Hankering for a yummy post-workout reward? You may want to skip it. According to a new study, replacing burned calories with carbohydrates immediately after exercise reduces the benefits of a workout on insulin resistance, a characteristic of type 2 diabetes. Participants who didn’t eat carbs after working out had less insulin resistance 12 hours after exercising than those who finished off with a high-carb snack. Plus, those who abstained from eating carbs burned more fat. But remember that if you are on insulin or drugs that can cause low blood glucose, you may need post-exercise carbs.
Source: Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, October 2008