This is best to eat BEFORE your workout

Dear CleanFoodies,

We recently shared this article with you with a very nice workout for your upper body. But what is the best thing to eat before exercising?

Nutrition is an important part of exercising, because it helps with your sports performance and the recovery of your muscles. In addition, you can become (too) hungry when exercising or you may feel faint if you eat too little / not before exercising. You can even pass out. On the other hand, you can also eat too much before exercising, so that you can feel your food coming up again. In this article you will learn more about this today.

Why eat BEFORE a workout?

With a workout your body uses energy, because it has to get your body moving. You improve your sports performance through good and healthy nutrition.

When you eat too little before a workout, your blood sugar can become too low, which can make you unwell. You can also become malnourished if you eat too little for a long time. This is because you are not getting enough good nutrients. In addition, your body is less able to recover after a workout. During a workout you cause damage to your muscles, which your body has to “repair”. This can cause your body to become more overtrained in the long term.

When you eat at the wrong time or the wrong foods, you can suffer from this. For example, you get stomach and / or intestinal complaints. When you eat a meal with too much dietary fat, your gut needs to put more effort into digesting it. During exercise you don't want your body to focus on what you just ate, but on your muscles. You want the oxygenated blood to go to your muscles instead of your gut.

When is the best time to eat?

It is best to eat a “large” meal 2 hours before a workout, which is exactly what you read later in this article. If you do this less than 2 hours in advance, you are more likely to have stomach and intestinal complaints. This 2 hours is a guideline, it differs per person. It is important that you learn to play with this, so that you know how long in advance you can eat a “big” meal.

It helps if you eat your meal slowly and chew it well. As a result, smaller "lumps" get into your stomach and intestines. It takes a lot of energy from your body to process those chunks into small chunks. By chewing your food a bit smaller, your body has more energy for your muscles.

If you have less time, you can also choose to eat a smaller meal 1 hour in advance and if you do not have time at all to eat, you can also choose to eat something small just before training. Later in the article you can read what exactly you can eat.

Then there is also the question, can you exercise without breakfast? If you want to exercise early in the morning, you don't have time to eat a meal. However, you can choose to eat something small. You can exercise without breakfast, but this is not ideal. Your body does not have enough energy after a night to exercise intensively. Your body has performed all kinds of processes at night, which costs energy. However, you can quietly run for half an hour, for example. It is important to keep an eye on whether you are getting dizzy and feeling weak. If this is the case, you should eat something next time. You can exercise moderately intensively for up to an hour. After exercise it is important to eat something, so that your body can recover. So if you want to exercise for more than an hour or if you want to exercise intensively, it is advisable to eat something in advance.

What can I eat best?

It is best to eat something with not too much fat and protein, because it is more difficult to digest. Your gut can respond to this. You can eat a healthy “big” meal 2 hours before exercise, this can just be your normal breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do not use too much fat during this meal or eat anything that is fried. This gives your body the optimal energy to exercise. In addition to this meal, you can drink 2 glasses of water, so that you are sufficiently hydrated.

What you can also pay attention to is that spicy food, onion, leek and coffee can provoke a reaction on the gut. This response differs per person. You will understand that this is not very pleasant during a training.

1 hour before training you can choose to eat a small meal, below are some examples of this:

• 2 pieces of fruit
• Oatmeal Porridge
• muesli bar
• sandwich / cracker with Slim Jam
• gingerbread

If you want to exercise after dinner, you can also choose to eat a small part of the meal an hour in advance. This is less than half. After the workout you can eat the rest of the meal.

If you don't have time to eat, you can choose to eat something small just before exercise, such as a banana, a slice of gingerbread or a glass of fruit juice. These foods are absorbed quickly, so you can still use this energy during your training.

What do you normally eat before a workout? I'm curious!

I wish you a sporty day!

Love Fleur