Friday, January 9, 2015

Eating for Maximum Energy Utilization

Over the summer my dance studio brought in a real-life-its-her-actual-job-nutritionist. They had her come so that she could teach us about how you're supposed to eat when you're constantly exercising.  She showed us a delicious recipe for these energy balls that have flax seed and honey and coconut and a bunch of other stuff - maybe I'll show you it sometime. She also gave us three pages of information - eating before exercise, during exercise, and after. Those three pieces of paper have been so helpful to me and are my lifeblood when I'm dancing for five hours straight.

Like honestly though? Courtesy of Apples and Arteries


Eating Before Exercise

  • Eat a carbohydrate-rich snack or meal before exercise - but avoid simple sugars cuz those usually just make you fat.
  • A little bit of protein before you exercise, because this can help reduce muscle soreness after your workout.
  • Choose a meal that is low in fat and fiber so that you can digest it, and hopefully not throw up when you are doing jumping jacks. 
Some good foods that you can eat a few hours before you exercise are:
    • Peanut butter & honey on whole-grain toast 
    • Fruit & yogurt smoothie + low fat granola
    • Turkey & cheese sandwich and some fruit               
About an hour before you workout, you would want to eat something small like some fruit or a sports bar. Another thing that I find helpful before I exercise is not eating a lot of food. If I just have a small snack and make sure I'm not super full when I go to dance, then I feel like I can actually dance.

Eating During Exercise


  • Drink the right amount of fluids. You need a good mix of water and a drink with electrolytes. A good general rule is for the first hour of exercising, drink water. After that, you want to start ingesting something that has electrolytes but not too much sugar. 
  • Make sure you drink enough water to make up for the sweat that you're losing. Dehydration is not fun when you are exercising.  
  • Experiment with different foods and drinks to see what keeps your energy up the longest. Everyone is different and unique, like a snowflake.
While you're exercising, here are some foods and fluids that you should try:
  • Coconut water - this is the best thing you can drink because it has a ton of electrolytes and other amazing things, but not as much sugar as something like gatorade. Gatorade is the worst thing you could drink while exercising. 
  • A banana, bread with jam or honey, low-fat sports or granola bars

When you are eating during a workout, the goal is to boost your energy up for a short period of time. So it's also good to eat some fruit, or even something like fruit snacks to boost your blood sugar levels for a little bit. 

Eating for Recovery

  • Restore fluid and electrolytes lost in sweat(a.k.a drink water and coconut water).
  • Replace muscle fuel utilized during practice(a.k.a eat complex carbohydrates)
  • Eat protein to repair damaged muscle tissue
  • Eat a snack or meal within 15-60 minutes after your workout
Fun Fact - Did you know that when you do a hard workout your muscle tissue actually tears apart a little bit? Amino acids rush there to fix the broken muscle, and thats why you get sore muscles. When the muscle knits back together, it gets stronger. If you are strength training, you should pay attention to how long you're sore. If your muscles hurt for more than two or three days from the same workout, chances are you're going too hard on yourself and could injure yourself. Take it down a notch!

Some good recovery foods are:
    • Chocolate milk- this is perfect 15 minutes after your workout because chocolate milk is one of the few drinks with a perfect protein to carb ratio to mend your ripped-up muscles.
    • A home made smoothie- try to put in extra blueberries, because those are the best fruit for recovery. you can also add some peanut butter or almond butter to your smoothie. 
    • Banana and peanut butter
Now that you know all of the ins and outs of eating food when you're working out, you can be the buffest person around. 

~Mia

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