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Archive for the ‘Meal Replacements’ Category

I am sure you have heard previously that your post-workout meal is actually the most important meal of your day (aside from breakfast of course).

I would have to agree with that assertion for the most part because refueling your body with the right combo of nutrients is so vastly important to repairing your muscles from the breakdown of a workout, and keeping your metabolic rate sky high.

From recent research on post-workout meals:

“A recent 12-week study says that those who failed to consume a post workout meal immediately after their workouts suffered a lower metabolism, loss of fat free mass, and had clear indications of muscle loss – while their counterparts (those who consumed a post workout recovery meal) significantly lost more fat, increased lean muscle, improved their metabolism, and increased dynamic strength.”

I have noticed that many people are confused as to what actually makes a good post-workout meal. A couple common questions I receive about post workout meals:

1. Aren’t post-workout meals only important for muscle building? Do they matter at all for fat loss goals?

2. Is it best to use one of the fancy post-workout drinks or shakes that you see in the magazines or is a whole food meal better? What’s the best combo of carbs to protein to fat in a good post workout meal?

3. How soon after a workout is best to have my post workout meal?

Answers:

1. Post-workout meals are actually important for BOTH muscle building and losing body fat!

Always remember that one of the most important considerations of long term body fat loss and maintaining a lean body for life is raising your overall metabolic rate by building and maintaining adequate lean muscle mass throughout your entire body.

By consuming a good post workout meal after every workout, you assist your body in repairing and building lean muscle throughout your whole body. The more lean muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate (even when resting)… hence, you lose fat easier and faster, and it is MUCH easier to stay lean in the long term.

2. Are whole foods or supplement shakes best? This can actually be done either way, but I am going to show you some guidelines why some post-workout shakes are better than others and some whole foods are better than others. Either way, it can work.

First, keep in mind that your goal throughout the majority of each day is eating small whole food meals frequently that digest slowly with high fiber and a controlled glycemic response (blood sugar). These normal daily meals should also contain healthy fats and slowly digested proteins to maintain a steady supply of amino acids.

When it comes to post-workout meals, you can just about use the exact opposite strategy of your normal meals. With post-workout meals, you actually want a faster digesting carb source to stimulate an insulin response. This helps to push nutrients and glycogen back into your muscle cells for repair. Remember, this is not just important for building muscle, but also for losing fat.

So while I always preach high fiber for most of your meals, with post-workout meals, you actually want lower fiber, higher GI carbohydrates, and quickly digesting protein as well to kick start muscle repair.

Another consideration to keep in mind… while I always preach healthy fats at most of your meals… with the post workout meal, you actually want almost all carbohydrates and protein, and very little fat. Fat in the post workout meal just slows the absorption and glycemic response which is not what you want at this key time.

What about the best ratios of carbohydrates and protein?

I have reviewed dozens of studies on this subject and most seem to agree that a ratio of approx 2 to 1 carbs to protein is optimal. This seems to be the best combo to maximize muscle repair to boost that metabolic rate for long term body fat loss.

I usually make my post-workout shakes using a frozen banana, whey protein, water, and some real maple syrup (not the cheap high fructose corn syrup based maple syrups at most stores) and aim for about a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein in the shake.

If you want to make things a little simpler, one of the best post-workout shakes that I’ve found that is already mixed in a 2:1 carb:protein ratio is Prograde’s Varsity Post-Workout mix. You can find it at the bottom of this page.

3. How soon should you eat (or drink) your post-workout meal once your done working out?

As soon as you can after your workout (the sooner the better)!

Studies have shown that the sooner you consume your post workout meal following your intense workout, the better your muscle recovery will be, and a higher quantity of the carbohydrates ingested will be used for muscle glycogen replenishment instead of other uses.

The first thing I do when I get back from the gym is make my post workout shake, and this is about 10 min after finishing my workout.

I asked my CPA why are there two separate deductions for meals. – 50% Deductible or 100% Deductible.
I thought all business meals were deductible!
He explained to me that there are several specific rules to determine if a meal is a legitimate business expense or not. These rules are set to meet the business purpose requirement and the ordinary and necessary requirement of the business. Ordinary and necessary are some KEY words you will see we use in many of our articles and educational tools.

The General Rule is:

Meals are generally 50% deductible. This means when a business pays for a meal, only 50% of that amount is deducted on the tax return. It’s extremely important to know the exceptions to this rule because some meals are
100% deductible!

