Recovery after exercise: a good hot chocolate!

Why food recovery?

For a quick overview of nutritional needs: immediately after a long-term or resistance effort, the athlete needs water to rehydrate ,carbohydrates to regenerate muscle and liver glycogen stores.

The mechanical stresses exerted during eccentric efforts, the multiplication of shock waves cause micro-lesions in the muscle fibers that must be repaired with proteins before the next outing.

From the point of view of taste, practicality, and efficiency, milk chocolate is a good example of nutritional recovery. The recipe ensures a mixture in the ideal proportion recommended after a workout, namely a carbohydrate to protein ratio of 3:1 and provides a safe fluid intake.

"Homemade" hot chocolate recipes

Here are two simple recipes for making a gourmet hot chocolate, which of course can be adapted to suit everyone's tastes.

THE CLASSIC RECIPE Ingredients for 2 people:

Preparation:

1. Break the chocolate bar into pieces
2. In a saucepan, put the milk and chocolate
3. Heat the mixture over low heat to the limit of the l 'boiling. Stir constantly with a whisk to dissolve the chocolate, and this, until thickened.
4. Remove the pan from the heat several times for 1 to 2 minutes, without stopping stirring so as not to bring the preparation for boiling. The thickness of hot chocolate is obtained by the proportions of the ingredients and especially by the time and the cooking method. The chocolate will thicken little by little.

Once the consistency of hot chocolate is ready, all you have to do is serve it in beautiful cups. To be consumed near the fireplace with some slices of bread, good jams or to accompany beautiful slices of seasonal gingerbread! Treat yourself !

THE GENEROUS RECIPE

The inspiration for this so-called Spanish recipe borrows the use of starch (cornflour, rice flour or potato starch) to thicken it and give it its smoothness. Ingredients for 2 people:

Preparation:

1. Keep a small amount of milk in a cup and stir in the sifted flour. Stir the mixture well with a whisk to obtain a smooth and creamy texture.
2. Add the cocoa to the previous mixture, mixing well
3. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the milk reserved, the cocoa mixture and the powdered sugar
4. Heat over low heat and continue to mix with the whisk until completely dissolved. You must prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
5. When the milk simmers, lower the heat and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Pour in the chocolate hot in the cups and enjoy.

Voila, you have just made a hot chocolate containing 11 g of protein and 37 g of carbohydrates.

You can replace the milk with a vegetable drink, but the protein calculation may not be the same!

For example, 100 ml of an almond or hazelnut-based drink provides around 1.8 g of protein versus nearly 3.5 g of protein in milk of animal origin.

Dominique POULAIN, Sports nutritionist dietician: http://www.nutritionniste-dieteticien.fr