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What is recovery all about? 

Everyone needs recovery time if they workout or play a sport, no question about it.

You can’t drive a car on an empty tank, your body is the exact same. You need time to let your muscles relax, replenish glycogen stores and also to build up muscle if that is one of your goals.

If you are a professional sportsman/woman. You will generally need more time off then your average exerciser. This is because you are training your body at a higher intensity, meaning your body is working harder, meaning you will need rest to recover.

Recovery includes a number of things.

• Rest, time off exercise
• Refuelling
• Re-setting goals, if you are in a recovery stage you may want to change your goal if you have achieved it. 
• Motivating yourself, for a lot of people motivating themselves can be easy however when you stop exercising you may start to loose motivation even if your recovery is only a day!
• Setting out a plan, this is your best opportunity to sit down and work on your training plan.

Recovery is not just for when you are injured, you should allow your body to recover at least 2 days per week. 

If you are involved in 2 or more sports or exercise related hobbies, you may feel yourself wearing thin, this can have drastic changes on both your physical and mental health.

If you cannot fit in days to recover, you may need to cut back on some of your commitments.

When an athlete completes in a race or competition, they need to spend a long time after their race recovering (depending on their competition).

If you are looking at competing in a marathon or an iron man competition, there is rigorous training and dedication put into it, not just for a week or two but for a good few months. After their races, athletes usually take a break from high level competitions to allow their body to recover.

If you are competing on a smaller scale like a 1, 2, 5, 10km run/cycle/swim you may not need to train your body as much, meaning your recovery time may be less.

Foods for recovery?

Fuelling your body correctly while you are allowing your body to recover is just as important as fuelling your body while competing.

You will need to take extra care when choosing which foods you should be having while on a recovery day. 

I will guide you through everything you should and shouldn’t be eating, and I’ll start right from the start.

Breakfast!

Breakfast is one of the most important meals in your day, breakfast is the first meal/food you have in a day. You are breaking your fast!

In order to have a healthy recovery breakfast you will need to find out what is actually good for you.

In the morning you should be looking at a meal like the following:

• A glass of water.
• A carbohydrate rich food, this can be porridge, Weetabix etc.
• A piece of fruit.

The quantity of each food will change depending on your calorie goals, each meal should be roughly 1/4 of your calorie goals, this will change on a day to day basis.

If you plan on having 4 meals you may need to reduce the food quantity in each meal.

Lunch!

When you are on a recovery day, you will want to fuel up your body with carbohydrates. A great lunch for that is pasta, maybe some cold pasta from the day before.

You could also look at having a sandwich, this way you are able to add in different toppings and add as much or as little as you feel.

Healthier toppings:

• Ham
• Chicken
• Cous Cous 
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Egg

The list is truly endless, having a sandwich is very helpful for getting in your fruit and vegetables. Make sure you also keep an eye on how much water you are drinking. I like to try to have a glass of water with every meal.

Dinner:

Dinner may be your last meal of the day, you want to go out with a bang, while keeping healthy. 

A lot of people may find dinner difficult to make, especially when you are trying to keep healthy. Do not go overboard with trying to stay healthy! 

Yes you should try to have a healthy meal, but do not feel you have to go crazy with eating healthy.

Everyone likes to have a treat meal every once in a while, I know I do anyways! 

Here are some ideas I like to make for my dinner after a training session, while trying to add in as much fruit and vegetables as I can.

• Veggie burger with a side of chips
• Homemade pizza with my favourite toppings
• Steak with some rice and vegetables
• Chicken breast with vegetables, potatoes, carrots, peas etc.

A lot of people tend to eat salads as a way to eat healthy, this is not always the case!

You may not find salads filling or even that nice. Why eat them?

There are so many other meals you can eat rather than eating salads all of the time. You may like salads and that is great, but make sure you still are eating a balanced diet, meaning you change up what you eat.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog all about recovery. If you did make sure you check out my other blogs and also sign up for the newsletter.

If you are planning on competing in a race of competition you may like to read my blog all about preparing for a race. Check it out here.

If you still have a question or have another topic you would like to see a blog about, drop me an email at, support@nutravice.com

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Throughout this blog I’m going to be talking about how you can balance your:

-Sleep

-Nutrition

-Exercising 

-Recovery 

We all have busy schedules but we should all try to fit the above, into our day. Whether that means getting up earlier, prepping food for a few days in advance, cutting down on the amount of commitments you have or just learning to balance them all in the short 24 hours we have in a day.

How to Balance Sleep.

We should all get around 8 hours of sleep a day, for many people this is a huge amount and for others this is normal. If your not getting around 8 hours a night your body just cannot function properly. If you feel you need more or less then 8 hours that is perfectly fine, if you are getting good quality sleep and your body can function on those hours then there is nothing stopping you. Check the list below and see do you fall into any of these factors.

• Tired all the time
• No motivation
• Hungry a lot
• Black bags under your eyes
• Lack of concentration

If you feel you have any of these symptoms then my recommendation would either to go asleep at an earlier time or reduce the amount of ‘screen time’ before you go asleep. Everyone probably heard this before, don’t go on your phone an hour before you go asleep, and it’s true. If you watch a device before going to bed, and you reduce this, you will have a more beneficial sleep, with less distraction and most likely have more energy the following day.

