Soup for Post-Workout?

Soup for Post-Workout? Are you insane?

As crazy as that may sound, I tried soup for my post-workout and it is excellent. Not only I feel like I killed a workout, but I feel replenished.

Before I go on and talk about this wonder soup, let me explain a few things that happen to your body after you train.

After we workout our bodies go under stress. This stress causes our bodies to break down muscle fibers, deplete glycogen, and exhaust the nervous system. Depending on what type of workout you have, your body will react differently. In the case for strength training (olympic lifting and powerlifting) the nervous system gets drained. If we run 10 km then our glycogen gets depleted. Finally if we do a hypertrophy workout we will more likely break a lot of muscle fibers.

At the end of it all we must refuel out bodies with good proteins, good carbs and good fats. This can be complicated for most of us. Then I realized that soup is a cheap way of making an excellent meal it would be a great post workout.

I went ahead and made a black bean soup loaded with all sorts of vegetables. This soup is high in fiber, carbs, and protein. Here are the ingredients:

• 3 small potatoes
• 3 parley branches
• 1.5 cups of black beans
• 3 carrots
• 3 celery stalks
• Half an onion
• A red cabbage wedge
• 3 Cloves of Garlic

There really isn't a particular way of cooking this. If you are using fresh beans put them in first with carrots and celery. Right after add the chopped onion and garlic. After it boils add the cut up potatoes and parsley. After 10 minutes throw in in the chopped cabbage. Wait until the beans and potatoes are fork soft. 

You can add salt and pepper to taste and add some olive oil to boost fat content. 

This soup was good for three big servings. This is high in carbs and has decent protein. One serving of this soup can contain over 20 grams of protein and lots of fiber. Not to mention the complex carbs in the potatoes and beans which will refuel your muscles. 

Furthermore this soup can be made on budget since one serving is just under one dollar in cost. All of the ingredients are extremely cheap and these can last a long time in your fridge. 

Also this soup can be versatile, you can use a different type of bean, cabbage, and potato. I am planning on making a sweet potato version of this soup. Also if you have sensitivity to grains you can use chicken legs instead. Chicken legs are an excellent cheap source of protein. 

Go out and enjoy this post-workout soup. 

Stay Real.