IV of recovery. This athlete may be eating around 3,000 total calories daily. If he gets 50 percent of his daily calories from carbohydrate, he would take in an additional 900 calories in carbs that day in Stage V, above and beyond the carbohydrate consumed in the earlier stages of the day. Of course, this carbohydrate should primarily come from fruits and especially vegetables, so calories aren’t wasted by eating foods lacking in micronutrients.

The high-volume athlete may do two of these 90-minute exercise sessions a day, thus doubling the total requirement for carbohydrate to 1,200 calories during the first four stages that day. This shift toward greater volume of training also should be accompanied by an increase in total calories consumed daily. Say 3,600 calories are taken in on such a day; if the athlete is also eating a half-carbohydrate diet, he will need another 600 calories from carbohydrate sources this day in Stage V. This illustrates how the absolute carbohydrate intake varies with the training load of the athlete, despite the percentage of intake being the same.

STAGE V AND PROTEIN

Getting too little carbohydrate in the diet is seldom a problem for athletes; it’s abundant in grocery stores, inexpensive, and enjoyable to eat. No, the real stumbling block is protein intake. When we do dietary assessments of athletes, we typically find that they aren’t eating enough protein. Why? Because protein is not abundant in stores, it’s relatively expensive, and it’s not as enjoyable to eat as a sweet or starchy food. Protein in the form of meat has also gotten a bad rap in the last few decades. We’ve been taught that animal meat is bad for us, as it contributes to heart disease, cancer, and assorted other evils. The problem with this conclusion is that it doesn’t isolate the true causes of these diseases. It’s not protein that is to blame for Western society’s health woes but, largely, the omega-6 fats and other additives that often accompany it. And combining saturated fat with high glycemic load foods (think mashed potatoes and gravy or bread and butter) is a double whammy. Protein from free-ranging animals and fish does not cause heart disease. And, in fact, is quite healthy.

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Feedlot-produced animal protein should be eliminated from your diet, but not the protein from free-ranging animals. Fish, shellfish, and turkey breast are excellent sources of healthy protein and rich in essential and branched-chain amino acids. For now, the take-home message is that athletes need an abundance of amino acids daily, and these are best found in free-ranging animal sources.

Since protein is so important to your total recovery, this is a good place to begin deciding what to eat at meals in Stage V. The first concept to understand is that the amount of protein you need is related to how much you train. For the average person on the street who does little or no exercise, the level of protein intake stays much the same from day to day, as physical activity is usually quite limited. It’s different for the athlete who often pushes his or her body to near its limits and, in the process, potentially damages a lot of muscle tissue while perhaps using some protein as fuel. The greater your training volume or intensity, the greater the likelihood such cellular harm will occur. A considerable amount of amino acids from animal protein sources is needed in the hours of Stage V recovery to repair this tissue and prevent the body from seeking amino acids from internal sources, such as other muscles or the immune system. Without adequate protein, the risk of a compromised immune system increases and the possibility of muscle wasting rises.

Table 4.8 provides general guidelines for how much protein to eat with regard to your weekly training volume. Intensity of training is much harder to quantify, but you may also assume that when doing a lot of interval training, hill work, resistance training, or other high-effort exercise, you probably need to increase your protein intake to the next level in the table.

The next matter is deciding where you will get this lean protein. You may be aware that you can obtain all of the essential amino acids by mixing grains and legumes in a meal. Each of those food categories is lacking in one or more of the essential amino acids, but when you eat them in combination, the meal becomes more balanced (although plant-based diets will always be lacking in the essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan). What is not generally explained, however, is that the volume of plant-based foods one has to eat to get adequate daily protein (see Table 4.9) requires eating considerable amounts of grains and beans because these foods are nutritionally poor. In addition, they contribute to body acidity and the loss of nitrogen and calcium (see Table 4.4). A serious athlete attempting to get nearly a gram of protein per pound of body weight from a combination of grains and legumes would need to eat all day long—and have a gut that can process a significant amount of fiber. Even if he or she could do this, blood acidity levels would stay high, and anti-nutrients would prevent the absorption of much of the limited micronutrients these foods have.

