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[E363]Exercise And Nutrition Journal

by Yuri Elkaim, Yur

The importance of post workout nutrition cannot be undermined. In order to recover properly from your workouts your body needs essential nutrients to rebuild and re-energize. You've worked hard in the gym, or just completed your run, or just finished an intense game and don't want your sweat and effort to go unrewarded right? Well, the following information is essential in assuring you get the most from your training as well as helping your body recover as best it can.

It is important to realize that making poor food choices following exercise can not only reduce the benefits of exercise but it can also weaken your immune system, increase the likelihood of injury, cause hypoglycemia (drop in blood sugar) and reduce your energy and performance during subsequent exercise sessions.

Carbohydrates, proteins and healthy fats all have an important role in the post exercise nutrition. While working out or exercising, your body mainly uses muscle glycogen and blood glucose as its main fuel sources. These glycogen and blood sugar levels can be severely depleted upon completion of an intense workout and must subsequently be replenished to ensure proper recovery.

Exercise, and specifically weight lifting, causes microtears in the muscle fibers (protein degradation). This is what causes muscle soreness but also what stimulates their recovery to a stronger state than before. Since muscles are made up of protein, post-workout protein consumption is important to foster quick and full regeneration.

I also highly recommend adding essential fatty acids for the role they play in reducing inflammation, supporting the immune system, and building healthy cell membranes.

Another component I recommend adding to a post-exercise smoothie is Maca. Maca is an ancient Peruvian root vegetable that has tremendous adrenal supporting benefits. Considering that intense exercise places significant stress on the adrenal glands, maca can play a noteworthy role in helping your body come back to balance and reduce its stress load. Maca powder is the easiest form to use.

After your exercise session, fuel replenishment (glycogen stores), muscle regeneration, and rehydration (discussed later) are your three main goals. As such, food choices that stimulate the release of insulin (ie. sugars) will cause the most effective uptake of carbohydrates into the muscles. This increase in insulin levels due to consuming carbohydrates after exercise also increases muscle repair because insulin stimulates muscle protein synthesis. High quality protein and essential fatty acids will foster proper recovery of muscle tissue and other cellular damage, respectively.

The quicker you can get the proper nutrients into your body after your workout, the more effective your recovery will be. And just to reiterate, by ensuring that nutrients come from plant-based whole foods, you will greatly assist your recovery. One study out of Denmark showed that a vegetarian group of athletes recovered in 1/5 of the time it took the "meat-eating" athletes. Something to consider the next time you reach for that steak!

The ideal is to consume a quickly absorbable (high glycemic index) form of carbohydrates within 15 minutes of your workout's end. This can take the form of a sport drink, fruit juice, fruit, or the sport gels and puddings. After this initial glucose-rich drink/snack, you can have a more substantial smoothie that balances carbohydrate-rich foods with high quality alkalizing proteins (hemp or whey) and essential fatty acids.

Whey protein has been found to stimulate the release of insulin. Therefore, it would be an effective protein to consume after an exercise bout as the extra boost of insulin will help drive nutrients into the muscle cells. Whey protein is also a very high-quality protein that would help muscles recover more quickly. You can throw in some Maca if you like as well.

After your smoothie, it is preferable to have a more balanced and substantial meal no later than 2 hours post workout. As with your smoothie, this meal should contain good sources of carbohydrates, proteins, and essential fatty acids. Remember that you want to choose whole living plant-based foods for they have tremendous life force, contain huge amounts of enzymes, and are mostly alkaline forming in the body.

>> You psych yourself up mentally (you are GOING to do it!)

>> You don the outfit (you can practically feel the energy flowing through your veins!)

>> You lace up the running shoes (Nike: Just Do It - that’s you.)

>> You grab your towel (because ANYONE SERIOUS needs a towel).

Then it’s time.

It’s time to sweat. It’s time to burn the evil fat from your body. You face the treadmill (or stair climber, or rowing machine, or exercise video with the perky aerobics instructor on it).

And you start.

