Smoothie Saturday is now Cook Along with Tom! We will be pulling recipes from a book we love, Jamie Oliver's 5 Ingredients which makes shopping and meal prepping simple while also giving you inspiration to cook some delicious recipes.
This week we've chosen a nice and simple recipe to start with: Hoisin Chicken Lettuce Cups. You only need the five ingredients listed above and the prep couldn't be simpler! This is a fantastic low carb recipe for those of you who are training a little less but want to keep your protein intake up. You can also batch cook the chicken ahead of time and then build your meal on the day!
Directions: Serves Two
Put a pan on high heat.
Cut the mango into 1cm cubes.
Scrunch the mango stone over a bowl to extract the pulp and juice and mix with the hoisin sauce.
Divide the sauce into two pots.
Pound the chicken breasts down with your fists until they are equal thickness throughout.
Cover with 15ml of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper and cook.
We get this question a lot and it needs to be broken down into two components: What to eat immediately after training and what to eat throughout the day post-WOD.
Do I need to be drinking a post-WOD Shake?
There are many variables and you must not overthink it. First and foremost, you need to focus on your goal and your overall calorie and macro consumption throughout the day. If you're getting this wrong, then trying to time your post workout anabolic window is meaningless!
If you are on top of your nutrition, CrossFit WODs generally use a high amount of glucose, the preferred fuel for high intensity or voluminous physical exertion. You should be focusing on replenishing your stores of carbohydrates if you want to be building muscle! Wait, I thought protein built muscle? Yes, it does, but carbs consumed immediately after training provide a powerful means of preventing muscle-loss through the secretion of insulin, a highly anabolic hormone.
In practical terms, post training, aim for a high carb, high protein drink for quick absorption with little fat. If there is any time in the day you are allowed to consume sugar, it's now!
REPAIR, REPLENISH and REHYDRATE
Immediately after training and the rest of the day, you should be focusing on the 3 Rs.
Repair: Damaged muscle tissue with protein. Protein is key for muscle growth and repair and you should aim for 30-40g of high quality protein of 0.4g per kg body weight.
Replenish: Depending on your training style and type of training session, you'll need to replenish your stores of carbohydrates. Aim for 1g per kg of bodyweight. If you are training again within 24 hours and using similar muscle groups then you need to fill your tanks up quickly.
Rehydrate: You should be drinking around 2L of water a day anyway but immediately after training and especially with this hot weather, you should be looking to rehydrate any lost fluids. If you're doing more than one session a day, this becomes even more imperative and you can add an electrolyte table/powder to your drinks.