Being an athlete isn’t just about the training and keeping fit. Its also about your diet. There are many things to consider when you finish a work out. Protein to repair muscles, fluids to replenish what you loss and of course carbohydrates to replace the fuel you used. Here’s a meal I love after I finish a hard day of paddling on a dragon boat.

For my carbohydrates, I baked some yams. Baking your yams make them sweet and sticky! Just like eating sugar (but in a healthy way). You can either use yams or sweet potatoes. They will give you similar results. To bake your yam, give them a good wash and wrap them in aluminum foil. Pre-heat the oven 450 degrees. Once the oven is ready, bake the yams on a tray. This should take approximately 1 hour. To test, just open the foil and use a fork to poke the yam. If the fork goes in easily, its ready!

The other dish I decided to make was baked Brussel sprouts. Why? Just because I love incorporating greens into my diet and since I was using my oven, why not bake at the same them at the same time. For this dish, I cut up some garlic (2-3 cloves), chopped a quarter of a medium sized yellow onion and cut the Brussel sprouts in quarters. I put them all in a baking dish.

I drizzled olive oil over everything, sprinkled with salt and pepper and give it a good mix. For an added dimension of flavour, I added some dill (it was left over in the fridge). I baked the sprouts at 450 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.

For protein, I decided to spoil myself and bought a juicy top sirloin. Its grilling season so this is a perfect steak to do that. Let your meat warm up at room temperature for approximately 15 minutes. Don’t add salt or pepper until after you grill. Salt burns on the grill. For a nice rare steak, grill each side of the steak for about 3 minutes or until your meat thermometer says 125 degrees. For medium rare steaks, 130 degrees and medium steaks 140 degrees. Remember as soon as you put the steak on the grill, don’t move it!! You want the nice char marks on each side. Once your steak is perfect, take it off the heat, and let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting. This allows all the juices to get reabsorbed and makes the steak nice and juicy. Yum!

The yams are baked, Brussels sprouts are ready and the steak is rested. This is the perfect post-workout meal!!

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