You warm up, and start moving faster and faster. The sweat starts to pour. The blood is pumping. Man, you are burning! That size 2 exercise instructor is going to look like a whale compared to you when you get through!

The adrenaline hits your blood and you feel GREAT! You could exercise forever! In fact maybe you will exercise forever!

Your time winds down. Ok, maybe you’d better slow down, no sense in going TOO crazy here. The cool down sure feels good. You turn off the treadmill, or the exercise video and head to the shower.

Then it hits you.

EXERCISE REPERCUSSION.

You feel like you want to die, or at least sleep for about 12 hours. You go through the day craving anything you can easily grab: anything edible or, depending on how good it looks, anything at all. Nutritional value? Who cares!

But nothing seems to satisfy you and you could swear that you’ve just eaten all the calories you burned during exercise PLUS more!

What was the point in exercising at all if you go through your day tired and eating everything in sight? It was just a waste of your time and a stress on your body for nothing right?

Well, not necessarily, not if you can learn from it. Here's how to avoid the above experience when exercising:

1) Check Your Hydration Levels

(I know not really exciting�"but it will do wonders!!)

The average adult loses 10-12 cups of water a day (that’s not including water we lose from exercise, caffeine, etc).

It’s estimated that approx 75% of North Americans are chronically dehydrated. And even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

And here’s the key, all you exercisers: Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue!!!! Unfortunately this fatigue often gets mistaken for hunger and we eat more than we need in a desperate effort to get that water back into our bodies.

What can you do?

Before your workout: drink 1-2 glasses of water

During your workout: Have about ½-1 cup of water for every 20 minutes of exercise

After your workout: Have at least 3 cups of water in the hour after you exercise.

2) Check Your Pre-workout Nutrition

Since you want energy over the long haul, your best bet is to try having some complex carbs before you exercise (like oatmeal, whole wheat toast, or whole wheat crackers).

Some people prefer to get their carbohydrate from fruit also, it depends on what works for you.

Try to combine this with a little bit of protein (like peanut butter on your whole wheat toast, or a couple slices of cheese with your apple). Try different combos and see what gives you the most energy.

3) During your workout:

If your workout is under an hour: Make sure you keep drinking that water and continue to listen to your body.

If you want to go more than an hour you should try eating 25 to 30 grams of carbohydrate every half hour (i.e. From sports bars, fruits or whole grains).

If you are exercising for more than 3 hours you should consider sipping a sports drink to replace lost electrolytes. Both sports drinks and energy bars help to maintain your blood sugar levels and prevent muscle glycogen (energy) depletion

4) After exercise:

Keep drinking that water! (See above) You also want to refuel with carbohydrates as soon as you can after exercise (toast, bagel, fruits, oatmeal, etc.)

Your body not only needs to refuel but it also needs to rebuild with some protein since intense exercise involves the breakdown of muscle tissue.

Some possible snacks are: Peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat toast, cottage cheese mixed with fruit, scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast.

The most important thing is to pay attention to your body and feel what works for you as you exercise. If you feel light-headed or dizzy or in pain at any time during exercise stop! Respect your body and what it tells you.

Hopefully the next time you decide to face the treadmill (or the exercise video) you’ll be able to feel great both during AND after you exercise.

You’ll be able to feel as if you’ve made your body better and stronger, by feeding it and exercising it and keeping that energy up!

Article Source : bicep workout tips

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Both Yuri Elkaim & Kathryn O'neill are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Yuri Elkaim has sinced written about articles on various topics from Cardio Training, Fitness and Fat Loss. Yuri Elkaim is the author of Eating for Energy,a guide to healthy eating that has awaken the world to the power of natural living foods. It includes 120 recipes, a 12-week meal plan, and more great nutritional tools for living the best life ever! Fo. Yuri Elkaim's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.

Kathryn O'neill has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness. K. O'Neill is a contributing editor to .For more weight loss tips and free diet reviews, visit. Kathryn O'neill's top article generates over 1000 views. to your Favourites.