Food For Your Workout

The success of a workout, and the comfort during it, are entirely based on what foods are eaten before and after. The annoying factor of hunger can be suppressed by energy foods such as drinks, bars, gels, and any other carbs that are digested easily. Foods like these, designed to provide energy, will also help you to retain energy during your workout and ensure that you are gaining as much from it as you can.

CarbsCarbs are suggested as they are the prime source of fuel for muscles, as they are converted and stored as glycogen in the body when eaten and this supply of glycogen can be built up hours or days before a workout is performed. Although it takes time for the body to fill the glycogen storage completely, the process can be smoothed by eating the right things after a workout. This is essential for a proper recovery and to keep the body ready for the next workout.

As always with health what you need to consume varies upon your unique choices and needs, but the list of foods should be planned to coincide with the type of workout you plan to do and to benefit you for the entire duration you”ve chose to do the workout through.

The Proper Time to Eat Before Exercising

Plate, fork and knifeIf you try to exercise on a full stomach, you”re going to have a bad time. If you eat foods that stick around long enough to be in your stomach during your workout, you will likely be causing yourself an upset stomach, cramps, and waves of nausea. To ensure that you have boundless energy without the chance of stomach pains during an event, a meal has to be fully digested. This is where timing comes into play, as depending on what you ate this can take between one to four hours. Every person is unique when it comes to bodily timing, and you should experiment with your favorite foods to see exactly how long it takes you to digest them.

If you plan to be exercising early in the day it is suggested to get up even earlier in order to eat a meal and have it digested in time. If this does not seem like something that can happen, eat a small easily digestible meal 20 to 30 minutes prior to the event. If even that time is not available, use your best judgment about what proportions of your meal to eat while remembering that the less time you have the less you should eat. If you remain unsure about what solids to eat in such a short time frame, eat a liquid meal as these are more easily digested into the stomach in short time.

Foods to Focus On For Energy

As stated, glucose is the ideal energy source to rely on while exercising so a pre-workout meal should be comprised of high-carb foods that are easy for the body to digest. These are foods in the pasta, breads, and fruit families, and the marketed energy drinks and bars.

Although glucose is the ideal method some people will find their ability to exercise deteriorates rapidly after a blood sugar spike, meaning that those who find themselves doing this need to balance their glucose intake.

The Foods to Avoid

Fitness woman runningFoods high in fat and fiber are very difficult for the body to process quickly, making them slow to digest. These foods stick in the stomach too long, and are the kind of foods that will be causing issues during a workout. To compensate with the time it takes to break these down the body puts extra blood in the stomach to aid with their digestion, leading to further discomfort. The foods that fall into this grouping are things like meats, sweets, and potato based products.

Always remember that each person is unique, and the things that work best for you may not be the ideal for another. Keep individual needs and preferences in mind when planning a workout based diet, and as always be safe.

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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Written by HealthStatus Team
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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