Thursday, January 26, 2012

What Do You Eat Before You Work Out? (Here's What Experts Suggest)

Are you particular about what you eat, pre-workout? It's always been a bit of a conundrum for me: I don't want too much in my stomach because it somehow expands to feel like it's the size of a bowling ball in there when I'm bouncing around during a workout, but I don't want to eat nothing, either, because then I'll run out of energy and either faint or give up early. So what's the answer?

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Part of the answer, at least, has to do with when you eat. If you're eating a large meal, you should wait 3-4 hours before exercising; a smaller meal needs 2-3 hours to digest; and a snack needs about 30 minutes to an hour to settle in.

But what should you eat? Forget straight-up carbs; they'll burn up quickly and leave you totally energy-less, say experts. Instead, aim for a protein-carb mix: yogurt with fruit, an apple with a handful of almonds, a piece of whole-wheat toast with a smear of peanut butter.

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