daveryanwyoming said:Here's a link to the study: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/524370
but it doesn't really give you the answer you're looking for. It pretty much just says it works and has a good carb to protein ratio but doesn't define that ratio or try to explain why it works. I ran the OPs question by my wife who runs a nutrition counseling practice and holds an MSRD. Her answer was a lot like those above, get a lot of carbs, along with some protein during the critical half hour and again a couple of hours later. According to her the carb to protein ratio is debated and although a lot of folks advocate 4:1, there isn't a lot of good science backing up that particular number. But I do have to question the folks talking about protein powder and lean chicken. Whatever the ideal carb to protein ratio, it's clear that the carbs are the important part to replace depleted glycogen. Protein powder or meat won't do much for restoring the glycogen you've spent during a hard workout. Put that protein powder in a fruit smoothie maybe.....
-Dave
Yea, the idea of the protein is to get the carbs to absorb into the muscles. No need for protein powder.