From Fitness Magazine's Weekly Update

6 Smart Snacks for After Your WorkoutReplenish your energy after your workout with these smart protein and carb snack combos.By Lisa Kovalovich Whitmore Whether you work up a sweat in the morning or evening, chances are you grab a little bite before you hit the gym. A snack before you work out helps give you energy and stamina to go the distance. But did you know that eating a snack after you work out is even more important? "You want to make sure you feed your body to help repair muscle tissues and replenish glycogen stores [which are depleted after a strenuous workout]," says Kristin Reisinger, MS, RD, a sports nutritionist and competitive figure athlete based in New Jersey. Here, six top snacks to fuel your body post workout (Reisinger recommends chasing each of these snacks with 8-12 ounces of water).

Protein Shake with Banana"After a workout, you want ample protein combined with a carbohydrate," says Reisinger. A protein shake made from whey protein, water, and half a banana is a great choice, since your body quickly turns it into energy.
Recommended Serving Size: 2 scoops of whey protein powder combined with water and 1/2 banana, 250 calories

Peanut Butter & Banana on Rice CakesIf you're craving something more substantial after a workout, a healthy peanut butter and banana sandwich will fit the bill. Instead of bread, smooth your peanut butter onto two brown rice cakes for extra fiber (without empty carbs). And while you may usually avoid bananas because they're too full of sugar, eating one after a workout is just fine. "This is one of the only times I recommend a high-glycemic carbohydrate source such as banana, because the uptake will be rapid," says Reisinger. Translation: It'll replenish your energy quickly.
Recommended Serving Size: 1/2 banana, 1 tbsp. peanut butter, and 2 brown rice cakes, 215 calories

Hummus and PitaAnother great carb/protein combo: Hummus and whole wheat pita. Hummus, a dip made from pureed chickpeas, gives you both carbs and protein. Coupled with the slow-release energy from the whole wheat pita, it makes for a snack that'll keep you fueled for hours.
Recommended Serving Size: 1/4 cup hummus with 1 whole wheat pita, 275 calories

Yogurt and Fresh BerriesProtein makes sense after a workout, since it contains amino acids that help build muscle. "Your muscles are depleted of amino acids after a workout, so you need an adequate supply of protein to help build them up," says Reisinger. Low-fat yogurt can pack nearly 15 grams of protein; add some berries for carbohydrate-driven energy.
Recommended Serving Size: 1 8-ounce container of plain, low-fat yogurt with 1/2 cup berries, 180 calories

Tuna on Whole WheatWhat could be more filling after a workout than half a sandwich? And when you choose its filling wisely, you'll be building muscle while you eat, too! "Research shows that carbs and protein together have a better response to post-workout recovery," says Reisinger. Tuna drizzled with a little lemon juice and olive oil spread over a slice of whole wheat bread is an ideal protein/carb mini-meal.
Recommended Serving Size: 4 ounces water-packed tuna and 1 slice whole wheat bread, 220 calories

Turkey and Cheese with Apple SlicesIf you're not in the mood for a sandwich, skip the bread and eat the fillings on their own! Spread a soft-cheese wedge over two or three slices of lean deli turkey, then roll up for a quick, high-protein, eat-on-the-go snack. Add a sliced apple for some energy-boosting (and glycogen-replenishing) carbs.
Recommended Serving Size: 4 ounces deli turkey, 1 soft cheese wedge, and 1 apple, 240 calories

I've recently been doing some research and had found out that you can actually enhance your weight loss by eating after a cardio or strength training workout. That's pretty easy to understand but it starts to get confusing from there when you ask what to eat, and when to eat it, how much and what for cardio and what for strength training. From what I read, it turns out you can burn muscle just by doing cardio excersize, which isn't good. In fact, you want to keep or even build more muscle since it takes more energy for your body to maintain muscle tissue as opposed to fat so you want to feed the muscle and burn the fat. If you aren't eating the right foods you risk catabolism of muscle tissue.

Trying to get to the bottom of this, the general consensus is eating a couple of bananas 30 minutes to an hour after either a strength training or cardio workout will provide an insulin boost which supplies sugar to your muscles. But will sugar alone help maintain muscle mass? They recommend a whey protein shake which have fast digesting proteins. My big question.....should I have the protein shake only after strength training, or both after cardio and strength training?

If you are weight training ideally you should be having a Post workout shake as soon as possible after your session, preferably within the first 20 minutes. Ideally the shake would be a 2:1 combination of simple carbsrotein, so you could use things like dextrose and maltrose or glucose as your simple carbs however unless you specifically wanting optimum results then fruit will do fine. Whey protein is generally the best source of protein to use post workout as it is the most easily digested and it is relatively cheap.
the reason for the simple carbs is that as pointed out, is to causes an insulin spike which helps get the nutrients that your body needs as soon as possible.

Generally if you have it post cardio workout is generally up to you, me personally I would a shake just a smaller amount, If weight loss is your main aim I wouldn't be to worried about it though just make sure you have enough protein in the rest of your diet to starve of muscle catabolism the rest of the time

Even more important then the post workout carb/protein meal is the pre workout meal. A protein/carb digested before a workout has shown to elevate protein synthesis more then pwo. What jsb said was good.

Theres an article in my training log about pre and post workout nutrition.

I am trying to lose weight, and I want to optimize my efforts by keeping the muscle and burning only the fat. If I'm losing weight, and muscle is part of that, then in my opinion it defeats the point. What do you guys think would be the best way to do this as far as eating before or after both kinds of workout (since I do both).

Ooops, meant to say my main focus is to lose weight.

Could you post a link to that log please. I'm having a hard time locating that one. Thanks in advance.

In my signature, its not on this site.

I've actually been toying with this idea on my own this week.

I may not be the best one to ask, but wanted to put in my 2 cents.
I'm currently mixing my whey shake (1 scoop) with 16oz water, & drinking as i dehydrate during my both workouts ( cardio & weights).

I'm curious on what others think of this.

You mean hydrate right? While a protein drink is much better than say, gatorade, you would see better recovery and enhance protein synthesis by keeping a mix of carbs and protein. A good ratio is 2 to 1 with 2 being carbs.

Naturally I am thirsty after I work out, and while I drink water (of course), every single time I work out I also find myself madly craving fruit juice. Is it a bad idea to drink fruit juice (along with my water) after a workout?

After an intense workout, I drink a protein shake. It's made up of some high quality whey, non-fat milk, mangoes, strawberries, and ice. 200 calories. The protein and carbs from the fruit will help your muscles recover. It's important not to have any fat with that, though, because the fat hill hinder the absorption of the protein and carbs.

Well theres some divided camps of thought when it comes to pre and post workout meals/drinks. For weight loss it seems like the strong consensus is on a protein only source before and after a very intense workout (we're talking an hours worth of interval training and high effort weight training).

If your workouts are moderate, then a protein source before and just water after is recommended as it seems to influence recovery more than a post workout meal.

My opinion is if it fits within your caloric intake for the day, have a small glass along with a big glass of water. Just make sure its 100% juice not from concentrate so you know you're putting something good in your body.

Pre and post workout meals should consist of a mix of carbohydrates and protein. A good ratio is 2:1 with carbs being the 2. For instance, post workout I drink a dextrose/whey shake containing 24g protein and 45g carbs.

Other things that are good for the carb part is: chocolate milk, oats, rice, pasta.

I work out almost everyday and three or so days of the week I do a spin class in the morning (8:30am). I usually don't eat beforehand because I'd have to get up so much earlier to make sure there's enough time between eating and working out. I usually have a whey protein shake and some whole grain carb afterward. Is that bad? Should I eat something before I go to the gym?