Sugar has become a topic of many debates for as long as I can remember. Most of them end up coming to the same conclusion: sugar is almost always something that you want to avoid in your diet. A change as simple as removing sugar and calorie dense soda from your day can make a huge impact on your weight loss, mood, and health. Establishing that sugar, in general, is poor for your health is a simple argument to make because there is ample scientific literature to back up those claims. It is also becoming mainstream knowledge so very few people would dare argue in support of sugar. There is another topic that is just as well proven but not nearly as accepted or even known by the public: Some types of gummy bears are a great post workout snack.
Here’s why.
Your muscles store glycogen for energy and consume that glycogen during exercise. When those stores have been depleted, your body will then work to restore them during the recovery process. What is the easiest way to restore glycogen stores? By consuming dextrose, which is essentially the same chemical breakdown. What has dextrose as a main ingredient? You guessed it. Some brands of gummy bears! By consuming dextrose post workout, you are essentially jump starting the recovery process. The greatest part of this process is that, because your body is still using energy, the sugar is used immediately instead of being stored as fat. Talk about a good excuse for a fun snack!
A few considerations for implementation:
Only some brands of gummy bears use actual dextrose. Make sure to check out the ingredients to be sure that dextrose is the sweetener used and nothing else.
This is not an excuse to gorge yourself on gummy bears. The portion has to be in moderation, or you risk over-eating and causing the excess to be stored as fat.
There are many different options to use other than gummy bears. Gummy bears are the most fun, but dextrose can also be found in powdered Gatorade (pre-bottled uses a different sweetener), and some post workout supplements. My favorite is Ignition by 1st Phorm. It is flavorless so it can be mixed with your post workout protein. This is great for two reasons. One, it makes all protein shakes taste better. Trust me. Two, if you take creatine, you can mix it all together and the dextrose will also help your body absorb the creatine more effectively.
Sugar is, for the most part, bad for your health and should be avoided in most scenarios. However, using dextrose as a post workout recovery snack/drink will not only not harm you, but will actually help you recover. So, grab some Ignition or gummy bears and enjoy a post-workout snack/drink within 60 minutes of training and enjoy the benefits of dextrose and a quicker recovery!