Table 4.9

Protein and Essential Amino Acid Content of Common Foods

FOOD (100-calorie serving size)	PROTEIN CONTENT (grams)	ESSENTIAL AMINO ACID CONTENT (grams)
Animal
Cod (3.4 oz)	22	8.7
Shrimp (3.6 oz)	21	8.2
Lobster (3.6 oz)	21	8.1
Halibut (2.5 oz)	19	7.5
Chicken (2 oz)	18	6.8
Turkey breast (2 oz)	17	6.9
Tuna (1.9 oz)	16	6.3
Tenderloin steak (1.75 oz)	14	5.1
Eggs, whole (1¼)	7.7	3.4
Legumes
Tofu (½ cup)	10	3.6
Kidney beans (½ cup)	7	2.8
Navy beans (¹⁄₃ cup)	6	1.9
Red beans (½ cup)	5	2.5
Peanut butter (1 tbsp)	4.6	1.4
Grains
Brown rice (½ cup)	2.1	0.7
Whole-wheat bread (1½ slices)	3	0.8
Corn (³⁄₄ cup)	3.7	1.4
Bagel (½ bagel)	3.8	1.1

A 150-pound athlete training 15 hours a week would need to take in about 135 grams of protein a day (150 x 0.9), according to Table 4.8. Assuming 20 percent of that comes from assorted vegetables, fruits, fruit juices, sports bars, and sports drinks consumed throughout the day, including during the workout, another 108 grams of protein would be needed that day. To get that from animal sources, he could eat:

4 ounces of cod

6 ounces of turkey breast

4 ounces of chicken

Those foods would provide all of the additional protein and contain 44.5 grams of the all-important essential amino acids for our theoretical athlete. The total energy eaten to get these nutrients would be 454 calories. To get the same amount of protein by combining grains and beans, he would have to eat all of the following in one day:

1 cup of tofu

1 cup of kidney beans

6 slices of whole wheat bread

1 cup of navy beans

1½ cups of corn

1 cup of red beans

1 cup of brown rice

2 bagels

2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Our athlete had better like beans and have a huge appetite! The above requires eating an additional 2,300 calories that day—more than five times as much as when eating animal products—just to get 108 grams of protein. Eating grains and legumes to get daily protein is not only very inefficient, but, far worse, the vegetarian athlete will come up short on essential amino acids—even if he or she can stomach all those beans and grains.

STAGE V AND FAT

Just as there are good and bad sources of carbohydrate and protein, there are fats and oils you should pursue in your daily diet and certain others to avoid. The desirables include omega-3 polyunsaturated and monounsaturated types. As described earlier in this chapter, lowering the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 has positive implications for reducing the likelihood of inflammation, a persistent problem for athletes. Omega-6s, while necessary for health, are more than abundant in our modern diet. This fat is common in vegetable oils such as soybean, peanut, cottonseed, safflower, sunflower, sesame, and corn. Most snack foods and many grain products, including breads and bagels, rely heavily on vegetable oils due to their low cost.

Monounsaturated fats should also be included in the athlete’s diet because of their health benefits, including lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels, thinning the blood, preventing fatal heartbeat irregularities, and reducing the risk of breast cancer. Remember that health always comes before fitness. Good sources of monounsaturated fat are avocados, nuts, and olive oil.

Avoid the fats found in abundance in whole dairy foods and feedlot-raised animals, especially beef, and trans fat found in many of the foods in our grocery stores—not only snack foods but also many bread products, peanut butter, margarine, and packaged meals. Steer clear of trans fat, referred to as “partially hydrogenated” oil on food labels, whenever possible. Trans fat increases LDL (the “bad” cholesterol associated with heart disease) and also decreases your body’s production of HDL (the “good” cholesterol linked with a low incidence of heart disease). That’s a double whammy best avoided.

SOURCE (100-Calorie Sample)	ISOLEUCINE (mg)	LEUCINE (mg)	VALINE (mg)	TOTAL BCAA (mg)
Egg white, powder	1,200	1,791	1,352	4,343
Egg white, raw	1,188	1,774	1,340	4,302
Whey protein	922	1,719	896	3,537
Meats	928	1,474	967	3,369
Soy protein	886	1,481	923	3,290
Seafood	744	1,285	803	2,832
Hard-boiled egg	389	442	494	1,325
Milk	323	524	358	1,205
Beans	319	524	349	1,192
Vegetables	238	287	245	770
Grains	130	303	172	605
Nuts and seeds	111	198	149	458
Starchy root vegetables	45	66	58	169
Fruits	20	31	29	80

WEIGHT (lbs)	CARBOHYDRATE CALORIES (Minimum)	PROTEIN CALORIES	TOTAL CALORIES
100	300	60-75	360-375
110	330	66-83	396-413
120	360	72-90	432-450
130	390	78-98	468-488
140	420	84-105	504-525
150	450	90-113	540-563
160	480	96-120	576-600
170	510	102-128	612-638
180	540	108-135	648-675
190	570	114-143	684-713
200	600	120-150	720-750
210	630	126-158	756-788

