What should you eat before, during, and after exercise?

It’s the new year and you’ve started exercising – that’s great! However, you might be faced with the dilemma of what to eat before or after your workout. You might have heard that you’re not supposed to down your bottle of water post-exercise, or that you can’t eat a heavy meal before. Are these true or simply just health myths? What qualifies as a ‘heavy meal’, anyway? Well, we’ve got the answers to your burning questions right here!

Before Exercise

It turns out that nutritionists recommend quality carbohydrates (meaning whole-grain versus white-meal) pre-workout, and lean protein post-workout. Carbohydrate-rich foods that are in low in fat and moderate in protein ensures you have enough muscle glycogen as fuel for your physical activity. Some great, tasty options include low-fat granola bars, fig bars, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and bananas! Besides your carbs, take care to ensure you are sufficiently hydrated.

And if you’re one to skip out on breakfast or a pre-workout meal, think again. Research conducted by the University of Sydney in 2011 suggests that carbohydrate ingestion can actually improve your endurance during a workout! While working out on an empty stomach burns fats in the short-term, it can actually lead to ketosis in the future, caused when your body depletes its muscle glycogen in its fasting state and turns to breaking down fats for energy, which can be harmful to the kidneys in the long-run.

During Exercise

One of the key things to do during exercise is hydrate. If your workout is 45 minutes or less, it is not necessary for you to grab a bite. For endurance exercises of one to 2.5hours however, aim for 3o to 60 grams of carbs per hour of exercise. This ensures enough carbohydrates to supplement the muscle glycogen needed to fuel a workout. Some ideas? Munch on a medium-sized apple, which typically has 25 grams of total carbohydrates!

After Exercise

Here comes your post-workout meal! After you exercise, make sure you consume protein like dairy, eggs, meat and poultry. Particularly after long or very high-intensity workouts, consuming 1 to 1.2 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of your body weight, along with 20g of protein within the first hour after exercise, will sufficiently replenish muscle glycogen stores, and also support muscle protein synthesis.

Some foods to consider? One hardboiled egg contains about 6 grams of protein, so you can opt to pack a few eggs to consume after. If you experience muscle pain after you exercise, some studies suggest that certain fruit juices like watermelon juice and cherry juice can greatly reduce muscle soreness! If you’re looking for inspiration for your work-out meals, head up to our gallery above!

Sarah Khan

Photos: GettyImages

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