Pre and Post Workout Foods
Your Morning Intake
In the morning you will want to stick to foods with whole-grains or fruit. Just pick a healthy light breakfast as you don’t want it sitting in your stomach for too long or stopping you working out as well as you can. You should really allow a good couple of hours for it all to digest, 2-3 should be fine, if you have a lighter breakfast you can get away with an hour. Just remember not to skip breakfast as it can make you feel worse and won’t give you the energy to power through your workout. If you really can’t fit in a proper breakfast then try and have a sports drink.
For Breakfast have: wholegrain bread, Cereals,fruit, low sugar breakfast bars, general wholegrain foods,
Snacks During the Day
If you are snacking on foods with sugars like chocolate and snack bars, try and keep them it to under 10 grams of sugar, try and pick snacks with low salt and fat too.
Good snack foods are: healthy low sugar cereal and breakfast/sports bars,Rice cakes, low sugar and salt cereal with low fat milk, most fruits, wholegrain foods. You can often get snacks and wholesale food in bulk to save money.
After your workout:
You may be tempted to not eat anything after your workout but you should make sure to eat a decent meal. If you are muscle building or doing work that is hard on your muscles then make sure you have a meal with lots of protein. This can be foods like chicken, steak and so on. Make sure to pick a meal that is low in saturated fats and has fresh veg if you can.
Good Post workout foods: Chicken, steak, vegetables, or other high protein foods.
Snacks Post exercise:nuts, dried fruits, peanut butter.
If you aren’t hungry after your work out make sure you eat! If you really can’t eat then have a protein shake or good sports drink to keep your levels up.
Make sure you use what works for you.
You can always adjust your intake to something that works for you. If something makes you sluggish or tired, or if it makes you hyper and gives you too much energy then just adjust what you are eating until you find the right balance. Also make sure to drink plenty of water throughout your workout.