So we have tart cherry trees, also called pie cherries by many, trees in our yard. I love tart cherries direct off the tree, so when people started getting excited about tart cherries a couple years ago, I paid attention. Just Tuesday, I ordered a bottle of Tart Cherry Juice in my Amazon Fresh order. But what should I do with it?
I chugged some before my workout yesterday, using it to down some Energybits. My goodness, it is good. I could have easily finished the bottle, but decided to check out the nutrition info on the back. So many calories, sugars, and carbs. I put the bottle back and back away.
So here was the conundrum, I have this new beverage I love, but it is walloping me with sugar. (Now I don’t eat fruit thanks to the Endo and the IBD, so this is a lot of sugar for me.) And then like a serendipitous white knight, No Meat Athlete posted a blog post answering my question.
For those who don’t want to click, here is a summary:
To make tart cherry juice an ideal choice, though, we need to incorporate it into drinks that meet the commonly accepted carbohydrate-to-protein ratios for maximum performance and recovery:
- Before a workout, a 3:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein
- Immediately after a workout, a ratio between 4:1 and 5:1 of carbohydrates to protein.
Now Matt Frazier adds 7 ounces unsweetened soymilk to his cherry juice concentrate to get the necessary protein, but I can’t do soymilk on any sort of regular basis (all in moderation applies even more with Endo) and almonds make me itchy, so I may look into cashew milk with the old standby of chia seeds to add protein.
I also think that for me, this would be a decent fuel during long runs. What do y’all do with tart cherry juice?
