Post workout carbs
The general advice is that after resistance training you should consume plenty of simple carbs to spike your insulin level and thus help getting nutrients to your muscles (and to replenish your glycogen stores).
However, insulin is also responsible for storing excess calories as body fat which is clearly a bad thing and should be avoided as much as you can even when you're bulking. Recent research also indicates that you don't need to skyrocket your insulin level since it gives no extra benefit, so a low-GI food with protein (e.g. whey shake and some fruit) should also do the job.
E.g.: Alan Aragon's Research Review
So what's the truth? Should we skip simple carbs post workout?
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Burn sugars, replace sugars.
The majority of the fuel you will be burning for your resistance workout will be glycogen (=stored sugar).
Muscle glycogen (glucose = dextrose) will be a large chunk of that (say 100 g from an intense session), while liver glycogen (fructose) will comprise maybe 1/5 of that.
An ideal PWO meal should be easily digested/ broken down and ready to get where it needs to go.
This means no fiber. no fats. Whey protein is best here. And simple sugars - mainly dextrose ( next best thing: starches) and a little fructose (banana).
A good recommendation here is 2:1 sugars to protein. So say 50 g dextrose/fructose, 25 whey.
Without going into too much science here, your body is primed to replace what you have spent after a workout. Cells are very permeable/sensitive and it will only take a little insulin to usher the aminos and sugars into them. After a workout is the absolutely hardest time "to get fat".
If you decide to forgo post-wo carbs - you will 1) be sore for a longer period of time (depleted glycogen doesn't feel too good) and 2) Your next workout will be hurt (because fuel stores will be way down).
Carbs post workout are a good thing. If you've exerted yourself you have depleted all your quick reserves and you need to replenish them. However simple carbs (like a candy bar, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc) are never a good idea unless you are dangerously hypoglycemic--a condition that diabetics have to deal with occasionally. The processed carbs will cause your body to go hyper for a bit and then crash badly afterwards.
There are several studies out that show protein post workout does help recovery. However there are also several conflicting ones out there as well.
That said, a combination of protein and complex carbs after you work out with a real meal seems to have all the benefits of both the carbs and the protein without the crash afterwards.
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