Recovery Salad | The Hub

A post-workout meal with just the right amount of protein and carbohydrates for recovery.

This salad is a perfect post-workout recovery meal.

Personally, I like to chew my food, so I rarely make smoothies.

Current research shows that as long as you eat a balanced meal within 1-2 hours of your workout, your body will assimilate the nutrients as you desire: you'll digest protein into amino acids that will build your muscle, the carbohydrates will replenish muscle glycogen and assist with protein synthesis, and contrary to some popular beliefs - the fats (in this case, a little cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil) - will NOT interfere with these processes. Instead, you will feel more satiated.

The actual recipe for the image here is below, AND I've also given you a great Salad Template below the recipe to build your own recovery meal or create an amazing meal filled with foods that create an empowered mind, body, and spirit.

Reminder: Most of my recipes use hand measurements instead of metric measurements. This is because your hand is unique to you, and you can create a balanced meal with it generally assuming the following:

1 Palm = 1 serving of protein at ~20-30 grams

1 Fist = 1 serving of veggies

1 Cupped Handful = 1 serving of carbohydrates

1 Thumb = 1 serving of healthy fats

Note that these serving sizes are only meant as a guide or starting point for creating a healthy meal, and that you may want or need more than one serving of each of these in any given meal - it will depend on so many factors.

Salad Greens garnished with Blueberries, Pine Nuts, and Lemon

Ingredients:

2 large hard boiled eggs (~ 1.5 of my palms)

1 Fist of mixed salad greens

1/2 cupped handful of cherry tomatoes

1/2 cupped handful of shredded carrots

1/2 cupped handful of arugula and clover sprouts

1/2 thumb gorgonzola cheese

1/2 thumb toasted pine nuts

1/2 thumb extra virgin olive oil

A couple tablespoons of fermented red cabbage for my gut health 🙂

A little squeeze of lemon juice

Instructions:

Arrange or mix that good stuff together and eat it.

Nutrition Info:

Protein ~ 18 g

Carbs, Fats: I'm not sure, I don't calorie count, but it's balanced and perfect for me after going on a 2.5 hour bike ride with about 2,000 feet of climbing.

Power Salad Template

Ingredients:

1 - 2 Fists of salad greens of choice (I like a mix of spinach, red or green butter lettuce, and arugula)

1 - 2 Fists of any combination of:

Cucumber

Red grapes

Blueberries

Strawberries

Raspberries

Tomato

Radish

Carrots

Red onion

Sprouts

Roasted beets

Sautéed or roasted broccoli

Any sautéed or roasted veggie

Pick a Power Food:

1 Thumb flax, pumpkin, or sunflower seeds

1 Thumb almonds, pine nuts, pecans or any other nut of choice

Note: Try toasting the nuts in a small pan on medium-low heat on the stove for ~5 minutes.

Pick a Protein:

1-2 palms of lean protein like chicken breast, shrimp, eggs (medium or hard fried; poached; hard boiled), Tempe, etc.

OR if you have none of the above:

1/2 to 1 can tuna or salmon (might sound gross but try it, the canned salmon kind of tastes like tuna)

Healthy Fats (in addition to the nuts and seeds):

1/4 medium Avocado

1 tbl extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar mixture - let me know if you need homemade dressing ideas!

OR instead of dressing, squeeze some lemon or lime juice onto the salad

Directions:

Mix all that good shit together, add salt and pepper and enjoy. Oh, and eat really slowly

Nutrition Info:

Protein 20-30 grams or more depending on what you select for protein and nuts/seeds etc.

Carb, Fat, Calories: Who knows, this could be at least half or more of your daily intake depending on what you add, but what I do know is this is full of vitamins, nutrients, fiber, phytonutrients, and the bacteria on the veggies is good for your gut.