Can You Eat Pop-Tarts After Your Workout?
Okay, you’ve finished your workout and know you should eat something.
…but what?!
WHAT SHOULD YOU EAT?!?!
Should you be boring and go with the tried and true staple of chicken and rice?
Or should you live it up and grab a box of Pop-Tarts and down one or two?
Well, the answer is…
Wait, before we even get to the answer, let’s look at why you should eat something after working out!
In postponement of me revealing that Pop-Tarts are one of the best postworkout nutrition choices, we’re now going to draw out the suspense by taking a looksy at why you should even bother eating after your workout.
*ahem*
What happens after you eat carbs?
Yup, when you eat food containing carbs, the carbs get broken down and converted into glucose, or blood sugar, to fuel the body!
And what else happens when you eat carbs?
You get fat!
NOPE!!!1Carbs don’t make you fat, people!
Try again!
Other than getting energy, what else happens when you eat carbs?
Yup, the body releases insulin to take the glucose out of the bloodstream and move it into cells throughout the body for immediate energy!
And what else happens?
Yup, some of that glucose gets stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles for the body’s future energy needs.2NOTE: If left unused long enough, that glycogen gets converted into fatty acids and stored as fat in adipose tissue.
And when you work out, what happens to those glycogen stores?
Yup, they get depleted!
<slow golf clap>BRAVO ON THOSE ANSWERS!!!</slow golf clap>
Well, to refill those depleted glycogen stores in the muscles, your body needs carbs after a workout.
…but not just any carbs will do!
What you want after a workout are simple carbs, especially ones without fiber, because they break down into sugar and enter the bloodstream quickly. Simple sugars with little, if any, fiber not only help refill glycogen faster but also help spike insulin.
And what is insulin again?
Yup, it’s a hormone that transports glucose!
But know what else?
Yup, insulin can transport other shit, too!
Shit like what?
Yup, insulin can transport shit like protein to damaged muscles after a workout so they can begin repairing and rebuilding themselves!
Now, all of that is why eating after a workout is important, as well as why what you eat after that workout should be something with simple carbs. That’s where Pop-Tarts come in, as they’re almost nothing but sugar like the boring white rice you were about to subject yourself to because it’s supposedly “healthier” for you.3Look at the ingredients panel on a box of Pop-Tarts. See shit like corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, and dextrose? Those are very, very simple sugars!
As for white rice being “healthy”, that isn’t exactly the case due to it getting stripped of its fiber during refinement, which means it doesn’t have as slow of a rate of digestion as brown or wild rice. So if you’re a fucking weirdo who eats brown or wild rice as part of their postworkout routine, you should seriously consider making the switch to white rice like a normal person for the purpose of replacing lost glycogen and rapidly elevating insulin to start the recovery process. Eating a Pop-Tart after your workout will produce the desired effect of quickly elevating insulin and refilling glycogen like white rice does. A Pop-Tart will just do so with more fun for your taste buds. So go ahead, eat that Pop-Tart!4NOTE (1): Other simple carb choices with little, if any, fiber work too. Examples include dextrose powder and other processed snacks, like cake, cookies, and candy, such as jellybeans, gummy bears, and Pixie Stix. Whatever the fast-digesting carb choice, just pair it with a protein source for maximum advantage!
NOTE (2): Apples, oranges, bananas, and other fruit are fast-digesting carbs too but shouldn’t be go-to sources after a workout because they don’t create a rapid spike in insulin and the fructose, or fruit sugar, in them gets stored in the liver – NOT the muscle cells that need their energy stores replenished!
While it’s not true that you have to scarf something down as soon as your workout is over, you should get something in you within an hour or so if time and the opportunity allows.
Like it was mentioned above, one reason to eat after your workout is because when you work out, your muscles need more sugar than usual for energy, which can cause your blood sugar levels to drop. Eating sometime shortly after a workout can help get you out of this hypoglycemic state, something that should be of importance especially if you’re diabetic. This is one of the outlined reasons why Pop-Tarts, a simple sugar, are a wise choice immediately following a workout.
As for me and what I do because you’re nosy, I’ve gone the majority of my lifting career supping on Pop-Tarts after a workout, with me carrying a box of them in my gym bag. Because I’ve almost always lived in close proximity to a gym, I’d eat one or two and that’d hold me over until I walked or drove the very short distance home to prepare and eat something larger and with protein.
Nowadays, I live a bit further out from the gym and my workouts are usually scheduled in a gap during my workday. Due to those factors, I’ve switched things up to enjoying a protein shake with raw oatmeal and water after my training session. By drinking the protein powder with water, I’ll absorb the protein faster and the complex carbs in the raw oatmeal will provide me with sustained energy for the few hours it takes me to train my remaining clients and then drive the 20-30 minutes home, which is when I then consume something larger.
So while there are general guidelines for what to eat for your postworkout meal, it really depends on the situation.
Glossary: adipose, fat, gym, gym bag, hormones, muscle, work out, workout