Maximize Your Workout With Nutrition

When it comes to eating and exercise, everyone is different. So pay attention to how you feel during your workout and your overall performance. Let your experience guide you on which pre- and post-exercise eating habits work best for you. Consider keeping a journal to monitor how your body reacts to meals and snacks so that you can tweak your diet for optimal performance.



Pre-Workout

Experiment with your eating schedule to see what works best for you. Keep these tips in mind:
A high-carbohydrate, low-fat snack is easily digested and normalizes blood sugar.
Avoid fatty meals or snacks, because they may stay in your stomach for long periods of time.
Meal should be moderate in protein, i.e., just enough to satisfy hunger.
Drink lots of fluids. Your snack can be a liquid meal such as a fruit shake.
A light workout can be preceded with a light snack, but leave more lead time for intense workouts.
Depending on how heavy a meal you have eaten, wait at least 30 minutes to two hours before exercising. The bigger the meal the longer you will need to wait. If you just eat a light snack such as pretzels or a fruit drink, you should be ready to work out within 30 minutes.

Post Workout

Eat foods rich in carbohydrates during the hour or two following your workout and you should be enhancing your energy reserves for the next day's workout. Also, after you exercise, drink plenty of water to rehydrate your body. Research shows that fatigue during exercise can be related to low levels of water and stored carbohydrates. Since we use carbohydrates as energy during exercise (including many forms of resistance training), we need to replenish these storage depots after a workout. This will assist weight trainers but is especially important for people who do a lot of aerobic exercise (more than 60 minutes) on consecutive days.

In addition, consumption of protein is necessary during your post-exercise meal. It will help rebuild the tissues damaged during your workout. Protein will also facilitate carbohydrate storage to improve recovery if it is consumed with carbohydrates during the initial two hours after a workout.
To help your muscles recover and to replace their glycogen stores, eat a meal that contains both protein and carbohydrates within two hours of your exercise session if possible. If you aren't hungry after your workout, drink juice or a sports drink to provide replenishing carbohydrates. Don't forget to drink fluids to help optimize your exercise and workouts. You need adequate fluids before, during and after exercise to help prevent dehydration.

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