	SODIUM (mg)	MAGNESIUM (mg)	CALCIUM (mg)	POTASSIUM (mg)
Juice (12 oz)
Apple, frozen	26	18	21	450
Grape, frozen	7	16	12	80
Grapefruit, frozen	3	45	33	505
Orange, fresh	3	41	41	744
Pineapple, frozen	4	35	42	510
Fruit
Apple, 1 medium, raw	1	6	10	159
Banana, 1 medium, raw	1	33	7	451
Blackberries, 1 cup, frozen	2	33	44	211
Blueberries, 1 cup, raw	9	7	9	129
Cantaloupe, 1½ cups, raw	21	25	25	741
Grapes, 1½ cups, raw	3	8	20	264
Orange, 1 large, raw	2	22	84	375
Papaya, 1 medium, raw	8	31	72	780
Peaches, 3 medium, raw	0	18	15	513
Pineapple, 1½ cups, raw	2	32	17	262
Raspberries, 1½ cups, raw	0	33	40	280
Strawberries, 2 cups, raw	4	32	42	494
Watermelon, 2 cups, raw	6	34	26	372

ACID FOODS (+)
Grains
Brown rice	+12.5
Rolled oats	+10.7
Whole wheat bread	+8.2
Spaghetti	+7.3
Corn flakes	+6.0
White rice	+4.6
Rye bread	+4.1
White bread	+3.7

Dairy
Parmesan cheese	+34.2
Processed cheese	+28.7
Hard cheese	+19.2
Gouda cheese	+18.6
Cottage cheese	+8.7
Whole milk	+0.7

Legumes
Peanuts	+8.3
Lentils	+3.5
Peas	+1.2

Meats, Eggs, Fish
Trout	+10.8
Turkey	+9.9
Chicken	+8.7
Eggs	+8.1
Pork	+7.9
Beef	+7.8
Cod	+7.1
Herring	+7.0

ALKALINE FOODS (-)
Fruits
Raisins	-21.0
Black currants	-6.5
Bananas	-5.5
Apricots	-4.8
Kiwifruit	-4.1
Cherries	-3.6
Pears	-2.9
Pineapple	-2.7
Peaches	-2.4
Apples	-2.2
Watermelon	-1.9

Vegetables
Spinach	-14.0
Celery	-5.2
Carrots	-4.9
Zucchini	-4.6
Cauliflower	-4.0
Potatoes	-4.0
Radishes	-3.7
Eggplant	-3.4
Tomatoes	-3.1
Lettuce	-2.5
Chicory	-2.0
Leeks	-1.8
Onions	-1.5
Mushrooms	-1.4
Green peppers	-1.4
Broccoli	-1.2
Cucumber	-0.8

Suggested Daily Protein Intake per Pound of Body Weight

STAGE V AND CARBOHYDRATE

STAGE V AND PROTEIN

Protein and Essential Amino Acid Content of Common Foods

STAGE V AND FAT

CHAPTER 4

STAGES III, IV, AND V: EATING AFTER EXERCISE

STAGE III: EATING 30 MINUTES POSTEXERCISE

Branched-Chain Amino Acid Content of Selected Foods

Recovery Drink Calories by Body Weight

Electrolytes in Juices and Fruits Used during Recovery

Acid/Base Values of Food (100 g portions)

HOMEBREW RECIPES

Ingredients for Homebrew Recovery Drink (by body weight)

STAGE IV: SHORT-TERM POSTEXERCISE

Stage IV Recovery Guidelines

Glycemic Load and Index of Selected Alkaline-Enhancing Foods (100 g serving)

STAGE V: LONG-TERM POSTEXERCISE

Stage V Recovery Guidelines

Comparison of Vitamin and Mineral Density of Selected Foods (standard units)

BODY WEIGHT IN POUNDS (kg)	FRUIT JUICE (oz)	GLUCOSE (tbsp)	PROTEIN POWDER (tbsp)	TOTAL CALORIES (approx.)
100 (45.5)	12	2	1½-2	390-415
110 (50)	12	2	1½-2	390-415
120 (54.5)	12	3	2	445
130 (59.1)	12	4	2-2½	470-495
140 (63.6)	16	4	2½-3	550-575
150 (68.2)	16	4	2½-3	550-575
160 (72.7)	16	5	2½-3	580-605
170 (77.3)	20	5	3-3½	660-685
180 (81.8)	20	5	3-3½	660-685
190 (86.4)	24	5	3-3½	720-740
200 (90.9)	24	5	3-3½	720-740
210 (95.5)	24	6	3-4	750-790

FOOD	GLYCEMIC LOAD	GLYCEMIC INDEX
Raisins	48.8	64
Potato, plain	18.4	85
Sweet potato	13.1	54
Banana	2.1	53
Yam	11.5	51
Pineapple	8.2	66
Grapes	7.7	43
Kiwifruit	7.4	52
Carrots	7.2	71
Apple	6.0	39
Pineapple juice	5.9	46
Pear	5.4	36
Cantaloupe	5.4	65
Watermelon	5.2	72
Orange juice	5.1	50
Orange	5.1	43
Apple juice	4.9	40
Peach	3.1	28
Strawberries	2.8	40