Workout Nutrition
What is Workout Nutrition? Technically anything, but some things are better for you than others. All forms of food fall into one of three energy groups, carbohydrates, fat or protein. Your body needs all of these to survive so make sure you don’t neglect any specific one by going on a fad diet that promises big weight loss in little time. The chances are you will become deficient in specific properties and be worse off than before you started, or, come off the diet and pile it all back on again. This is a common theme seen time and again called yoyo dieting.
Balance your food groups
The biggest problem we have is balancing the food groups in a diet plan in a manner that the body can cope with. When this is out of balance, the above happens; we become deficient in certain properties and over-loaded in others. This can be fatal.
Eating a sensible sized meal 2-3 hours before a workout with a light top up on something like fruit and a half a fistful of nuts 45mins to half an hour beforehand would be ideal.
When you exercise you largely burn carbohydrates or fat. Carbohydrates are stored in the body as something called glycogen and this fuels a large part of our workouts. Further more, if glycogen is depleted the body will turn to another source of energy and may therefore start burning protein, ie muscle, to gets it's energy.
In short, stick to a rule of thumb; carbohydrate before your workout; protein after.
It's important to ingest some form of protein after your workout as your metabolism will be running high and still burning. If you run out of immediate energy it will turn to muscle for fuel.
Should I take a protein shake and if so, when and what?
By an' large, it's probably not a bad thing to do depending on the severity of your work out. I.e., if you have spent 30mins doing gentle cardio followed by some remedial work concentrating on smaller muscle groups aimed and posture & alignment a protein shake is probably not necessary. If on the other hand, pools have sweat mark your spot and walking of the gym floor is an ordeal a protein shake could be well worth it's weight. These days however, with the dazzling array of options on the market all purporting to give you the Adonis look it's really hard to know which are worthwhile and which are worthless. A lot of supplements are filled with sugary substances and artificial flavourings to make them taste good. keep it simple. After a workout you need protein, so look at a protein shake that is simply protein. "Myprotein" products are a reputable range. They don't carry enhanced extras and don't boast pictures of good looking men and women who clearly have nothing else on their hands other than to work out and drink protein shakes.
For more advice on nutrition for exercise simply CLICK HERE