What to Eat and Why to eat prior to working out

News flash: Most of the fuel you use during exercise doesn’t come from the food you’ve recently eaten! It actually comes from the carbohydrates (called “glycogen”) and fat that’s stored in your muscles, liver, and fat cells. That’s enough to fuel 1-2 hours of very intense exercise or 3-4 hours of moderate intensity exercise.

This means that if your overall diet is adequate to keep your fuel tanks topped off, you may not need to eat anything before you work out. So, if eating before exercise upsets your stomach or you like to exercise first thing in the morning or at a time when eating first isn’t convenient, don’t feel like eating first is a must.

Some people do have a hard time exercising without eating first, especially if it’s been a long time since their last meal or snack. These individuals often are more sensitive to changes in their blood sugar levels, which fall during the first 15-20 minutes of workout. That drop in blood sugar can cause tiredness, mild dizziness, or even faintness—especially if your blood sugar was already low, but eating something beforehand can help prevent this. If you have health issues like diabetes or hypoglycemia that can cause low blood sugar, you’ll probably want to eat before your workout. If you get very hungry during a workout (and it interferes with your energy levels or focus), or become so ravenous after an exercise session that you end up overeating, try eating before you hit the gym to avoid these problems.
Now what to eat:

. Eat a small (100- to 200-calorie) snack about 30 minutes before you work out. This snack should include fast-digesting (high glycemic index) carbohydrates and very little fat (which digests slowly), so that you digest the meal quickly and the fuel is available during your exercise session. Here are some ideas:

• Fruit juice
• Fruit smoothie
• High-glycemic fruits like pineapple, apricots, banana, mango, and watermelon
• Sports drinks
• Pretzels or bagels (but not whole grain varieties, which digest slowly)
• Energy bars (look for 3-5 grams of protein, at least 15 grams of carbs, and very little fat)

Eat a nutritionally balanced meal 1-2 hours before your exercise. This is the best option for many people. The larger the meal, and the more fat and protein it contains, the longer you may need to wait before exercising. Ideally, try to eat enough calories to equal about half the calories you expect to burn during your upcoming workout. So if you burn about 600 calories during your workout, aim for at least 300 calories during this meal — or a little more if your exercise is “high intensity” (over 75% of your maximum heart rate). At least 50-60% of these calories should come from carbohydrates, which should keep your blood sugar and energy levels fairly stable during your exercise session. Include some protein to help prevent the breakdown of muscle for fuel and give your muscles a headstart on recovery after exercise. Some good food choices and combinations for this kind of meal include:

• Fruit and yogurt
• Nuts
• Oatmeal
• Cereals (with more than 3 grams of fiber) and milk
• Trail mix with nuts and dried fruit
• Hummus and raw veggies
• Hard boiled eggs (or egg whites)
• Cottage cheese and fruit
• Half a peanut butter or turkey/chicken sandwich on whole grain bread
• Whole grain crackers with nut butter or cheese
• Whole grain fig (or fruit) Newton cookies
• Milk (especially chocolate milk)
• Tomato or vegetable juice
• Yogurt smoothie (with added protein powder, if desired)
• Most protein/energy bars

As a moderate exerciser, you have a lot of flexibility when it comes to timing your meals and choosing your foods. The most important things are getting to know your body and how it responds to exercise, so that you can give it what it needs to perform at its best. Eating the right foods at the right times before you work out is essential to keeping your energy up, your workout performance high, and your body in fat-burning mode.


Now get out there and DO WORK!

Lets Talk Nutrition

How important is your diet in relation to reaching your fitness goals? Well, let me ask you this….how important is air in order to live? You can’t survive without air, and your goals are never going to be met unless your diet is on point as well. Keep a food journal for just 2-3 days, you will be amazed how many things add up and the little things that add fat and calories. I’m talking the cups of coffee or tea a day you drink, think of all the sugar and cream you put in. The mayo or ketchup on your sandwich, how often you reach for a handful of chips or wheat thins. These little things add up and heavily affect your success.

 The key is to eat foods that will keep you full for a longer period of time, foods that provide satiety. Oatmeal is my bff….best friend forever, this is a power food that has actually been proven to reduce belly fat. I am amazed every time I eat breakfast, my body immediately feels more energized and warmer! The fiber benefit alone should be reason to add this to your diet. Fiber contains only 1.5 to 2.5 calories per gram, while other carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram. Fiber-rich foods also necessitate more chewing and slow the passage of food through the digestive tract.

The fiber in carbohydrates helps prevent those peaks and valleys in blood sugar levels that can cause cravings and poor food choices. They also may stimulate a satiety hormone in the brain.

Carbs or no Carbs? Listen people you need carbs to survive, they provide most of your energy and without them you will be a zombie. Now there is a difference between good carbs and bad but don’t cut them completely. Try to avoid refined carbs (white bread, white rice, white pasta, sugar). Refined and simple carbs can wreak havoc on satiety (feeling of being full) by causing rises and falls in blood sugar triggering hunger every few hours.

Good Carbs: Veggies, Fruits, Oats, brown rice, yams, lentils, whole grain breads and pastas, potatoes.

Pre-workout is all about providing an energy source for your workout. While fatty acids can provide much of the required energy, once a certain intesity level is passed carbohydrates are required to provide the additional energy. If no carbohydrates are available, you release cortisol in order to break down protein (muscle) into glucose. Low GI carbs are a good choice pre-workout because they provide that energy source with less of an insulin response.

Post-workout is all about recovery. The faster you recover, the sooner you will be ready to workout again. Insulin is required for fast recovery as it allows carbohydrates, fats and protein to enter the individual muscle cells that are doing the work. Simple carbs at this time trigger the pancreas to release more insulin, especially if taken with protein.

A great website to use to monitor your food intake and calories used is myfitnesspal.com I use it all the time and recommend it to everyone.

Any Questions feel free to contact me. Jenkfitlife@yahoo.com, have a great weekend everyone!