Your diet and workout can work together for good. Know the right foods you should eat before, during and after your exercise.
Before
Before exercise, what and when you eat can make a big difference to your performance and recovery. Two or three hours before workout, you should eat something that helps you sustain energy, boost performance, stay hydrated, preserve muscle mass and have speed recovery.
- Protein: Can help you maintain or even increase your muscle size, reduce markers of muscle damage, and flood your bloodstream with amino acids just when your body needs those most.
- Carbs: Can fuel your training and help with recovery, preserve muscle and liver glycogen, and stimulate the release of insulin. Fats before exercise
- Recommended foods: bananas, fruit and Greek yogurt, oats and protein powder, eggs and whole wheat toast
Depending on what suits your individual needs, you can simply have normal meal few hours before exercise. You can also have a smaller meal just before your exercise session. And if you’re trying to put on mass, you may do both.
During
During exercise, what you eat or drink is only important under specific circumstances. If you’re going to eat during exercise, your goals should be similar to your pre-exercise nutrition.
- Protein: Helps prevent muscle breakdown
- Carbs: Provides an immediate fuel source
The maximum amount of carbs you can digest or absorb during exercise is 60-70 grams per hour. However, if you include protein, you can achieve the same endurance benefits with only 30-45 grams of carbohydrate per hour. Try to avoid eating fats during exercise, because fats can be more difficult to digest. Whether you need to eat or not during your workout depends on how long it’s been since your last meal and the length or type of exercise you’re planning to do.
After
Post-exercise nutrition can help you recover, refuel, rehydrate, build muscle and improve future performance.
- Protein: Prevents protein breakdown and stimulates synthesis, leading to increased or maintained muscle tissue
- Carbs: A mix of minimally-processed whole food carbohydrates, with some fruit (to better restore or maintain liver glycogen)
- Fats: Doesn’t reduce the benefits of protein and carbohydrate consumption around training
To recover from your workout, have a mixed meal of real food. But if you don’t feel hungry or don’t feel like eating, you can go with liquid nutrition.
Food of course is not the totality of fitness. For a better overall health and wellness, visit a fitness centre near your place.