What to eat before exercise: vegetables, fruit or something else?

What to eat before exercise?

Eating a heavy meal before exercising is not a good idea. Because that’s too heavy on the stomach. But making high efforts without food is also not an option. In addition to easily digestible meals such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta and brown bread, consider fruit and vegetables before your workout. In this article we will tell you which fruits and vegetables are best to eat before exercise. That way you will have enough energy during your workout and ensure a quick recovery afterwards.

Green vegetables

Green vegetables are rich in nutrients and contribute to good sports performance. In addition to nutrients, this is due to minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and the amount of vitamin C, which stimulates iron absorption. Green vegetables that are good to eat before working out or exercising include spinach, kale and broccoli.

Banana

The best fruit you can eat for fitness or other sports is a banana. This is because bananas contain a lot of energy as well as important minerals such as magnesium and potassium. When you decide to eat banana before exercise, it ensures proper fluid balance, blood pressure and muscle metabolism during your workout. This is good for your endurance.

Berries

Another fruit you can eat well before exercise is berries. These are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and other bioactive compounds. Vitamin C in particular is a powerful antioxidant and helps with the absorption of iron from plant foods. Iron before exercise, in turn, is important for transporting oxygen in the blood, during exercise.

Sweet potato

Eating sweet potatoes before exercise is a good idea. Not only do they contain vitamin C, which is good for your muscles. But also complex carbohydrates. These provide sustained energy, allowing you to perform for a long time. Also nice: sweet potatoes are bursting with fiber, which ensures good digestion. And healthy intestines contribute to a fit body.

Eating after exercise for muscle building

After exercise, it is important to eat adequate carbohydrates and protein. Carbohydrates replenish your glycogen stores and protein is important to eat after fitness for muscle building. As a rule of thumb, you can have a minimum of 30 grams of protein for your meal. And about 0.5 to 1 gram of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight.

Within 2 hours of your workout, eat a healthy meal. For example, the best thing you can eat after exercise for muscle building is a dish with chicken breast or lean fish combined with pasta or rice and vegetables. You can also cook with tofu or tempeh. Already eaten dinner? Then eat another bowl of cottage cheese, yogurt, or muesli with fruit and a handful of nuts after exercising. You’ll see that you’ll recover quickly from that.

Conclusion

Whether you are an athlete or not, everyone needs to get the basics right. Ensure a healthy and varied diet by eating as many products as possible from the Nutrition Center’s ‘Schijf van Vijf’. This ensures that you get enough vitamins, minerals and other nutrients such as fiber and calories from which your body can get energy.

Specifically, athletes need more energy (calories), carbohydrates and protein. Because they consume these during exercise, but also to recover quickly. In addition to eating before and after exercise, it is also important to watch your fluid and sodium deficiency. Therefore, drink plenty of water, and supplement with a glass of chocolate milk, sports drink or milk if necessary.