“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”
– La Rochefoucauld
What to eat before a workout, a simple question with a simple yet complex answer.
Most people are unsure whether it is a good strategy to eat before a workout, and so they might only eat after their exercise. Others think it is best to eat before exercise and not after. And while both strategies are good for performance, health and fitness, what to eat is dependent on several factors — length and type of exercise, health factors that might influence the way you process food. What is certain however is that nutrition plays a big role in building fitness.
Your choice of foods before you exercise can make or break your workout. As they say, food is fuel, and it is important to have some fuel prior to exercising. It serves several functions:
- Fuels your muscles. Both with food eaten in the days before as well as the hour or two before.
- Helps settle your stomach and avoid hunger after the workout.
- Helps prevent low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Hypoglycemia symptoms include nausea, headaches and dizziness.
- Strengthens your mental state by knowing that your body has enough energy for the exercise.
What to eat before a workout
While it varies from person to person and sport to sport and is also influenced by what works for you, there are certain general guidelines that work well for most people. Your food preferences may vary with the time of day, type of exercise, and level of exercise intensity, but all correct pre-workout nutrition plans will be ones supplying quick energy sources, mostly carbohydrates, that can preserve energy reserves and provide added blood flow to the muscle tissue.
Here are some suggestions of pre-workout mini-meals:
- Low-fat yogurt with a sliced banana
- Skim milk blended with frozen fruit to make a smoothie
- Low-fat cottage cheese with pineapple chunks
- Low-fat string cheese and grapes
- Half a banana
- 6 ounces of orange juice
- Half a sweet potato topped with low-fat cottage cheese and sprinkled with nutmeg (or for something savoury, add a spoonful of salsa)
Also, don’t forget about proper hydration.
At what time before the workout to eat? That depends on the glycemic index of the food you are having. If it breaks down rapidly during digestion and release glucose rapidly (that is, if they have a high GI), you want to have it closer to the workout time; for the lower GI foods you do the opposite. You can find information about the glycemic indexes of specific foods here.
As examples, you should choose to have yogurt and a few whole-grain crackers if you have an hour or more before the workout; half a banana or 6 ounces of orange juice if you have less time.
orange juice photo by: troyfish
