If you don’t have enough to eat before you exercise, you may not have enough gas in the tank. You might burn fewer calories, too. Have some healthy carbs at least an hour in advance of your workout.Try a bowl of whole-grain cereal with coconut milk or almond milk (make sure it’s organic with no sugar added) or some organic whole wheat toast or a bagel. Skip the cream cheese and butter. Saturated fats take longer to digest and can affect the amount of oxygen your blood delivers to your muscles.
If you didn’t get a chance to eat, quickly grab a banana or an apple for some fast energy. If you are going to workout later during the day grab a “Lara” bar for a snack an hour before the workout. Stay away from power bars with sugar alcohols, like sorbitol, xylitol, isomalt, and mannitol. Too much of these ingredients can give you cramps or the runs.
Make sure you have a good source of protein. When you train you need more protein than sedentary people to repair and build muscles and make blood cells. Chicken, turkey or bison burger might be a good choice for dinner accompanied by a hardy salad. You can also have pinto, kidney, white, or black beans, split peas, or chickpeas. Soy products, like tofu and tempeh, and nuts also have protein.
After your workouts help recuperate by eating blueberries, (in particular, have been shown to reduce muscle soreness from strenuous exercise) or cherries are another good option. But any berry will likely help.
Replace your cravings for sweets with some good hummus and vegetables or “Lava” plant-based yogurt mixed with some blueberries or an apple with peanut butter. Make sure you drink plenty of water to stay hydrated but avoid going over 8 glasses daily, so you don’t get a condition called “water drunk.”
©Copyright – Hector Sectzer