Meals that are 50% deductible include:
– Meals with customers, prospects, clients and vendors.
– Meals with employees, partners or directors
– Meals during business travel
– Meals while attending a class, convention, seminar, certification course or away from home over 50 miles

What are the exceptions to the rules that make the meal 100% deductible according to my CPA?

– Meals for the business party or other social event ((group meeting, holiday party, company picnic)

– Meals provided on the employer’s premises to more than half of the employees for the convenience of the employer. An
example of this is when a business provides meals to employees in order to keep them working over time to keep the employees at the office.
– Snacks provided to employees within the office. This includes coffee, water, soda, donuts, etc..snacks.
– Meals where the business is reimbursed for the expense. An example, if a business takes a client to lunch and in turn
bills the client for that lunch in a separate line item on the invoice, then the business can fully deduct that meal.

Some professionals (accountants,CPA’s and attorney’s) invoice their customers for the meals as a separate line item. This makes the meal expense fully deductible to them and makes it 50% deductible to the client. If the meal expense is not specifically itemized on the invoice (include in their hourly or service fee), then the
meal is only 50% deductible to the business and 100% deductible to the client.

It’s best to capture this information on the back of the receipt when you are at the restaurant making it easier to record when you get back to the office.
Be sure you have set up two separate “buckets” or accounts to make the end of year reporting easier. You can do this by setting up two meal expense
accounts in your accounting software or books -

Meals – 50% deductible
Meals – 100% deductible

If you are using our tools we have already set up these accounts for you. If not, you can easily set them up in many accounting tools and then code the expense to the proper account when you enter it in your accounting program (We suggest Quicken). Then it’s all makes the reporting at the end of the year a breeze for your tax preparer with no additional work!

There are new trends driving the ready meals market forward in 2008. Consumers are regaining a sense of heritage which is driving demand for traditional national recipes. Manufacturers are developing ready meals that are making it more convenient for consumers to develop ‘homemade’ style food, involving the use of fresh and local ingredients. The demand for freshness overlaps with trends in healthy ready meals, which remains an important and growing sector. Future trends in health include natural, functional, satiety enhancing and low GI ingredients. Innovation and NPD in Ready Meals is a new management report  that analyzes the key trends in the ready meals market and forecasts future growth and opportunities. The report breaks down opportunities in the ready meals sector by region and category to provide a unique insight into the factors shaping the market now and in the future. Anticipate future changes in the ready meals market and make the right decisions in terms of new product development and marketing strategies with this new report…

This new report will enable you to…

Predict future market growth levels with this report’s analysis of key drivers of the ready meals market detailing changes in demographics, meal-time behavior and regulation.

Anticipate the impact of key trends in the ready meals market and quantify new and emerging opportunities using current and forecasted market value and volume data to 2010 across 7 European countries and the US, detailing the size and growth of the canned, chilled, dried and frozen ready meals markets.

Improve targeting and the effectiveness of your NPD strategies with this report’s analysis of Productscan data of over 6,000 ready meal products launched between 2004 and 2007. Analysis was conducted to determine the key innovations in terms of formulation, packaging, shelving type and product labelling.

Benchmark leading executives’ opinions on the future of ready meals using this report’s analysis of our global consumer survey, providing exclusive insight into consumer behavior, key drivers of the ready meals market and future trends.

Your questions answered…

How should ready meals manufacturers position their products to reflect the changing demands of consumers?
What should ready meals new product development strategies focus on?
Which ready meals categories and count ries will grow fastest to 2010?
Who are the companies who lead NPD in ready meals?
What are the key trends in ready meals NPD?
Some key findings from this report…

Of all ready meals products launched between 2004 and 2007, 2% were innovative. Of those innovative ready meal products, 71% were innovative in terms of formulation and 13% were innovative in terms of pac kaging benefit. Innovation in formulation consists of using unusual combinations of flavors and ingredients and also use of ingredients with health benefits.

The ready meals market across Europe and the US has grown steadily in recent years. In 2006, the combined European and US market was worth $36.4bn. However, by 2010 it is expected to grow to the value of $41.7bn.

39.1% of industry executives think that healthy, ‘better-for-you’ variants will be the most important feature for the success of a ready meal product over the next 5 years. 28.3% think that greater convenience in ready meals will provide the biggest growth for manufacturers.

Frozen ready meals take the largest share of the ready meals market, accounting for about 50% of ready meals sales in both Europe and the US in 2006.

For more reports of your interest, please visit the following link: http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research/Food-Beverages.html

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