Post-Workout Foods: What To Eat and What To Avoid

Having a balanced diet accompanied by regular exercise is the key to accomplishing your gym goals. Otherwise, the results will not be reflected as you would like, and all that exercise could be in vain.

If you've had a meal within a few hours and go for a traditional 30-minute cardio workout, you probably don't need to eat. However, if it's been more than three hours, you might want to have a slow-release carb. Do not add the fat in because that slows digestion, so you're not going to have that fuel available during your workout.

An excellent pre-workout food would be a piece of fruit. The most important thing for building muscle which is a critical component of the weight-loss equation is what you eat before exercising.

At this point, you have a window of opportunity where your muscles are most susceptible to taking up the protein and the carbs to help replenish your muscle glycogen. In a few words, having a combination of protein and carbs is a good option. You can have whey protein smoothies or a yogurt parfait with fruit replenishing after a workout.

Many people make one big mistake at the gym: Spending a lot of time lifting weights but not consuming protein after working out. Here is what you should and shouldn't eat after exercising.

What To Eat After a Workout

After a good workout, make sure to have some sugar and protein. The Doctors, an Emmy award-winning daytime talk show, recommends eating any of these snacks after exercising: Popcorn, fruit smoothies, nuts, low-carb energy bars, or a parfait. For example, nuts are great because they have protein and fat, so they're digested very slowly. In addition, a protein bar is also a good option since it helps facilitate the uptake of protein.

Also read: PRACTICE THESE 7 WAYS TO REST AND RELAX

What Not To Eat After a Workout

-Cookies: Cookies contain a lot of simple sugars and saturated fat, which provide more calories than is necessary.

-Crisps: Consuming this kind of food damages our performance at the gym in the medium or long term. In addition, they are high in industrial fats, contain a lot of salt, and do not provide nutrients.

-Beer: After exercising, the body is dehydrated and needs us to replace fluids. However, alcohol does the opposite.

-Bacon: It contains a large amount of saturated and trans fats, which is why it slows digestion a lot.

-Chocolate: Eating this food slows down digestion, especially if it has milk and is white chocolate.

-Broccoli: This edible green plant usually causes inflammation and produces gas, which will not allow us to train correctly.

-Sauces: Its high-calorie content will not aid digestion or the end goal of getting fit.

-White Bread: White bread has a high amount of gluten and added sugars that slow down our digestion.

-Energy drinks: It is true that when consuming them, we will feel a significant injection of energy, but it will last a short time, and the descent will be detrimental at the time of training.

-Beans: Consuming them can cause inflammation and gas. In this way, we will not be able to move quickly, and our performance will suffer.

From now on, keep these tips in mind to get more out of your training routines!