Not sure whether you should eat before or after exercise? We compare the pros and cons and explain how to do it right. What you can do in between your exercise is to play BetAmo login.
Exercising is good for your health for various reasons. Regular exercise is particularly good for the cardiovascular system. According to experts, statistically speaking, just eight minutes of exercise a day is enough to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in the long term. In particular, sports that require a high level of endurance positively affect our cardiovascular health: They promote blood flow so that the heart receives more oxygen. The increased blood flow also normalizes blood pressure and reduces the risk of developing blood clots.
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But that’s not all: if you do a lot of sport, you will be more relaxed, improve your mental health and, according to experts, can even prevent depressive moods. Your body needs a lot of energy to cope with endurance sports. As an athlete, you should therefore eat regularly. Many ask themselves whether they should eat a snack before or after exercise. To help you decide, here are the pros and cons of both options.
Eat before or after exercise: Do not eat large meals before training. You can eat easily digestible foods before exercise. The health experts at the AOK recommend not eating too much before exercise. This is because the body first has to digest the hearty meal, which in turn requires a lot of energy. This energy is then lacking during the sports session. It therefore makes sense to leave at least two to three hours between a meal and training. When exercising early in the morning, you can also train on an empty stomach, which boosts fat burning.
Studies also support this theory: if you want to exercise successfully, you should not eat anything before exercising. Researchers came to this conclusion in a study in 2017. They investigated the effect of food intake before training. The result: the test subjects who exercised on an empty stomach had higher enzyme levels, which are important for the metabolism.
Accordingly, they could better use the existing fatty tissue as an energy reserve. As they burned more fatty tissue, these people were likelier to lose weight than those who had eaten before exercising.
But, as with other things, the dose makes the poison. If you feel starved, you will logically not perform at your best or, if your body can’t cope without breakfast, you may even keel over. This is especially true for strength training, where you will likely perform less well on an empty stomach. So it’s less about whether you eat before exercise and more about what and how much you eat. If you need a little energy boost beforehand, you can choose foods that are not heavy on the stomach. They won’t harm you before training. On the other hand, fatty foods are harder to digest, so you shouldn’t eat fatty foods before training. “Good sources of nutrients” with short-chain carbohydrates that you can eat in moderation before training are, for example:
- Bananas, strawberries or dried fruit
- Muesli bars
- Rice or corn cakes
- oatmeal
- Potatoes, rice or pasta
- nuts
Tip: To boost your athletic performance, experts recommend eating easily digestible foods before training and occasionally exercising on an empty stomach. This allows your body to burn fat optimally and gives you enough energy to complete your workout. During training, you should not eat anything, but drink plenty of fluids (water or coconut water) so you don’t become dehydrated. If you find plain water too boring, opt for isotonic drinks that supply your body with electrolytes.