fitness food
5 foods you shouldn’t eat before exercising
© Maridav / Shutterstock
What we eat has a major impact on the effects of our sporting activities. You should avoid these food mistakes before the workout to optimize the training effect.
With the right nutrition, we can intensify the effect of our fitness units – or nullify them. Because a balanced diet and exercise should go hand in hand to do as much good as possible for our health. This includes what we eat before and after exercise. The pre-workout snack in particular influences how efficient we are during training. You should therefore avoid these foods before exercising in order to get the most out of your workout.
You should avoid these 5 foods before training
1. Smoothies
Depending on the composition, fruit or vegetable smoothies can generally be very healthy – after all, they usually contain many vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients. Especially when the proportion of fruit is higher than that of vegetables, smoothies are often very high in sugar. After drinking, this causes the blood sugar level to rise rapidly and drop just as quickly – so the short energy boost is usually followed by tiredness.
2. Spicy food
Chili, pepper and other spicy foods can boost fat burning. However, you should avoid such spicy foods immediately before exercising, as they can lead to stomach cramps, heartburn and other complaints. So it’s best to postpone the curry with lots of chili until after the workout.
3. High-fiber foods
Dietary fibers are fundamentally important and healthy because they keep you full for a long time and support digestion. Immediately before exercise, however, you would probably prefer to avoid the swelling and digestive effects of vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower and grain products. This can otherwise become very uncomfortable during training.
4. Fast food
You didn’t have much time to eat and would therefore like to eat a burger and some fries before exercising? Let that be. Because fast food is usually full of sugar and fat – both are anything but beneficial, especially in large quantities before the workout. Fat is hard on the digestive tract, making you more tired than it gives you energy. The high sugar content also only provides a very brief energy high when the blood sugar level rises – as soon as it falls again, the low follows.
5. Energy drinks
Energy drinks are also not particularly suitable for a pre-exercise energy boost. Because caffeine can increase (sporting) performance in moderation. However, the artificial drinks contain too much for a positive effect. In these amounts, the caffeine only increases the heart rate and blood pressure – this puts the body under a lot of stress, especially in combination with the adrenaline produced during sport.
In addition, energy drinks often contain a lot of sugar and synthetic sweeteners, which bind water in the intestine and, in the worst case, can lead to diarrhea.
Eating before exercise: That’s important
- So what is the best thing to eat before a workout? Fitness and nutrition experts recommend a balanced combination of carbohydrates and proteins to provide your body with energy and muscle power. This could be a banana and some nuts or almonds, for example, or a hard-boiled egg.
- The right time also plays a role for the pre-workout snack. It is best to have finished your last large meal at least two hours before exercising so that your body has enough time to digest. But you can have a snack one to half an hour before the start of training.
Sources used: webmd.com, fitbook.de