Eating And Exercise

The main purpose of engaging in regular exercise is to maintain good health. To have the energy needed to exercise and to carry out your day to day activities properly, you need a proper diet and a healthy eating habit. To get the best of your exercise, what you eat before and after you workout is very important.

It does not matter if you are doing a cardio workout or a resistance workout, always make sure you eat a balanced diet containing a mix of protein and carbohydrates.  What determines the percentage of carbohydrate and protein you consume is the type of exercise you are doing and the intensity level you plan to work at.

The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal is at least one hour before your workout time.  If you plan to work at a low intensity level, your calories intake during your pre work out meal should be kept low.  If you plan to exercise at a high level of intensity, you will probably need a high level of calorie intake in your pre workout meal.

Eating a mixture of carbohydrate and protein will give a longer sustained energy from the carbohydrates while the protein will keep the muscles from breaking down during exercise workout. 

Eating after you exercise is just as important as your pre workout meal.  Anytime you exercise, regardless of the form or type of exercise you went through, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen.  The brain and central nervous system rely on glycogen as their main source of fuel, so if you don't replace it after exercise, your body will begin to break down muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert them into usable fuel for the brain and the central nervous system.

Keep in mind that mostly during resistance exercise, you'll break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears.  What this means, is that after a workout, your muscles will instantly go into repair mode.  Protein is the key here for muscle repair, and you don't want further muscle breaking down even to create fuel to replace lost glycogen.

Once you have finished an exercise session, you'll need to consume mainly carbohydrates and protein, preferably those with high fiber.  Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and fruits are excellent sources. The protein will help to build up and repair muscle tissues so that the muscles can increase in size and strength. The carbohydrate will not only replace the lost muscle glycogen but will also help the protein get into muscle cells.