What every athlete and coach should know about post recovery drinks and energy bars.
Making your own post recovery drinks and energy bars is easy. The ingredients are mostly items that you already have around the house, making these recipes a very cheap alternative to costly sports drinks.
Post Recovery Drinks
Recipe 1: 1 can orange juice, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 3/4 teaspoon salt, water.
Recipe 2: 1/2 cup (organic) honey, 1/2 teaspoon lite salt or sea salt, 1/4 cup lemon juice, (filtered) water.
Recipe 3: 10 tbs. sugar (5/8 cups or 120 grams), 0.75 tsp Morton Lite salt (4.2 grams), 1 package of Coolaid mix for flavor, water to make 2 liters.
Recipe 4: 1% chocolate milk.
Facts
Electrolytes: Electrolytes is just fancy talk for salt and potassium. Here are recipes to make your own post recovery drinks:
A blend of carbohydrate, protein, and fat: 1% chocolate milk contains sodium and potassium equal to that of the majority of sports drinks.
Prepared orange juice: Orange juice is naturally high in potassium; it contains no less than 400 mg potassium per 8 onces and and it contains very little sodium (5 mg).
Energy Bars
There are a lot of ways to make a healthy and good energy bar on your own. There are good recipes to chose from, but we we have found the recipes to make the ultimate bars. These simple recipes require very little time, or cooking skill.
Recipe 1:
This bar is so simple and tasty and you get good fats and protein from the peanut butter, some good fiber from the oats, a quick boost from the honey sugars, and some antioxidants and caffeine from the chocolate.
- Break up your favorite dark chocolate bar (70% cocoa or more) into tiny chunks.
- Mix 1 cup of natural peanut butter and 1 cup of honey in a non-stick pot under medium heat.
- Cook this until fully mixed, and slightly runny.
- Next, add 3 cups of old fashioned uncooked, non-instant oatmeal and mix well.
- Take this off the heat and let cool for 2 minutes.
- Add the dark chocolate to the mix while still warm.
- Press this into a 9″ x 13″ pan.
- Put in the fridge until completely cool, and cut to desired bar size.
Recipe 2:
These fruity bars are packed with natural sugar, protein and Vitamin E to rebuild your muscles. They are a sticky mess, but worth it in flavor and cheap energy.
- Take 8 ounces of raisins, pitted dates, and figs and send them through a food processor.
- Mix this with 1 cup almond butter, and 1/2 cup peanut butter.
- Be patient as it can be difficult to grind up and mix this gooey mess.
- Then take this mess and flatten it in a pan to 1/2 inch thick.
- Let it sit in the pan and dry for a couple hours, then cut into bars, and wrap in Saran Wrap.
Recipe 3:
- 1 cup peanut butter (or experiment with almond butter, too)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
- 2/3 cup dried cherries or dried cranberries or raisins (or a combination)
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut
- 3 cups puffed brown rice cereal
1. Grease an 8×8 pan with a cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, honey and vanilla extract until well-combined.
3. Add the sunflower seeds, dried fruit, sesame seeds and coconut and combine thoroughly with the peanut butter mixture.
4. Gradually add the puffed brown rice cereal to this.
5. This is where a child comes in handy– this step is gooey and messy and best mixed with your hands- and kids love stuff like that.
6. Firmly press the mixture into the prepared 8×8 pan; you’ll need to wet your hands slightly, otherwise the mixture just sticks to them.
7. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours, then cut.
You can also change up the fruit or add some chocolate (similar to the first recipe) to this mix to change it up a bit.
Enjoy!
|
|
