Yep. That’s right. I am eating gummy bears post-workout while cutting fats. In fact, my sister also eats gummy bears after workout, too. The gummy bears contain carbohydrates.
The main reason to take carbohydrates post-workout is to refill the muscle glycogen burned during your workout. As you train, your primary fuel source is muscle glycogen, which is the storage form of glucose.
The glycogen consists of long strings of glucose molecules with multiple nodes (branches). The glucose break is needed to generate ATP, which transports chemical energy and is critical for muscle contractions.
Studies confirm that the best way to refill muscle glycogen stores after workouts is to consume fast-digesting carbs as soon as possible. Many sports experts argue that during a regular weight-lifting workout, you don't burn up enough glycogen to be concerned about replenishing it.
However, not doing so could lead to limited muscle recovery. Studies claim that delaying carbs consumption by just 2 hours has been shown to reduce the rate of glycogen replenishment by 50 percent. Another benefit of consuming high-glycemic carbs immediately after an acute workout is that you'll feel reborn.
Carbohydrates can really take you from feeling lethargic and wiped out after an exhausting workout to vigorous and well fueled. Additionally, eating high-glycemic carbs after a workout often satisfy the craving for sugary or starchy carbs without an adverse impact on your diet progress.
In fact, Jim Stoppani often recommends gummy bears for post-workout carbs. And the truth is that most people find them very satisfying. As a bonus, post-gym gummy bears help people "bear" through strict dieting the rest of the day.
Eating Gummy Bears Post-Workout for Better Recovery
The more carbs confusion. People worry that fast carbohydrates after workouts could make them fat. However, the post-workout window is the time of day when you can rest assured that these carbs will not be transformed into body fats.
Don't skip post-workout carb consumption, unless you've cut carbs from your diet entirely. Given the case that you're dieting to lose fat and you're consuming carbs at any other meal of the day, the last thing you don't want to do is skipping the post-workout carbs. It is better to cut carbs from other meals and save them for right after your workout session.
The post-workout time is the best window to maximize the utilization of these carbohydrates. Moreover, the post-workout carbs help with the absorption of other supplements—like creatine and carnitine—in case you take them post-workout. According to some gurus, the only time you should cut carbs from your post-workout meal is when you have already eaten all the carbs from your diet.
According to a recent study released in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, foods with high glycemic carbohydrates are the perfect foods to eat after a workout to help you refill glycogen (the storage form of glucose that helps fuel your body during exercise).
And gummy bears are filled with these fast-digesting carbs — as are oatmeal, potatoes, and white bread. As we already mentioned above, according to Jim Stoppani, Ph.D., doctor of exercise physiology, you should eat gummy bears right after your workout.
“Fast-digesting carbs hit your bloodstream quicker, causing insulin to spike. Fast-digesting carbs are ideal after a workout. That is one of the main reasons why I recommend opting for the gummy bears,” Stoppani states on his website.
Here is a video where Jim Stoppani talks about eating gummy bears post-workout.
What Are the Benefits of Eating Gummy Bears Post-Workout?
The gummy bears provide your body with near-perfect post-workout carbs and simultaneously help to curb any cravings. Of course, fruits are perfect for you, and you should be eating it, but during the post-workout window, it’s not the best choice for spiking the levels of insulin.
What is the problem with fruits? Around 49% of the sugars found in fruits is fructose, and the fructose needs to be broken down by the body before it can be used. This slows down the process of feeding your muscles after a tough workout.
Giving more details, for the body to digest fructose, it directs it to the liver to be converted into glucose and then stored as glycogen. The liver will release the storage when it is necessary to maintain blood glucose levels.
This is why we are mostly looking for post-workout carbs where the sugars are under the form of glucose, as glucose doesn’t need to be broken down by the body, therefore giving you superior results. However, there is another reason for using gummy bears after your workout - killing the cravings for sweet food.
And right here, the gummy bears go from functional food to power tool. As I mentioned in the beginning, my sister ate gummy bears post-workout too.
Here is why:
My sister recently started dieting. Instead of making her diet the boring way, I showed her that she can still eat some sweets as long as she takes them after a workout.
My sister also mentioned that having that post-workout carbs “reward” waiting for her caused her to train harder enough and stay focused on maximizing her time while doing her workout.
How Many Gummy Bears to Eat Post-Workout
So if you are about to give the post-workout gummy bears technique a try, it is important to know how much you should take. After a workout, try taking 30-40 grams carbs alongside with protein.
Or, this is about 20-26 YumEarth Organic Gummy Bears. See my thoughts on this product below. Studies show that having a 30 gram serving of carbohydrates after a workout will spike insulin levels as much as a 90 gr serving.
So you can grab your 30 grams then keep more of your carbohydrates for other times of the day.
Which Are the Best Gummy Bears to Eat Post-Workout?
So we've tested three types of sweets with my sister. I've decided to go as healthy as possible with our choices. We wanted to definitely test gummy bears and other types of 'healthy' candy snacks.
And here are our choices plus a short overview for each. It is good to mention that generally, all three products are great-tasting and we continue destroying pack after pack as per our sports needs.
