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Post WO fruit, why not??


Tawna

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From a friend doing their first W30, "I don't understand the post-wo recommendation to avoid fruit. It seems to me that post-wo is the best time to have fruit, since the sugar is going straight into the muscles to replenish glycogen stores. All other times sugar has a greater potential to spike insulin and be stored as fat."

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From It Starts with Food, on the section about pre/post WO food: "Your post-work out meal is ... designed to help you start the recovery process faster and more effectively. ... Have a meal-size serving of an easily digestible protein and add carbohydrate in the form of starchy vegetables based on your activity level and health status (more details on this point in the book). Fruit is not your best choice here. Fructose-rich fruit will ... replenish liver glycogen, but your muscles did all the hard work. A good post-workout meal might be: chicken breast and sweet potato, salmon and butternut squash, or egg whites mixed into mashed pumpkin."

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From It Starts With Food: "Fructose-rich fruit will preferentially replenish liver glycogen, but your muscles did all the hard work" (page 243).

 

You see there is muscle glycogen stores and liver glycogen stores. Sweet potato goes more directly to replace muscle glycogen. Starchy veggies in general. 

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and she then asks "but I work out some times and a work out of like 30-60 min is very different from running for 90-120 min". She runs 10+ miles and feels she wont be able to tomorrow. We're on day 5.

 

This doesn't make sense. Fruit is hardly a requirement to be able to run or work out. Starchy vegetables and protein are what's needed, and she can eat as much of that as she desires.

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  • 4 weeks later...

and she then asks "but I work out some times and a work out of like 30-60 min is very different from running for 90-120 min". She runs 10+ miles and feels she wont be able to tomorrow. We're on day 5.

 

This doesn't make sense. Fruit is hardly a requirement to be able to run or work out. Starchy vegetables and protein are what's needed, and she can eat as much of that as she desires.

 

I think it actually makes a lot of sense. Depending on exercise intensity the body will turn from muscle glycogen to liver glycogen as the next readily available fuel source. Muscle glycogen depletes within 60-90 minutes of Zone 3/4 exercise, on average. If you exercise in those zones for longer, there is good reason to restore liver as well as muscle glycogen following your routine.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with tehninjo0. If you exercise longer than 30 min you will dip into liver glycogen, and it makes sense to replenish that as well. However, muscle- and liver glycogen are not two seperate entities refilled independent of each other. If you refill one, you will refill the other as well. And starch is a faster, healthier way of refilling glycogen, because fructose has to be metabolized in the liver first. Fructose also has effects on lipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity wich is not good if you for example suffer from metabolic syndrome. If you do not, and just had a long run, I think you are fine to have an apple after! :)

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  • 2 months later...

Hey guys, thanks for the explanation, I just posted on a different forum my observation that fruit does not seem to give me much bang for my buck when it comes to riding, while starchy vegetables do. And you all provide the explanation of "why". Super interesting. I have a long/steep gravel ride planned, and this is making me think about actually packing some sweet potatoes.

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