Posted on June 22, 2016 by Jenny Cromack
For Quick Energy Before A Workout Eat Simple Carboyhdrates
The world of nutrition is certainly is confusing and maintaining a healthy diet is difficult – it shouldn’t be but with so many contradicting ideas floating around it is! A lot of what I call bad nutrition advice is a massive contribution to poor health, increased obesity and high disease rates.
The main reason that this advice is so damaging is because nutrition is about context. An appropriate diet for a fit and healthy athlete is very different than someone who is wanting lose weight and drop body fat. So over the next few weeks I will be looking at five of the more confusing and complicated pieces of nutrition advice.
So here’s part 1 – For quick energy before your workout eat simple carbohydrates.
Many people believe that what you eat straight before your workout will ‘fuel’ you and get you through your workout, that’s why many people munch on bananas, toast or energy bars before or during a workout (ok so we’re talking energy bars here, how many people have you seen tucking into a slice of toast during training!)
However , this is not the best thing to do simply because your body doesn’t run off carbs the same way your car runs on petrol.
The energy that fuels our workouts comes primarily from glycogen stores, which is a form of carbohydrates that are stored in your liver and muscles. It takes a couple of hours for your body to digest carbs and synthesise muscle glycogen so whatever you eat in the couple of hours pre-workout won’t be helpful.
The carbs you eat will be in your blood stream when you train because they are fast- digesting simple carbs that are high in sugar. This will cause a spike in your insulin and blood sugar levels which will in turn reduce your bodies ability to burn fat. This is not what you want when your trying to train as it is more likely to make you feel sluggish and slow down your metabolism. Certainly not what you want during a workout!
What Should You Eat Before You Train?
Pre-workout nutrition should be looking to:
1) Reduce the raising in blood sugar and insulin and reducing fat burning capability.
2) Provide amino acids to help with protein synthesis
3) Keep you from feeling hungry and causing a low blood sugar level
A combination of good quality protein, low- carb vegetables and good healthy fats such as nuts is advised. Make sure you consume it with enough time to allow the food to digest.
For some great pre workout meals click here