Exercise is a great way to stay fit, but what your clients eat before and after workouts also impacts fitness. In fact, these meals and snacks can make a difference in the quality of workouts and the resulting benefits obtained.
What to Eat and When
Before exercise
- Meals: Recommend to your athletes that they eat about 2–4 hours before they start huffing and puffing. Carbs to top off muscle fuel reserves, and some lean protein, should top the menu. Steer them clear of slower-to-digest, fatty foods and foods with higher fiber levels just before exercise.
- Snacks: If all that can be reasonably mustered is a snack before the sweating starts, recommend that it be high in easily digested carbs; time it for about an hour before the session begins.
After exercise
- Push carbs to restore muscle fuel reserves, and some protein to help in the repair and building of muscle tissue. This is no time for dilly-dallying — eating for recovery should begin within 30 minutes of finishing a workout. Also stress the gradual replenishment of fluids and sodium lost from sweating.
Meal time is fuel time
Emphasize to your clients that the meal or snack before exercise is what's going to power their workout. Think: quality in, quality out. If they're slamming down a donut and guzzling an energy drink for breakfast, or zipping in for a high-fat, fast-food meal pre-exercise, chances are good that the quality of the workout won't be high.
The following are meal and snack options for better performance. Share this list with your clients so that they can make wiser decisions when it comes to their sports nutrition.
Breakfast
- Cold or hot cereal with fruit or fruit juice and low-fat or nonfat milk
- French toast or pancakes with maple or fruit syrup
- Breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs, salsa, low-fat cheese in a flour tortilla) and fruit juice
- Toast with jam or honey and low-fat yogurt
- Bagel or English muffin with jelly and/or peanut butter, a banana, and fruit juice
Lunch or dinner
- Deli sandwich on whole wheat bread with turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, extra veggies, and mustard, and baked chips
- Bean burrito (light on the cheese and skip the sour cream); 2 soft tacos with grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, and extra salsa; and Mexican rice
- 2 small hamburgers with fruit or fruit juice and a side salad
- Grilled chicken sandwich, frozen low-fat yogurt, and baked potato with low-fat sour cream or salsa
- Pasta or cheese ravioli with red sauce, French bread, steamed vegetables, pudding, and fresh or canned fruit
- A slice of thick-crust veggie pizza, low-fat gelato, and fresh or canned fruit
- Baked or grilled lean beef, chicken, turkey, or fish; steamed rice; dinner roll; cooked green beans; low-fat frozen yogurt; fruit juice
Good-to-go snacks
No time for a meal before the training session? No worries. There are plenty of portable foods that can be munched on en route to the workout:
Take the guesswork out of recovery
Kick-start recovery after a workout with something fast and practical. Pick from among the following to start the recharging process:
Topics:
General, Pre-Workout, Hydration, Energy
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