A nutrition scientist explains female nutrition timing for optimal recovery.
Expert take:
Nutrition timing is especially important for women who want to prioritize optimal recovery after training, according to nutrition scientist and exercise physiologist, Dr. Stacy Sims. After training or exercise, your metabolism comes back to a baseline level, and this is a different process for men and women.
"Our [female] metabolism comes back down to baseline levels so much faster than men. It comes back down to baseline within 45 minutes to an hour whereas men can have three to 18 hours depending on what they did," she says. Nutrition timing is key during this timeframe for hormone health and recovery. "When you look specifically at physiology and how women respond, that window is so important to maintain endocrine health and get adaptations," says Dr. Sims.
How to do it:
To maximize recovery, Dr. Sims says it's critical to have some food post-exercise, ideally something with protein and carbohydrates within 45 minutes to an hour after your workout. So for example that could mean eggs with toast, fruit, or starchy vegetables. "One, that helps facilitate reparation, but two, it signals to the brain that we're no longer in a breakdown state that and it's okay to start repairing, which helps with endocrine (hormone) health as well," explains Dr. Sims.
The most important phase to focus on recovery is the high hormone phase (aka the luteal or pre-menstrual phase) of the cycle. During this period she says elevation in core temperature, systemic inflammation from immune system changes, and other changes due to hormones make recovery even more important. She recommends having regular protein throughout the day, especially when training. Dr. Sims also says this time is ideal for cold water therapy.
"[Women] tend to vasodilate after exercise. So all of the blood goes to the periphery and doesn't come to the heart to then go to the muscle for reparation. So a little bit of cold water exposure really helps facilitate recovery by causing some constriction and making that blood go back centrally," she explains. It can also help with sleep quality since it triggers the parasympathetic system.
The bottom line:
Prioritizing regeneration is key for optimizing performance and fitness gains. Women should consider focusing on recovery and nutrition timing especially when hormones are high to improve results and optimize hormones.