Timing Your Meals and Workouts

WHAT TO EAT: Getting the right fuel for your best performance

Food provides your body with needed energy. To make the most of your workouts, focus on:

Carbohydrates
You’ll feel better when you exercise if you eat foods high in carbohydrates, which are your body’s chief source of fuel and low in fat. Cereals, breads, vegetables, pasta, rice and fruit are good sources of carbohydrates. But right before an intense workout, avoid carbs high in fiber, such as beans and lentils, bran cereals and fruit.

Protein
Protein plays a role in muscle repair and growth. Most people can easily get the protein they need from such foods as meat, dairy products and nuts.

Fats
Fat is an important, although smaller, part of your diet. Fats, as well as carbohydrates, can provide fuel for your muscles during exercise. Try to get most of your fat from unsaturated sources such as nuts, fatty fish or vegetable oils. Avoid fatty foods just before exercising, though, because fats remain in your stomach longer, causing you to feel less comfortable.

Water
The presence of water in your body ensures that you can safely sustain physical activity. To avoid dehydration, drink at least one glass of water before and after your workout and every 10 to 15 minutes during your workout to replace fluid lost in perspiration. If you're exercising for more than 60 minutes, sip a sports drink to help maintain your electrolyte balance and give you a more energy from the carbohydrates in it. The sodium in sports drinks also helps you rehydrate more quickly.

When and what you eat can affect your performance and the way you feel while you’re exercising. That’s why researchers at the Mayo Clinic recommend that you coordinate your meals, snacks and what you drink to make the most of your exercise routine.

Timing it Right
Exercising after large meals may cause you to feel sluggish or have an upset stomach, cramping and diarrhea. That’s because your muscles and your digestive system are competing with each other for energy resources.

Your body can digest food while you’re active, but not as well as it can when you’re not exercising. On the flip side, not eating before you exercise can be just as bad as eating too much. Low blood sugar levels that result from not eating can make you feel weak, faint or tired, and your mental abilities may be affected as well, making you slower to react.

Eat a full breakfast. Wake up early enough to eat a full breakfast. Most of the energy you got from dinner last night is used up by morning and your blood sugar is low. If you don't eat, you feel sluggish or lightheaded while exercising. If you plan to exercise within an hour after breakfast, eat a smaller breakfast or drink something to raise your blood sugar, such as a sports drink.

Don't skip meals. Skipping meals may cause low blood sugar, which can make you feel weak and lightheaded. If you’re short on time before your workout, a quick and healthy snack of yogurt and a banana, for example, would be a good choice.

Eat after your workout. To help your muscles recover after a workout, eat a meal that contains both protein and carbohydrates within two hours of your exercise session if possible.