Pre and Post Workout Snacking

A lot of people today just jump into workouts munching on a banana because of lack of time. This may not be good for your body or your health goal. We need really good energy in our bodies if we want to have a productive work out. If we have the right amount of energy in our body we can probably lift more, run more, run faster, jump higher and also, just like calories, the quality of your exercise is more important than quantity. I am against any exercise or any workout that crosses 30 minutes because it raises your cortisol levels. Cortisol tells your body to store fat. Although exercise is good for your body it is a negative stress on your muscles. So there is this hormone called cortisol that will be automatically elevated. So how do we exercise right and keep our cortisol levels down? We try to do the most effective exercises in the least amount of time that requires energy. 

Pre-Workout Snack
Some examples of great pre-workout snacks could be healthy granola bars that have real sugar like honey or sugars that are derived from dates and other natural sources. This will give you sustained energy throughout your workout. You need protein because you’re going to break down muscle and you want that protein to replenish and repair your muscles. You need a good source of carbohydrates to keep your glycogen levels optimum so that you can go through an entire qualitative work out. 

Post Workout Snack
What happens after you finish a workout? You’re low on energy which is glycogen and you need protein to repair the muscles that you’ve just used in your entire workout. So I always suggest that you start off with a simple carbohydrate for example a fruit that will immediately replenish your glycogen levels followed by a snack that has some amount of protein and fat because we want to make sure our hormones are balanced and protein for muscle recovery. Examples of great post workout snacks could be a fruit followed by a health bar or a fruit followed by a handful of nuts or for people who like whey protein that’s great too but make sure the kind of whey protein you select is made out of non-gmo foods, it doesn’t have hidden sugars and aspartame in it and that it gets easily absorbed into your body.