From Macronutrients to Functional Foods: Nutritional Strategies for Recovery Following High-Intensity Exercise

High-intensity exercise improves aerobic and anaerobic performance, neuromuscular function, and sport-specific readiness but may also induce glycogen depletion, exercise-induced muscle damage, muscle soreness, inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, and temporary reductions in subsequent performance. Recovery nutrition is therefore essential to restore physiological readiness. This review aimed to synthesize current evidence on nutritional strategies for recovery following high-intensity exercise, ranging from foundational macronutrients to functional foods and bioactive compounds. A structured narrative review was conducted using peer-reviewed literature retrieved from PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Priority was given to position stands, consensus statements, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, and human intervention studies published in English between 2011 and May 2026. Eligible studies involved athletes or physically active adults and examined biochemical, perceptual, or functional recovery outcomes after high-intensity, repeated-sprint, resistance, eccentric, or muscle-damaging exercise. Carbohydrate and protein remain the most consistently supported nutritional strategies for recovery. Carbohydrate facilitates glycogen resynthesis, particularly when recovery time is limited, whereas high-quality protein supports muscle protein synthesis and tissue repair. Functional foods and bioactive compounds may provide additional benefits as adjunct recovery strategies, although the available evidence varies considerably across exercise models, participant characteristics, supplementation protocols, and recovery outcomes. Among the functional foods reviewed, tart cherry currently has the strongest supporting evidence for selected recovery outcomes. Curcumin, omega-3 fatty acids, and beetroot have shown promising context-dependent benefits, whereas evidence for pomegranate, cocoa flavanols, and green tea remains more variable and is generally stronger for oxidative-stress modulation than for consistent improvements in functional recovery. Chronic high-dose vitamin C and E supplementation may impair training adaptations. Based on the synthesized evidence, we propose a hierarchical and periodized conceptual framework for recovery nutrition following high-intensity exercise, in which carbohydrate and protein adequacy remain the primary priorities. Within this framework, functional foods and bioactive compounds may serve as context-dependent adjuncts, and their application should be individualized according to recovery demands, competition schedule, adaptation goals, and the current strength and consistency of the available evidence.