When to Eat

When to eat?

Ideally, you should have a meal 3-4 hours before a workout. This should leave enough time to digest the food although ,in practise the exact timing of your pre-workout meal may depend on your daily schedule.

Accorng to the university of North Carolina, united states ,eating a moderately high carbohydrate and low fat meal 3 hours before exercise allows you to exercise longer and perform better.

Common question.

Does  exercising on an empty stomach help burn more fat???

- many people believe that training on an empty stomach will help them shed an extra weight faster. Its actually advisable to have a light snack 2-4 hours before exercise biologically , the resulting rise in the blood glucose slows the rate of glycogen depletion,enabling you to exercise longer and harder,and hence to burn more calories.

Also exercising in a fasted state may reduce your endurance and encourage your muscle to return to protein deposits for fuel, so you can burn away your muscle fibres!!!

Pre-exercise meals 3-4 hours prior to the training)

              Fish pie

              Porridge made with milk

              Rice with vegetable or chicken or fish

              Whole grain cereal with milk or yoghurt

              Macaroni with cheese and salad

              Jacket potato with beans, tuna ,cheese or chicken.

              Sandwich filled with vegetable or chicken ,fish, cheese, egg .

              Noodles with stir prawns or tofu and vegetables.

Pre-exercise snacks ( 1 hour prior to the training )

             1-2 bananas

             Dry fruits

             2-3 portions of fresh fruit

             One 300ml home made smoothie

            1 or 2 pots of yoghurt (fruit)

            250 ml flavoured milk or shake

            30 g cereal bar

            50 g energy or sports bar

What to Eat

What to eat?

Begin refilling glycogen stores with a high carbohydrate snack, aiming to consume 1 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight. For example a person weighing 60 kg needs to consume 60 g of carbohydrate. Solid or liquid. A little protein with carbohydrate will speed up the glycogen recovery further. The combination of carbohydrate and protein stimulates insulin release, which prompts the muscle cells to take up glucose and amino acids from the bloodstreams. It also minimizes protein breakdown and encourages muscle rebuilding.

So, your post workout meal or snack should , ideally, comprise 20-25 g protein and 60-70g carbohydrate.

Refuelling snacks or the post workout snacks: (within 2 hours of exercise)

          

          A smoothie

          1 or 2 cartons of yoghurt

          A home made milk shake

          A couple of pieces of fresh fruit

          Flavoured drink

          A sports bar

          A handful of dried fruit and nuts

          A tuna or a cottage cheese sandwich

          A bowl of wholegrain cereal with milk

          Jacket potato with tuna or cottage cheese

          A meal replacement shake ( protein/carbohydrate)

Refuelling meals or post workout meals : ( within 2hours of exercise)

          Chicken curry with ricc and vegetables

          Dahl with rice and vegetables

          Mashed or baked potato with grilled salmon and salad

          Vegetarian chilli with rice and a green vegetables

           Fish pie with cauliflower

          Lasagne or vegetable lasagne with salad

          Rice with grilled turkey and steamed vegetables

          Bean and vegetable hotpot with wholegrain bread

          Pasta with tomato pasta sauce, grilled fish and salad

          Jacket potato, chicken , chicken breast baked in foil, broccoli and carrots.

After Training Guide

After training

The quicker you start refuelling after exercise , the quicker your body will recover. Any workout depletes your stores of glycogen- the readily available fuel in you muscles – and breaks down the muscle tissue. Your aim is to rebuild thes fuel deposits and repair damaged muscle fibres as soon as possible. It is during your this post-exercise your body gets stronger and fitter. Wait too long and you feel sluggish , get it right and you’ll recover faster.

How much to drink?

Start drinking before you even get showered or get changed. As a thumb rule, you need to drink 750 ml of water for every 0.5 kg of body weight lost during your workout( 1kg of lost weight is equal to 1 litre of body sweat, which needs to be replaced with 1.5 litres of fluid).

Try to drink 500ml over the first 30 minutes, little and often, then keep on sipping until you are passing clear and pale urine.

What to Drink

What to drink ?

Workouts lasting an hour, water is all you need. If you are not keen on the taste of water, flavour it with little fruit juice, high juice squash.

Avoid artificial sweeteners .

Workouts lasting more than an hour , drinks containing carbohydrates –isotonic sports drinks, diluted juice and high- juicesqaush are better than plain water. The sugar they contain not only provide fuel for your exercising muscles but also speed up the absorption of water into your bloodstream.. drink 500 ml – 1 l of an isotonic sports drink or fruit juice diluted 50/50 with water .

Why choose sports drinks?

The main benefits of sports drinks are their sugar content , which speeds up the  absorption of water, tops up blood sugar levels and provides extra fuel for longer workouts. Commercial brands are essentially mixtures of sugars and mineral salts or electrolytes. They may also providecertain vitamins, artificial sweeteners, colours and preservatives. Avoid drinking high levels as the long term risks are unknown.

                    *avoid drinking the sports drink which has a high level of Aspartame, a low cal sweetener upto 200 times sweeter then sugar. High intakes have been linked with headaches ,migraines, depression and is also linked to cancer in lab rats.

SPORTS DRINK