Best thing to eat after a workout

Healthy body requiresproper nutrition and physical activity. You won’t achieve much if you are not eatingproperly and healthy, regardless how many hours you have spent in the gym.

Pre-Workout Food

Light meal before your exercise will definitively be yourbest choice. Eating too much is not good for your health, plus you won’t be ableto work efficiently with a full stomach. Your circulation will be focused on digestingand not on your muscles so you could end up being nauseous. Some people canexperience muscle cramps as direct consequence of eating too much before their training.

However, you must be aware of the fact that too littlefood before the workout is also bad. You need energy to practice and you musteat something. Low blood sugar will make you feel extremely weak and you won’thave energy to train at your maximum.

Many professionals recommend eating 2 hours before the training. Thismeal should contain plenty of carbohydrates, but not fat or proteins. Avoid eatingfood rich in fibers, meat, snacks such as potato chips or sweets (doughnuts andsimilar) before the training, for these won’t make you feel energized during the practice. If you are feeling very hungry and your training is justabout to start you can eat a fruit. Another option is to use a pre-workout sport drink.

Post-Workout Food

Water is the best thing you can take just after you havefinished your workout. After that you can take some of the post-workout foods,but drinking sufficient amount of water is extremely important. You need tocompensate lack of water during your training and for that, many professional trainersrecommend drinking water every 15 minutes during the practice and after theworkout too.

After workout you should eat a meal containing proteins andcarbohydrates, but no fats. To get the best results, this meal should be eatenin 2 hours after the workout or it won’t have any positive effects on yourbody.

Taken carbohydrates will help building the glycogen storesand you need that to be able to exercise properly. So, you can eat the foodsuch as: brown bread, brown rice, bran, cornmeal, maize, barley, buckwheat, butalso some wholegrain cereals, peas, beans, lentils, corn, yam, muesli, bagelpita bread, potatoes or some root vegetables. All of the listed food containscomplex carbohydrates and is good after the workout.

Proteins are required for re-building of your muscles, soyou should eat: fish, roasted chicken or beef, bacon, cheddar cheese, tofu, soymilk or low fat yogurt to provide plenty of proteins after the workout.