Best meals to eat before and after a workout
Whether you are heading to work out at the gym or from your home, energise your workouts with nutritious meals. And then follow it up with proper nutrition. Eating after a workout is as important as eating before. Where a pre-workout snack would fuel our bodies, some post-workout protein kickstarts the recovery process for our muscles.
If you’re not sure where to start on this journey, these tips may guide you:
Best pre-workout meals
You want to avoid feeling bloated or sluggish during a workout, so the key is to eat something small and easy to digest. However, you have to eat these meals at least one to two hours before exercising.
Best pre-workout meals may include:
- Water
- Healthy carbs with whole grains (whole-wheat toast, whole-grain cereal, fruits and select vegetables or fat-free yoghurt)
- Non-saturated fats
Eat an apple or banana as a quick fuel up to 5-10 minutes before you exercise if you’re running out of time.
Best post-workout meals
Refuel your body within the next half hour after sweating out a good workout. Try
- Replenishing your body with water and fluids — experts recommend at least 0.3ltrs for every 15 to 20 minutes of exercise
- Refuelling with food rich in carbohydrates to help replace burnt out carbs
- Adding protein to your meal roster help repair and grow muscle
Alternatively, some yoghurt and fruit, chocolate milk or a protein shake do the job too.
Meals to avoid
The wrong meal may result in a poor workout. If you can, avoid eating or drinking the following before you exercise, you’ll be doing yourself a lot of good:
- Carbonated drinks: They make you feel bloated and gassy.
- Fibre-rich foods: Foods like broccoli or lentil draw blood to your digestive system because they take longer to digest. You don’t want your blood flowing to your gut rather than your muscles.
- Nuts: This is the same as fibre-rich foods.
- Spicy foods: This may trigger heartburn or acid reflux.
If you need help drawing up a meal plan that will boost your workout results, schedule an appointment with any of our expert nutritionists on AwayDoc.
