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I was sitting in my office when I heard some loud noises coming from outside. It seemed like two men were having a heated argument. Curiously I stepped out to find out what was wrong. It was a customer who seemed to be very disappointed. Despite being regular to the gym and following the workouts as told by his trainer, he was not getting the desired results of weight loss leave alone a good physique. The receptionist was trying to explain to him, to take nutrition consultation but he was like “I eat very less, so diet should not be a problem”. Ain’t we all are own doctors and nutritionist and we really do not need the right consultation.
Looking at the never ending argument I went up to him personally to talk to him and tried to understand his problem. Through the conversation and after taking down his detailed history, I arrived at the conclusion that he is very passionate about workouts and hence manages to do it even when he is traveling. But his diet was miserable. I explained to him that diet and exercise go hand in hand. In fact, diet contributes 70% and exercise 30% to achieve the desired results. But 70% diet doest mean, you have to eat less, it means right meal, at right time, in right proportion. Hence, it is very necessary to look into your pre and post workout meals. He was taken aback at what I was saying and asked me to explain what are these pre and post workout meals?
I started with the importance of pre workout meals. The way your car requires fuel to run, the same way our body also requires fuel in the form of food to perform better during workouts. The same analogy applies. Pre workout meals should usually be a combination of complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates for slow and steady release of energy throughout your workout. Along with carbohydrates adding a small amount of protein helps to decrease the exercise induced muscle loss. Now when you exercise, blood flow is diverted away from your digestive system to your muscles. Hence one should avoid meals which take time to digest like meals high in fats and fiber. Ideally one should eat about 2 to 3 hours before the workout to give time for your system to move the food out of the stomach and begin digestion and absorption.
Some of the examples for pre workout meals can be whole wheat toast with banana and low fat yogurt and fruit smoothies with some granola bar or any traditional Indian meal.
At this point I was interrupted saying “This seems interesting, but what when I go for early morning workout. I do not feel like eating so much”.
For early morning workouts, your glycogen (stored carbohydrates) and blood sugar levels are low. The time between your last meal at night and early morning, tends to be between 10 to 12 hours. During this overnight fast, your glycogen stores slowly decline, because it is being used up to keep various bodily functions going while you sleep. So for early morning workouts, eating a small amount of rapidly digestible carbohydrate like any seasonal fruit would be the best choice.
Ohhh great so I can have a banana before workout.
Yes banana can be a perfect option as it is rich in potassium, which drops down when you sweat a lot during workouts.
Are post workout meals also as important to consider as pre workout meals? Was his second query.
Yes absolutely. Immediately after workout our muscle cells develop high insulin sensitivity, which means that 30 to 45 minutes post workout our body gets a window of opportunity to absorb nutrients into our muscle cells and recover them faster. Thus, one should have such a meal which leads to increase in insulin levels to arrest muscle breakdown, increase the speed of glycogen re-synthesis, increase both the size and strength of muscles tissue, increase blood flow to the muscles which improves both nutrient delivery as well as removal of waste like carbon dioxide, lactic acid from muscle and bring downs the cortisol level, helping the body to maintain its immune functions as well.
Post workout meal should comprise of
- Water to quench the thirst and to come out of the post workout dehydration.
- Easily digestible carbohydrates like banana or potato to replenish your glycogen stores and your blood sugar level without disrupting the blood flow much to the worked out muscles and to spare the muscle/protein to be used as a source of energy.
- First class proteins like chicken, fish, eggs, paneer, whey protein shakes, which will provide the body with all the required amino acids to carry out its repair work and arrest further tissue damage.
- Antioxidants to help the body recover from free radicals that are generated during exercise.
- Bottom line is to be aware and understand the importance of diet along with exercise and to start following a proper exercise regime with proper pre and post workout meals.
Hi
When you mention –
“Some of the examples for pre workout meals can be whole wheat toast with banana and low fat yogurt and fruit smoothies with some granola bar or any traditional Indian meal.”
do you mean wheat toast, OR banana, OR yogurt…etc or do you mean all of these before workout?
Hey Kevin
It should be OR,but you can even combine them depending upon the time you have the pre workout meal.Mainly it is the combination of carbohydrates and proteins that has to be maintained.
I love these more educational posts. I am currently a student studying kinesiology and love lifting and working out, so these posts are really interesting to me. There is so much misleading information online about what is “right” and “wrong” regarding workout fuel, and I think what people really need is a simplified explanation such as your article. It’s not about buying expensive pre-workout supplements. It’s about fueling your body with sources provided from the earth, not a science lab!