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The Best Foods to Eat Before and After Your Workout
If you are looking for the best nutrition plan before and after workout meal option, then you have landed yourself at the right place. Let us guide you through in detail what nutrition you require before and after work out.
Your pre and post workout meal is crucial and can help improve your performance and results. For instance, your goals are mostly to burn fat and gain muscles, also to increase strength and be healthier. As per sports nutritionist what you eat before your workout, acts as a fuel or energy, to maximize performance during your workout session, what you eat after is important to optimize muscle recovery which basically begins as soon as your workout ends.
First, Never ever workout with an empty stomach because working out empty stomach is like driving a car without gas. Your workout will suffer because you will not have enough energy to sustain it or you will be too distracted by hunger to keep focus. Let’s start by the understanding with the pre workout snacks. These snacks are called ‘Energy Phase’ because they play the largest role in providing your body with maximum energy. The meals are heavier on carbs and a bit less on protein. Carbs are the best source of energy and they digest easily. The pre workout snacks which we will be sharing with you are light, small and easy to digest and it is suitable to consume 30 to 60 minutes before your workout but if you’re planning to have bigger and heavier meal then have a balanced meal of carbs, proteins and healthy fat for at least three hours before workout.
So here are some example of pre workout snack, whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana. The wheat toast will provide you with complex Carbs, which are significantly important for workout for the endurance. Bananas are a rich source of potassium which tend to drop when sweat a lot, as for peanut butter, it is high in protein and it digests easily.
Next Snack can be Greek Yoghurt with fruits; you can also take frozen berries or any fruit of your choice. Try making it into a smoothie, blend 1 cup of frozen berries or you’re any other fruit, one cup of water. It is liquid base pre-workout snack. It is one refreshing snack.
Dressed up Oatmeal is another snack that you can prepare for pre-workout. Oat meal is popular choice for long runs and cardio as it fuels you with energy by gradually releasing sugar in your blood stream. You can dress up your oat meal with fresh fruit, peanut butter, whole nuts, and eggs or cocoa powder.
Sprout or chick pea salad can another great option for you.
Coming to the Post workout meal, it is the first meal after workout session, which is also known as anabolic phase. Having the right post workout meal will help with the increase the muscle mass and reduce fatigue and muscle soreness and overall recovery. To achieve this we need to refill our body with more protein and comparatively less carbs. Proteins consist of amino acids which build the muscle and aids recovery. For this reason, we recommend you to consume your post work out meal within 32 to 40 minutes right after the gym.
Post workout meal is rich in nutrient. Lean protein like grilled chicken will fill you up with the feeling of overly bloated. The veggies, on the other hand, are fiber dense and they keep you satisfied.
Try to prepare an omlette with broccoli, onions, carrots and two eggs using olive oil. Another option is Salmon with sweet potato. Salmon is rich in omega 3 and protein and sweet potato has complex carbs which restore energy. In case you are vegan or vegetarian, replace the salmon with beans or chick peas.
One popular post workout meal is scrambled eggs or boiled egg whites. Again you can replace the egg with paneer.
Hope, you can make the most use of the meal options given by us.