How to eat to fuel your movement - part 2
In November’s blog we talked about how to eat before training, with some examples of good pre-workout meals.
This month, we’ll explore when and what to eat after training, the key vitamins and minerals you need, how gut health impacts your energy, and much more.
What to eat after training
The aim of post-movement food is to restore your energy, replenish glycogen stores, and help your muscles repair. For this we once again turn to protein and carbs.
It is not necessary to eat protein immediately, as our muscles rebuild for up to 24 hours after exercise. So you can increase strength and endurance just by making sure you get enough protein throughout the day (more on that below).
Glycogen storage is faster for the first 2 hours after exercise, and then higher than normal for the 4 hours after that. So eating some carbohydrates within the first few hours after exercise is ideal, but it’s not essential unless you’ll be exercising again within 8 hours.
Our Feel Better Bars are the perfect post-movement snack, with carbs, protein and minerals and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry.
Keep your energy balanced
While training - if you’re going to exercise for less than 1 hour, eating before you train is probably enough to keep you going. If exercising longer than one hour, you may need to refuel with something that’s easy to digest so you don’t get an upset stomach. Endurance athletes often turn to glucose gels and drinks because they’re easy to digest and give you energy quickly, but you’ll probably find some fruit or a nut bar will do the trick.
For the rest of the day - keeping your blood sugar balanced is important for having enough energy all day, and mismanaged blood sugar can negatively impact your gut health and hormone balance.
To keep it balanced:
eat small meals more often, rather than less frequent large meals
have some protein and fat with every meal
choose low-GI carbs
get plenty of fibre foods like legumes, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds
Gut health for energy
A healthy gut gets more energy and nutrients from the food you eat. If you’re feeling like no matter what you eat, you’re always a bit tired, consider whether your gut could use some love. Other signs of an unhealthy gut can include frequent constipation or bloating, skin issues like acne or rosacea, food cravings, and sleep issues. The best way to start to improve your gut health is to eat more fibre - this feeds good gut bacteria and provides energy to the cells of the gut. The best sources of fibre are fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
Fat
There’s no specific recommendations for fat intake for training, as fat doesn’t directly play a role in recovery or energy. However, omega-3 fatty acids increase the oxygen delivery to muscles, and decrease inflammation and stiffness, so this type of fat can benefit your training. You can find omega-3s in salmon, other fish, walnuts, chia seeds, and flax seeds.
Hydration
When you train, your body sweats to cool itself, and dehydration impairs your ability to train. This is because with dehydration comes decreased blood volume, which forces your heart, lungs and circulatory system to work harder to pump your blood - which makes exercise feel much harder.
Hydration needs vary from person to person and the best and easiest way to know if you’re hydrated is to look at the colour of your urine - if it’s very pale, you’re probably hydrated. Thirst is not a good indicator of hydration, as it’s usually one of the last signs your body gives you.
You should aim to be hydrated before you train, especially if it’s hot or humid, and hydrate after.
Do you need protein supplements?
If you’re getting enough protein each day, you don’t need protein supplements. Having extra protein doesn’t lead to greater strength or more muscle, and any extra you have will be broken down and peed out, basically. My sports nutritionist friend says protein powder just creates ‘expensive pee’.
How much protein do you need?
Protein needs vary depending on how active you are. If you’re not active, .75g per kilogram of body weight per day is recommended. For athletes this increases to 1.2-2g.
So for example, a 70kg person would need between 52.5 and 140g protein, depending on how active they are.
If you don’t think you’re getting enough, a few easy ways to add in more protein each day are:
having more nuts and seeds
adding a hard-boiled egg or yoghurt to your snacks
edamame as a snack or side dish
adding some legumes to your salads, soups, or stews
What other nutrients do you need for training?
It’s not all about macros - there are a few vitamins and minerals that are particularly important for energy, endurance, and recovery.
Iron carries oxygen in our blood and muscles, and it’s needed for energy production. Red meat is a good source, but you can also get iron from legumes, tofu, oats, quinoa, nuts, seeds, and dark chocolate.
Vitamin A and C help with iron absorption. You can get vitamin A from tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots, and vitamin C from citrus, kiwi fruit, and potatoes.
The B Vitamins are all needed for energy production. They’re found fairly widely in foods, but foods that are particularly good sources of at least one B vitamin are eggs, legumes, dairy, meat, fish, leafy green vegetables, and sunflower seeds.
Vitamin B12 is only found in animal foods such as dairy, eggs and meat so if you don’t eat these you may need a B12 supplement.
Magnesium, calcium, and vitamin D are important for muscle and nerve function.
You can find magnesium in seeds, tofu, green leafy vegetables, bananas, raspberries, and black rice.
Calcium is found in dairy products, and tofu, legumes, nuts, seeds, and green leafy vegetables are good non-dairy sources.
Brief exposure to sunlight is the best way to get vitamin D, as it’s difficult to get enough from food. For most people, 5-10 minutes per day of sun on their face, arms and hands is enough in summer. In winter, this may increase to 20 minutes per day, depending on where you live.
Key takeaways:
Have a meal or snack containing protein and carbs a few hours before movement, and pretty soon after.
Stay hydrated - the colour of your pee is the best indicator of hydration.
You don’t need protein supplements if you eat enough protein foods.
It’s also important to be getting enough iron, magnesium, calcium, vitamin D, and B vitamins for energy, and healthy muscles and bones.
Want to really nerd out on this stuff?
I recommend these books:
The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition by Anita Bean
Exercised by Daniel Lieberman
And this website:
