Will eating ruin your work out?

Food is the body’s fuel. Without fuel, your body functions a bit differently. Fuel is essential to the body because it supplies us with energy and calories that sustain us during the day. Like I said, the body will work differently in ways that you may or may not notice.

Take these examples and see which one works out the best.

Say before a work out, you have a large meal with lots of carbs and fats and proteins. Though you have consumed important nutrients that your body needs, it filled up your stomach and may have made you drowsy and feeling bloated. These are not good work out conditions.

Having no snack at all before a exercising period is the worst of all particularly worse in the morning. Worse in the morning because you have no fuel left over from earlier in the day. That puts your body is a state of still being asleep. You may not feel tired, but inside is different. You are ruining your metabolism and instead of fuel or the food you have consumed being burnt up, your fat and muscle is. Well, fat isn’t a good thing exactly. If you are fit, then the fat on your body is more like padding than extra weight.

Now, what is a good example of a healthy way to prepare for burning calories food-wise? Eating a regular sized to you snack loaded with protein, has a good amount of carbs and has plenty of calories. A good example of this is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or peanut butter. Peanut butter is good for you.

Five hour energy? Yeah, they say that you will have energy for five hours and you won’t crash and burn. You will stay awake and alert. That’s their ad. The truth? Nope, not one bit. You should just stay away because, no doubt that they have tons of sugar and really, probably don’t even work.

While you are preforming your work out or playing your sport, it is important to keep on reload on energy. There are certain things that are very necessary during practice like fluids. No, not sodas or juices.  Juices and sodas have a lot of sugars that will keep you up for a little while, but eventually, you will crash and won’t have enough energy to finish you exercise well. So what to drink? Gatorade or PowerAde or Vitamin Water or any type of sports drink? Yes, they do have energy that will keep you running during working out but, they have a lot of sugar that is not exactly healthy for you.  Water is the best for you. No, it doesn’t taste amazing, doesn’t have added energy but, it is what is best for your body.

Replenishing yourself after you are done is almost as important as eating before. You won’t ruin your workout by eating after and earning back your calories. Your body will need those calories and it will be healthier for you. A good after snack is probably the same a a good before snack. Protein and carbs need to be reloaded back into your system.

The next time you work out, keep in mind you are trying to make yourself healthier so you need to take all the steps to make sure it is the best for you.