raw foods: Will it take my muscles longer to recover without meat protein? What are good foods to make sure I recover and gain muscle? Im a female, 32 years old.|||Protein will definitely aid in recover and is necessary to build new muscle tissue. You should think about add a chemical free pure whey protein to your routine... maybe in the form of a smoothie after your workout. Here is a low calorie high protein smoothie on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI1V0DZKo鈥?/a>|||No. I don't think that is possible. Their is no way you could consume enough protein.|||protein is protein.|||100% raw is hard work, of no benefit health-wise, and not very eco-friendly. Better to have a reasonable amount of raw foods in your diet - plenty of salads and appropriate raw veggies such as broccoli - and cook foods that don't really lend themselves to being eaten raw (e.g. potatoes).|||nuts/seeds/grains, be sure to soak them before eating !|||ok, you're getting a lot of horse **** from these people. It is not hard to stay 100% raw, there are really great recipes out there that taste fantastic. I've got 2 raw non-cook books. one by Ani Phyo and the other by Alissa Cohen, I also want to pick up both of Sarma's books. This is Alissa's forum for Raw food junkies www.rawfoodtalk.com and this is a web site where you can connect with raw vegan body builders. www.veganbodybuilding.com There are both vegan and raw vegan's on this site and they will be able to give you more information as far as building muscle goes. I eat 100% raw. I work out for an hour every night. I stretch, jog or hop on the elliptical for half an hour, stretch again, sit ups, crunches, side leg lifts, back leg lifts, front leg lifts, push ups etc. I feel like I have more energy and drive to work out now than I ever did eating SAD. I'm losing weight a lot easier now than before and feel better the day after a hard workout as well, not so sluggish and sore.|||As you鈥檝e probably heard before, your post-workout meal may very well be your most important meal of the day. The reason is that when you鈥檙e finished with an intense workout, you鈥檙e entering a catabolic state where your muscle glycogen is depleted and increased cortisol levels are beginning to excessively break down muscle tissue. These conditions are not good and the only way to reverse this catabolic state (and promote an anabolic state) is to consume a quickly digestible post-workout meal (can be a shake or smoothie) as soon as you can after training. The goal is to choose a meal with easily digestible quick carbs to replenish muscle glycogen as well as quickly digestible protein to provide the amino acids needed to jump start muscular repair. The surge of carbohydrates and amino acids from this quickly digested meal promotes an insulin spike from the pancreas, which shuttles nutrients into the muscle cells. The post-workout meal should generally contain between 300-500 calories to get the best response. For example, a 120-lb female may only need a 300-calorie meal, whereas a 200-lb male may need a 500-calorie post-workout meal. Your post-workout meal should also contain anywhere from a 2:1 ratio of carbs:protein to a 4:1 ratio of carbs:protein. While most of your other daily meals should contain a source of healthy fats, keep the fat content of your post-workout meal to a bare minimum, since fat slows the absorption of the meal, which is the opposite of what you want after a workout. When choosing what to make for your post-workout meal, the first thing to realize is that you DON鈥橳 need any of these expensive post-workout supplement formulations that all of the fancy ads you see everywhere will tell you that you absolutely NEED! I tend to prefer to make my own post-workout shakes from natural ingredients instead of using a commercial mixture, since many of them are low quality. A good source of quickly digestible natural carbs such as frozen bananas, pineapples, honey, or organic maple syrup are perfect to elicit an insulin response that will promote muscle glycogen replenishment and a general anabolic (muscle building) effect. The more you can assist the muscle repair process, the more you increase your metabolic rate and can help your fat loss as well. The best source of quickly digestible protein is a quality non-denatured whey protein isolate and/or some fat-free or low-fat yogurt. Here are a couple ideas for delicious post-workout smoothies that will kick start your recovery process: Chocolate Banana 鈥?blend together 1 cup water, 陆 cup skim milk, one and a half frozen bananas, 2 tbsp organic maple syrup, and 30 grams chocolate whey protein powder 鈥?38 g prot, 72 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 440 calories. Pineapple Vanilla - blend together 1 cup water, 陆 cup vanilla yogurt, one cup frozen pineapples, 2 tbsp honey (preferably raw), and 30 grams vanilla whey protein powder 鈥?35 g prot, 71 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 425 calories. When looking to lose body fat, keep in mind that post-workout meals should have the opposite characteristics of all of your other meals throughout each day. While post-workout meals should have quick high glycemic index carbs and quickly digested proteins, all of your other meals throughout the day should be comprised of low glycemic index, slowly digested carbs and slow release proteins. These are powerful strategies towards developing a lean muscular body with a low body fat percentage. Another great thing about post-workout meals is that you can satisfy even the worst sweet tooth, since this is the one time of the day where you can get away with eating extra sugars without adding to your gut. Instead, it all goes straight to the muscles! But ONLY if your workout was super-high intensity and involved resistance training for large portions of the body. If all you did was some low intensity cardio, forget about doing this type of post-workout shake.