For cyclists of any level, simply monitoring your calorie intake and outtake isn’t enough to get the energy you need. While there’s a lot that goes into choosing the right calories, you need a lot of them. In addition, following fast fad muscle gaining or weight loss diets cuts you off from the fuel sources you need like carbs and fat. If you want to learn how to refuel the right way after a hard ride, here are three of the best post-ride smoothies for cyclists.
Green Dream Recovery
Many green leafy vegetables have exactly what you need to recharge. When you eat after a rise, you need to replace the electrolytes you lost, protein to rebuild muscle, and carbohydrates to get your glycogen levels up and ready for the next ride.
In your blender, you’ll want your base to have spinach, at least a cup, along with a good amount of coconut milk, as it’s great for rehydration and tastes good. If you can’t drink coconut milk, use another juice or milk of your liking. If you’re worried about liquid spinach, the taste is pretty easy to mask. Apricots, apples, pineapples, and mangos are high in carbs and good sugars and are great for masking the taste. The ratios can be to your liking to make it either thicker or thinner.
Peanut Butter Protein Power
Peanut butter and protein are a classic power couple that will get you feeling full. However, many of these recipes can leave you feeling bloated, so you need to make sure that you’re putting enough liquid and carbs in the smoothie to help you process that protein.
The classic base should be banana and two to four tablespoons of peanut butter. But don’t use just any peanut butter; natural crunchy peanut butter contains all those good oils and fats that your body needs. Here, you can add a scoop of your favorite protein powder or leave it as is. You can also add in some honey or cocoa powder for extra deliciousness. Again, you can choose whichever liquid you want, but almond milk, cashew milk, and oat milk have a lot of healthy fats and just taste better.
Blueberry Bliss
Blueberries have a ton of healthy sugars and water, and, when combined with almond butter, the result is absolutely delicious while being packed with the essentials that you need. You can combine a half cup of blueberries, two to three tablespoons of almond butter, half a cup of Greek yogurt, and a banana as your base. Almond milk and regular cow’s milk taste pretty great with this one, but it’s up to you.
These three best post-ride smoothies for cyclists are sure to refuel your tank and give you the calories you need to stay active.