1) YumEarth Organic Gummy Bears
YumEarth Organic Gummy Bears are probably the best tasting gummy bears I've ever tried. In my opinion, their taste is superior to all the gummy bears you will find in your local store plus they have many 'all-natural' advantages than the Haribo gummy candy.
YumEarth Organic Gummy Bears Advantages:
- No Artificial Colors
- No Artificial Flavors
- Made with Real Fruit Juice
- Gluten-Free
- Fat-Free
- No High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth
- No Artificial Dyes
- 100% Natural Flavors
- Soy-Free
What I Love About This Gummy Bears Product:
This product consists of 25 g gummy bears per pack, which makes it convenient for carrying and eating the right dosage of carbs without any measuring equipment available. Each 25 g pack has:
- Zero Fats
- 18 g carbs
There are around 12 gummy bears in each pack, which means that 1 gummy bear weighs nearly 2 grams and contains 1.5 g carbs per a gummy bear. I take 1 pack of gummy bears post-workout.
2) YumEarth Sour Beans
The YumEarth Sour Beans happened to be awesome. My sister's favorite. From the name, you can get that these are candies under the form of beans and they taste sour. I couldn't eat a whole pack of them.
YumEarth Sour Beans Advantages:
- No Artificial Colors
- No Artificial Flavors
- Made with Real Fruit Juice
- Gluten-Free
- 100% Daily Vitamin C
- Fat-Free
- No High Fructose Corn Syrup
- No Artificial Dyes
- Real Fruit Extracts
- 100% Natural Flavors
- Soy-free
- Fat-free
What I Love About This YumEarth Sour Beans Product
These sour beans taste like my childhood. Just like in the post-socialist period in Bulgaria when you didn't have much candy varieties to chose from. So we were able to eat this kind of sour candies only around Christmas or New Year's Eve. These sour beans brought so many memories to my sister and me.
This product consists of 20 g sour beans per snack pack which makes it again convenient for carrying and eating the right dosage of carbs without any measuring tools. Each 20 g pack has:
- Zero Fats
- 18 g carbs
There are around 15 sour beans in each pack, which means that one sour bean weighs nearly 1.3 grams and contains 1.2 g carbs per sour bean. However, I can not eat a whole pack of these sour beans. I usually eat them whenever I feel like eating sweets at any time throughout the day. After 3-5 sour beans, my sweets cravings stop. They are like an antidote.
3) YumEarth Organic Fruit Snacks
This is my secret weapon. This YumEarth Organic Fruit Snack is one of my favorites carbohydrates to take for post-workout. I mean I am dying to eat these. They have the perfect fruity taste. Like you almost eat real fruits. Their texture is very soft and delicious. That's the word. Delicious.
YumEarth Organic Fruit Snacks Advantages:
- Naturally Flavored
- No Synthetic Colors
- Non-GMO
- Made with Real Fruit Juice
- USDA Organic
- Naturally Flavored
- Vegan
- Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth
- Certified Gluten-Free
- A fat-free food
- Peanut-free
- No Soy
- No High Fructose Corn Syrup
- No Animal Products
This product consists of 20 g fruits per snack pack. Each 20 g pack has:
- Zero Fats
- 16 g carbs
There are around ten pieces in each pack, which means that one fruit piece weighs nearly 2 grams and contains 1.6 g carbs per fruit. Depending on my workout intensity, I eat 1 or 2 packs post-workout.
Final Thoughts on Eating Gummy Bears Post-Workouts
I am trying to be fully transparent and unbiased when I make supplement or product reviews. I don't accept paid reviews, so everything here is written from my experience with the products mentioned in any particular blog post or article. To sum up, below are the most important aspects of eating post-workout carbs under the form of gummy bears:
- The main reason to take carbohydrates post-workout is to refill the muscle glycogen burned during your workout and recover muscles faster.
- Additionally, eating high-glycemic carbs after a workout often satisfy the craving for sugary or starchy carbs without an adverse impact on your diet progress.
- The gummy bears provide your body with near-perfect post-workout carbs and simultaneously help to curb any cravings.
- As a bonus, post-gym gummy bears help people "bear" through strict dieting the rest of the day.
- The post-workout time is the best window to maximize the utilization of these carbohydrates.
What we succeeded to achieve during the one month period of gummy bears intake:
- I've noticed a significant change in muscle recovery, mostly after a leg workout.
- During this one month, I have eaten a total of zero chocolate or any other sweets. The snacks above have been enough for me to destroy any craving for sugary.
- My sister has been able to eliminate her cravings for chocolate too. Of course, this also needs discipline. The gummy bears or the other sweets snacks mentioned will help you bear with the thought that you are on a diet and any sweets are forbidden. However, if you don't have self-control and discipline, nothing would help.
Final thoughts. It is important to note that we have never said: "Let's eat 10 packs gummy bears." just because they are almost 'healthy' snacks.
No. Never.
We ate them in by our sports needs - if you burn - you earn. Nothing comes easily in this life. Not without a bloody sweat. You still have to push harder, pull more, be persistent and be consistent when you have goals to achieve and dreams to fulfill.
