Q:  “I am healthy and very active.  I do a strenuous work out every day (5 x wk).  My workout consists mostly of lifting.  I have heard of how it is recommended to have a small protein meal prior to your lifting workout and a small carbohydrate meal right after your lifting (to replace the glycogen that is lost during the workout)…What would your suggestions be of the “different” (carbohydrate snacks) that I could have that would benefit the post workout, but not jeopardize what I’ve just done?”

A:  You are right—eating a carbohydrate snack post-workout is important to help replenish your system.  It is great that carbohydrates are easy to come by, so you have plenty of options out there.  But you have to make sure that your carbs are complex and not just sugar…so you can help fully replenish the gylcogen.  (Sugars tend to burn up faster than complex carbs)
 
Here are some good carbohydrate snacks to try:
 
banana
fruit cup
all-natural fruit smoothie
energy bar
grapes
orange juice
saltine crackers
popcorn
baked, low salt chips
 
My favorite post-workout snack is a smoothie (like the new ones from Starbucks) because you can add a little protein that way as well.  That can help provide repairing amino acids to the tiny microscopic tears in our muscles that we create when we lift weights.
 
Keep up the great work!  Thanks for watching and writing.