How to eat to fuel your movement - part 1

What you eat can make the difference between movement that’s fun but challenging, and movement that’s just a slog.

But do you really need to be adding protein powder to your smoothies? Is it better to exercise on an empty stomach? And what are the best ways to have enough energy for all the things you want to do? Let’s dive into the world of sports nutrition…

Why does food matter?

What you eat pre- and post-movement can determine how much energy you have, how much muscle you break down while training, how quickly your energy is restored, and how quickly your muscles repair. Your body needs specific macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals to create energy, power your muscles, and set you up for your next session. 

Keep in mind that everything we’ll talk about in this article depends on your unique physiology, what type of movement you’ll be doing, and for how long. You should experiment and see what makes you feel best.

A quick guide to macronutrients

Carbohydrates, protein and fat are all molecules made of different arrangements of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon atoms. Don’t worry, this isn’t a chemistry lesson, but it’s good to know this because that’s why the human body can convert one to the other - carbs you eat can be turned into fat for storage, and fat can be turned back into carbs to be used for energy.

Glucose - one of the simple sugars - is the only macronutrient the body can use to make energy, so other sugars, fats and proteins have to be converted to glucose to be used in energy creation.

Carbohydrates are the sugars and starches and they’re needed to fuel our muscles and brain. When we eat carbohydrates, our body breaks them down first into the simple sugars, and rearranges those into glucose. We have a small amount of glucose in our blood and brain, and our muscles and liver store glucose in the form of glycogen. The glycogen in our liver maintains our blood sugar, and the glycogen in our muscles fuels physical activity.

The glycogen storage capacity of our muscles and liver is limited, and any carbs you eat beyond what your body can immediately use or store will be converted to fat for storage. Likewise, if you use up the glycogen in your muscles and don’t refuel, your body will need to use body fat for energy.

Glycemic Index

Carbohydrates differ in how quickly they’re absorbed in the body and the measure of this is known as glycemic index  or GI. Low-GI foods are absorbed slowly and will give you longer-lasting energy. High-GI foods are absorbed more quickly, giving you a quick burst of energy, but because insulin then acts to remove that sugar from your blood, they can lead to a ‘sugar crash’. But this also depends on what else you eat them with, because protein and fat will slow down the absorption of carbs if eaten at the same time.

Low-GI carbs are generally the less-refined versions, so, brown rice, whole grain bread, rolled oats instead of quick oats. Pasta is low-GI, as are many fruits.  

Proteins are large molecules made up of amino acids. Protein performs many functions in the body, including providing structure to our cells and muscles, making up our DNA, enzymes, and some hormones, and enabling our body to grow and repair itself.

Protein can be rearranged into glucose for energy, but this would normally only happen if your food intake was severely restricted. What’s more likely to happen, if your body has more protein than it needs, is it will be broken down and excreted.

Fats are needed to make hormones, they’re crucial to the normal functioning of our nervous system, they transport fat-soluble vitamins around the body, and they can be used for energy.

At rest and movement with low levels of intensity, the body mostly uses fat for energy, with a little carbohydrate. As intensity increases, more carbs and less fat is used.

What and when to eat before training

It’s best to eat 2 to 4 hours before training, so that you’re feeling full and getting energy from the food, but it’s settled and digesting so there’s less chance of getting an upset stomach.

A meal or snack that’s a combination of protein and carbs is ideal.

Carbohydrates are the key part of your before-training food, because they’re your main source of energy. Having adequate stores of glycogen also means you’ll break down less muscle while training.

In terms of amount, this is something to experiment with and see what works for you. The recommendation for athletes is 1-4g of carbohydrates, per kilogram of body weight, before training. So that’s 70-280g of carbs for a 70kg person. But this is probably more than regular folks doing their daily movement will need.

You want to make sure you have enough energy for what you’re planning to do, and a meal with carbs a few hours before should do it.

Having some protein before exercising has been shown to minimise muscle breakdown and improve recovery.

Examples!

Oats or chia pudding with fruit and nut butter

Smoothie with dairy milk, or nut milk and protein powder (nut milks are lower protein than dairy)

Eggs or tofu scramble on toast

Wholegrain avocado toast with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds (with an egg or haloumi is even better)

Roast vegetable salad with lentils

Edamame, carrot sticks and hummus

Cottage cheese on seeded crackers

Yoghurt and fruit with hemp and sunflower seeds

Should you train on an empty stomach?

In short - not unless you feel better when you do.

Many studies have shown training after eating sufficient carbohydrates results in improved performance to training on an empty stomach.

If losing body fat is your goal, training on an empty stomach is unlikely to help with that either, and you may end up fatiguing faster and being able to do less. 

Next time we’ll talk about what to eat after training, how to keep your energy levels balanced all day, other nutrients you need for training, and more.