How important is it to select nutrient-filled pre and post workout foods?
It is always important to select nutrient dense foods whether it be before workouts, after, or in between. Our bodies require a constant flood of nutrients including vitamins, minerals and over 10,000 phytochemicals (the chemicals found in plants). Without a high amount of these nutrients, body cells do not function properly, can go haywire and turn cancerous, and lead to overall body system dysfunction as in chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. With exercise, the damage and stress done on tissues needs to be repaired. These are only repaired with high levels of nutrients.
Pre workout:
What types of foods should you eat before working out?
Are they different foods if you want to lose weight vs. put on muscle?
Whole plant foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and to a lesser degree whole grains) are high in carbohydrate and nutrients, important fuel for working muscles. Undertaking any sport or physical activity requires a large store of carbohydrate in the muscle tissue (glycogen). Contrary to popular belief, these foods are also high in protein (especially green vegetables, seeds, nuts and legumes) that is needed for increasing muscle size and repairing exercise stress on muscles.
What foods should you never eat before working out?
See below for answer on bad foods
Does choosing to eat before or after your workout make a difference in weight loss? For example: if you eat breakfast, then workout. Or workout and then eat breakfast – is one better than the other? Will one make you lose weight more than the other?
The timing of eating around a workout will not affect your weight loss. The key is to eat to fuel the activity and also to eat in response to hunger signals. Struggles with weight are often revolving around our recreational eating or simply because it is time and not because it is in response to true hunger. If a person is hungry in the morning, eating before a workout will be helpful to fuel that activity and replenish depleted glycogen stores. However, depending on the activity some foods may be better choices than others to avoid any digestive difficulties in the activity.
Some people experience an increase in appetite after some intense activities (like weight lifting). To avoid overeating calories after this type of workout, it may be good to decrease the snack before the activity (pre-fuel) and time the activity to be before a meal to avoid overeating at a non-meal time. So eating after the workout is also at a regular meal time. Eating a large salad when one is most hungry also combats overeating and negating the burned calories from the workout.
Post Workout:
There have been many studies discussing the importance of eating after a workout: why is this important?
How long after working out should you eat?
Research has found that consuming some protein with carbohydrate after a workout can stimulate insulin’s action in the body enhancing glycogen resynthesis. After strength training, a combo of protein and carbohydrate can also help with muscle growth as insulin and growth hormone is released. Even a carbohydrate filled snack eaten immediately after or within 1 hour after resistance exercise can promote the retention of nitrogen (a component of protein) than if that snack was eaten several hours after exercise. With this in mind, feel good about having a fruit smoothie with some soymilk or a bean dip with veggies after a workout. You will be consuming a large number of nutrients in addition to getting protein and carbohydrate as these studies suggest.
Does the capacity to burn calories after your workout stop after a certain time?
Resting metabolic rate is the rate at which calories or energy is used at rest. Muscle mass dictates this level of calorie burn. Muscle cells are metabolically active or “hungry” for calories. So regardless of how much time has elapsed from your last workout, well-trained muscle will continue to keep your energy burn high round the clock. In fact, strength training is the only safe method to increase resting metabolic rate.
What foods should you eat post workout to gain muscle?
I don’t think a food should be evaluated simply on the basis of its calorie composition or how much fat, protein, and carbohydrate it has. While that is important to an extent, our food choices should be based on the nutrient density of the food or how many nutrients will this amount of calories provide. A dietitian can help ascertain the level of protein you need to gain muscle and meet other goals (weight loss for example) as well as point out those foods that will provide protein as well as a host of nutrients needed for optimal immune function and preventing diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancers and autoimmune diseases. Thousands of nutrition research studies show that whole plant foods are the key to maintaining a high level of nutrients for proper cell function while providing adequate protein to build muscle mass. Some good choices for post work out snacks include seeds like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds and beans, peas and lentils. These foods are high in protein while also containing high level of healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, fibers, and phytochemicals and antioxidants. Foods that are health promoting. Additionally a recent study found that fruits and vegetable consumption was found to preserve muscle tissue in older men and women as they are more alkaline foods. High consumption of acid producing foods like animal protein, grains and some dairy products were associated with a lower level of muscle mass. So have some seed/bean based dip or dressing with fresh fruits and vegetables as a great post workout snack.
What foods should you eat post workout to help lose weight?
Same as above with higher emphasis on the lower calorie fruits and vegetables and beans and less emphasis on the higher calorie nuts and seeds. Persons who have weight to lose should not focus on protein, carbohydrate or fat percentages in their diet. To lose weight they need to reduce protein, carbohydrate and fat. Higher protein diets do not result in weight loss. Nutrition research shows that as the protein consumption of a group goes up so does chronic diseases The goal is to eat
large quantities of low calorie yet high nutrient foods. These are fruits and vegetables.
What foods should you never eat right after a workout, and why?
High fat and low /no-carbohydrate foods like meat (especially cured, pickled, or smoked meat or hot dogs as they contain a high level of cancer promoting substances), full fat cheeses (too high in saturated fat and concentrated animal protein which are heart disease promoting substances), fried foods (linked to many chronic diseases), salty foods (linked to high blood pressure, stroke and cancers), processed and nutrient depleted food like foods made up of flours, sugars and added oils (like many sports drinks, powders, and bars). These would be foods that one should also seek to avoid as much of of the time as possible regardless of the timing of the workout as they are disease-promoting foods.
If you work out late at night (around 9-10 p.m.), is it okay to eat post workout, even if it is that late? Or will this create a tendency to put on weight?
Fueling up after working out is fine whatever the time of day, if you are hungry. However, you do not want to be in the habit of eating before bed on days when you do not work out. Additionally, I am not a proponent of “recreational eating.” One should be eating in response to hunger and not simply because it is time.
Is there anything else you think people should know about selecting pre and post workout snacks?
I think people should keep in mind that exercise should be done with the goals of overall fitness, improved health through increased energy levels, slowing the aging process and increasing resistance to disease. Workouts focused on adding excessive muscle weight through high protein diets is not life-span lengthening or disease preventing. Foods that are optimal for workouts are also optimal for disease prevention. A healthy diet should be focused on whole plant foods (fruits and vegetables) raw and minimally cooked to preserve their nutrient profile. These foods provide all the electrolytes, nutrients, fats and proteins needed for optimal athletic performance. Focusing on whole foods rather than food industry produced concoctions with fancy labels results in good health and a healthy body weight.
