Pre-workout and Post-workout meals and snacks … what should they include?
Blog written by Siobhan Bowser
Are you someone who has got their physical activity training locked down but when it comes to fueling your body for a workout you have no idea where to start? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
Pre-workout Fuel
When we are fuelling ourselves up for a workout, we want to think about what nutrients our body is going to need for that workout. The main nutrients of focus are going to be carbohydrates and fats. Our body’s preferred source of energy is carbohydrates. When we eat carbohydrates, they are broken down into glucose. Our body will use up what it needed at that time, and store the rest away in our muscles and liver as glycogen.
When we are doing a workout that requires short term, intense exercise that requires your muscles to work really hard, we will mostly be running off of the glucose. This is coming from what you consumed prior to your workout and glycogen that is stored in your muscles. When lower intensity, steady state, long term exercise is performed, such as running or biking, our body will predominantly be fueled by fatty acids. These come from the fats that have broken down that we consumed.
Another point to consider when planning a pre-workout meal is timing. It’s best to have this meal 1-2 hours before. If we have our meal or snack too close to when we workout, our body’s are unable to break down the food and actually use it as energy. Additionally, when we are exercising, blood flow is sent to our muscles and taken away from digestion. When our meal is not digested fully before our workout and blood flow is taken away from the GI tract, it can cause GI distress and bloating.
Post Workout Fuel
After a workout it is also important to think about what we are going to eat to ensure that we refuel our body’s and help the body recover. The two nutrients of focus are going to be protein and carbohydrates. When you exercise, whether it be lifting weights or running/biking, we are doing damage to our muscles. This damage is not a bad thing though. It is what helps us build stronger and bigger muscles. However, the only way to ensure that this damage is beneficial, we need to eat foods to rebuild and heal the muscular damage. Foods that help rebuild this muscle is protein. Protein is a nutrient that helps repair tissue, drives metabolic reactions, maintains our body’s pH, and controls fluid balance.
While carbohydrates are important for a pre-workout meal, they are just as important after your workout. As we know, the body uses carbohydrates as it’s predominant source of fuel. When we use up the glucose that we ate before our workout our body pulls the glycogen out of our muscles as needed to fuel our workouts. Because of this is important to consume carbohydrates after your workout to replenish these glycogen stores.
Pre-workout Snacks and Meals
Yogurt and Granola
Avocado Toast
Toast with nut or seed butter
Rice Cakes with nut or seed butter
Banana or Apple with nut or seed butter
Cottage Cheese and Fruit
Rice and fatty fish such as salmon
Fruit smoothie with full fat yogurt
Oatmeal with milk and top with seeds such as chia, hemp, pumpkin, or flax.
Chia Pudding
Post-workout Snacks and Meals
Rice with chicken, beef, tofu, tempeh, setian, etc
Oats with Milk
Avocado Toast with an egg
Sandwich made with turkey, ham, chicken, tuna, etc
Pasta with chicken, beef, tofu, etc.
Fruit Smoothie with greek yogurt or protein powder
Greek Yogurt with granola and your favorite fruits
Tofu Scramble with veggies
