Body Shop: After a long haul, refuel smartly - Off Duty, Military Health and Fitness - Air Force Times

Body Shop: After a long haul, refuel smartly

During a tough mission or a long ruck, good nutrition choices may be hard to find; you simply need to eat whatever is at hand to get the job done. That’s why the 45 minutes immediately after the end of your workout — called the Refueling Interval, or RFI, in the Warfighter Nutrition Guide — is critical for giving your body the fuel it needs.

You’ll need to restore your glycogen levels to recover and prepare for your next big event. Glycogen is glucose stored in the body. Most is in the muscle tissue, and the remainder is found in the liver, kidneys and intestines.

Glycogen is the source of energy most often used for exercise because it is immediately accessible.

“All strenuous exercise, be it endurance, resistance training or missions, will deplete glycogen,” says the Warfighter Nutrition Guide. “Muscle glycogen must be replenished through nutritional interventions to override fatigue and accelerate recovery.”

And if you try to exercise again without properly replenishing your glycogen stores, you’ll find your performance will suffer.

How to refuel

For exercise longer than 90 minutes, the Warfighter Nutrition Guide recommends consuming “an easily digested, high-carbohydrate drink or food, providing approximately 50 grams of carbohydrates and 12 grams of protein.”

But that doesn’t mean you should reach for the nearest candy bar. The 80 percent carbohydrates to 20 percent protein ratio should include little to no fats for maximum repair and muscle growth.

“The only time the body can process simple carbohydrates is when it’s in a glycogen-depleted state,” says Dr. Robert Lustig of the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. “But while a sports drink or sugary food would do the trick, it is not the ideal long-term solution.”

Smart choices, as outlined in the Warfighter Nutrition Guide, include a Soldier Fuel Bar, a cup of low-fat yogurt with fruit, a hard-boiled egg and a bagel, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread, a Taco Bell bean burrito or a six-inch turkey breast sandwich from Subway and an oatmeal raisin cookie.

In a report written for the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota, Henry Kukaski suggests the 4:1 carb-protein ratio of low-fat chocolate milk makes it ideal.

Simple carbs vs. complex carbs

Simple carbohydrates consist of simple sugars, such as fruit juice, that can be quickly and easily absorbed into the system and converted into energy. Complex carbohydrates are generally more nutrient-dense and take longer to be utilized by the body. But they also provide more long-lasting energy.

What’s the glycemic index?

When it comes to carbs, you often hear about the glycemic index. The term refers to how a particular food will raise blood glucose levels. Carbohydrates are ranked from low GI, producing small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels, to high GI, those causing glucose and insulin spikes.

The Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service, or SUGiRS, recommends low-GI carbs to reduce hunger and keep you satiated, low-GI carbs to prolong physical endurance, and high-GI carbs to help replenish carbohydrate stores after exercise. But SUGiRS, in Australia, also advocates a mostly low-GI diet for maintaining long-term health.

Beware simple sugars

Toxicity happens when too much sugar is consumed.

“Similar to alcohol toxicity, sugar toxicity causes liver damage,” says Dr. Michael Dansinger, the clinical nutrition and obesity editor for the Medscape Journal of Medicine and an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. “The liver toxicity, in turn, fuels the cholesterol abnormalities, insulin resistance, inflammation, high blood pressure and other heart disease risk factors that drive the heart disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes epidemics that have skyrocketed during the past few decades.”

Sugars contribute calories with few, if any, nutrients, so look for foods low in added sugars.

Finally, save desserts for a special treat. But when it comes to mission recovery, make smart choices to fuel a stronger body.