What to do if your “sleep schedule is a mess”

Try these tips:

• Turn your phone off before you go to bed.
• Set an alarm for when you should go to sleep.
• Wake up at time that will allow you to get everything done that day and have the energy to do it.
• Write out an actual planner, this can be as simple or as complex as you want. Include the quality of your sleep, how busy you were that day and if you had healthy foods that day, as nutrition can also play a huge part in sleep.

How to Balance Nutrition

I know when people hear nutrition they think it’s an “effort”, and it does take time but it will help you achieve your goals. Having a good nutrition means you’re getting the essential nutrients, minerals and making sure your body has enough sufficient fuel. Meaning it isn’t filled with junk food.

But don’t panic, I’m here to help. With a few simple tricks you will be able to manage what you eat, a lot better and be able to keep it up long term.

If you want to lose weight or even tone up, the chances are you most likely thought about cutting out all sugar, all carbs. Seems like a good idea?

WRONG!!!!

If you want to achieve your goals and keep it up, you have to choose a plan that you can stick to long term, (this is one of the hardest parts).  

Unfortunately there is no one size fits all but you will be able to adjust the following tips and information to balance lifestyle better.

Check out these tips!

Tip 1!

Plan out your meals.

If you have a plan of what your going to do and when it will be a lot easier for you to fulfil. Check out a planner below. If you feel you cannot decide on healthy meals then check out the recipes online you can then filter in what you would like to search for. E.G pasta, burgers, snacks etc.

Tip 2!

Prep your meals.

Ok you have your plan for the week, but you are busy during the week. What are you going to do?!! 

Prep out your meals. For example if your working Monday to Friday then on a Sunday, prep your meals and put them in reusable containers so all you have to do it cook it or heat it up when you come home. This saves time, effort and will help you to eat healthier, more nutritional meals.

Tip 3!

Think simple.

Not everyone is a world class chef like Gordon Ramsay so it is your job to cook something that you are able to cook well. There is so many simple healthy recipes online, go check them out!

How to Balance Exercising 

Definition of exercise: “Activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness”

*dictionary.com

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle means both eating healthy and exercising. If you don’t like exercising then you may struggle with these tips but check out the blog getting started with exercise.

Here are a few tips to help you keep going with your fitness, exercise etc.

Tip 1!

Do not over do it! 

You do not need to be in the gym everyday and then cardio on top of that. All this will do is damage your muscles as you aren’t giving them time to recover and it will decrease your motivation to keep going with exercise. Stick to 3-4 exercise days a week, maybe 2 in the gym and 1 or 2 cardio such as running, cycling or even a home workout.

Tip 2 !

Track your progress!

By tracking your progress you will be able to see how far you have come helping you to continue. If you don’t see much of a difference physically see if you feel better, have more confidence etc.

Tip 3 ! 

Get help off others!

If you are working hard and can’t see results you mightn’t be doing the right exercises or maybe not doing them correctly. Get help off someone. If you need a hand make sure to give me an email.

I know a lot of people don’t want to go to the gym as they may prefer to do their exercises and workouts in the comfort of their own home, if you are one of these you may feel that there is little you can do.

You are wrong, there is so much you can do in the comfort of your own home.

Check out any home-workouts on YouTube. Someone who I find great is Joe Wicks, the body coach here!

How to Manage Your Recovery 

This to me is probably one of the most important but most lacked out of everything in this blog. If you are exercising there is no way around it, your muscles need recovery time. 

When you come back from an exercise or workout you should eat within 30 mins to replenish your glycogen stores for optimal recovery. 

You should have a mix of carbs, proteins and some fats. Carbohydrates contain glycogen which will help you regain energy, protein rebuilds muscles and helps give results from your exercise.

Glycogen is stored as energy in your body, but an excess will be stored as triglycerides which will then be stored as fat.

Fats on the other hand should be taken in very small amounts or even none at all, the reason is, fats are a slow burning fuel and does not affect muscles protein synthesis or glycogen replenishment.

Good snacks for recovery are:

Low fat-Chocolate milk.

Bananas. 

Nuts and seeds.

If you are planning on having a meal after a workout:

Pasta. 

Potatoes.

Chicken. 

Beef.

These are just a few recovery food ideas, make sure you change it up to balance your diet.

Recovery does not mean just after your workout that day, you will need at least 2 rest days during the week.

If you are worried about not exercising then maybe go for a small light walk, this will keep your body active but you are not exercising intensely.

But do not think that you have to workout 5-6 days a week, that is for athletes and professionals.

Maybe you workout 2-3 times a week, maybe once a week or maybe even none at the moment.

You will need recovery days if you exercise, plan these at the start of your week so you know exactly when your body can relax and rebuild for the next activity.

Exercise planner

If you still have a question or have another topic you would like to see a blog about, drop me an email at, support@nutravice.com

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Loosing weight

Loosing weight can be very difficult, you should look at being in a calorie deficit first. Check out that blog here!

When you are in a calorie deficit you should then look at exercising. Exercises can be tough but just do whatever you can!

Don’t forget to warm up before exercising, you do not want to get injured and push yourself back, if you are injured check out this blog here!

Exercises for loosing weight:

• Walking/jogging/running. 
• Cycling
• Elliptical 

Cardio based exercises are great for burning off a bit of body fat!

HIIT workouts, (High Intensity Interval Training.) These workouts are made by working out for a certain amount of time then resting for another amount of time. 

Exercises that are typically included in HIIT workouts are:

• Side plank (both sides)
• Lunges
• Press ups
• Crunches
• Plank
• High knees

Find some HIIT workouts below on The Body Coach TV

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

When you are working out, you want to sweat it out as much as possible, you want to maximize your workout. Leave no fuel in the tank!

For some workout motivation check out this blog here!

Tips for healthy weight loss:

• Make sure you get lots of fluids on board while you are working out.
• More carbohydrates, less fats!
• More high fibre foods!
• Do not skip meals
• Have snacks rather than treats.
• Regular exercise days.
• Track calories.
• Calorie deficit.
• More cardio exercises.
• DO NOT GO ON A MAD DIET, the chances are you will not stick to this and you will put back on weight straight after. You want to have a way of eating a balanced diet, but one you will stick too.

Loosing weight can be a long, stressful road but you will get your results eventually. When you do, you will never have felt better! Keep going, results will come!

If you are looking at loosing weight and you feel you need a little bit of help, email me and I will be more than happy to help you in any ways I can!

If you still have a question or have another topic you would like to see a blog about, drop me an email at, support@nutravice.com

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Illness and injury are not preventable but here are a few ways you can lower your risk, and boost a speedy recovery!

Unfortunately some times, people get injured while exercising this can be for a number of reasons:

• A fall or other accident
• Poor nutrition
• Lack of sleep
• Over exercising 

Note, that people who train at high or low intensity are at greater risk of infection than people who train at a moderate level.

Although if you are an elite athlete for a longer time, your body will begin to adapt and fight off infections easier.

Accidental injury, E.G broken bone, fractured bone etc

Recovery for injury- Stage 1

Take time off, you do not want to damage yourself anymore with more long lasting effects!

Lots of protein, protein is now your best friend. You will need more protein then before as your body will use up more protein to help rebuild your body.

However if you lacked protein intake before injury, your recovery time may be extended, this is why it is so important to have a sufficient amount of protein. You should be having protein every 3-4 hours during the day if injured. Find a list of protein rich foods here!

Sufficient amount of carbs, as you may know already, carbohydrates are our bodies main source of fuel. However if carbohydrates are not present our body will begin to break down protein to use as energy, we do not want this as our body needs the protein to help recovery.

Calories go down, seen as you are not exercising anymore your body will not as many calories. However your body uses up a large amount of calories when recovering meaning you need less calories than a training day but more calories than a rest day.

Micronutrient intake, when you are injured, you will need to get your correct micronutrient intake as it is very important for the rebuilding of the body. Vitamin D and Calcium play a vital role in healing injuries such as bone damage. Vitamin C and Zinc aids collagen synthesis, which is important for the repair of ligaments, tendons and also helps with bone repairment.

Rehabilitation- Stage 2

Resistance exercise, after your injury has healed, you move on to the next step. Rehabilitation this is when you begin to ease yourself back into exercise and start increasing strength. Resistance training includes using resistance bands for exercises, pull ups, push ups. They are exercises that uses your body weight or weights. These types of exercises are great for building back strength after injury.

More protein, you are still going to be having a large quantity or protein to regain any muscle lost. You should have some HBV foods as well.

Illnesses E.G, inflammation, infections. 

Causes: unhygienic conditions, raw food, low immune system.

When you train in high intensities your immune system lowers, meaning you are more susceptible to illnesses and diseases. 

How to lower your risk of infection:

Wash hands regularly.

Do not share food or water.

Do not drink water from taps.

Sufficient micronutrient nutrient intake.

Carbohydrates taken before, during and after a workout, (these studies were mainly done on endurance athletes.)

What to do if you catch an infection

Probiotics, probiotics are a type of bacteria that lives in the gut. This is a good bacteria, probiotics help your body fight off infections and diseases. Probiotic rich foods are, yogurt sourdough, cheeses, soybeans, tempeh.

Avoid sugar and trans-fats, sugar helps the bad bacteria grow in your gut which could mean you have a unbalanced gut in terms of good and bad bacteria. You should also decrease the amount of trans-fats you are eating as trans-fats increases inflammation.

Take more anti-inflammatory foods, these include tuna, salmon, chia seeds, flaxseeds, turmeric, ginger, green tea, dark chocolate. Omega-3 rich foods reduce inflammation greatly, that is why tuna, salmon chia seeds are on the list of foods you should eat!

More antioxidants foods, your colourful fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, all your berries ( blueberries, strawberries etc.). Your green, blue, yellow, orange, red fruit and veg!

Extra fluids, you should be taking on more fluids if sick to help the body function to its best ability and prevents dehydration.

If you still have a question or have another topic you would like to see a blog about, drop me an email at, support@nutravice.com