Sports and proper nutrition are inseparable from each other, so novice athletes often wonder how to eat right before and after training, and whether it is possible to eat at all after intense exertion. The answer is unequivocal - you can eat, but only certain foods and in small quantities.
Why eat after exercise?
There are many different opinions on whether or not to eat after exercise. Some say that you need to fast for at least three hours after training, others only admit protein shakes, and still others argue that you can eat anything except carbohydrate foods. But professional nutritionists not only allow eating after sports, but also recommend doing this, since the body needs to recover from serious stress.
In addition, intense exercise causes an increase in the amount of stress hormones in the body - the level of cortisol and adrenaline in the blood rises. They help to move faster, overcome difficulties, force the body to experience stress, but after training these substances are no longer needed and even have a destructive effect on health. Insulin, which is produced with food intake, can lower their level. Therefore, it is very important to eat after exercise to bring the body back into calm and recovery mode. Stress hormones are neutralized, energy losses are restored, muscles begin to receive nutrition, and the body subconsciously calms down. If you do not eat anything, stress increases, metabolism is disturbed, and the effect of exercise weakens.
Nutritionists recommend eating twenty minutes after training.
What can you eat after exercising?
The harm of a large amount of fast carbohydrates for the figure is well known, but this does not mean that you need to completely abandon these substances - they provide us with most of the energy. The first hours after training is the best time to consume carbohydrates, all of them will be processed into energy and not stored as fat due to the so-called "carbohydrate window": the absorption rate of carbohydrates increases three to four times, so even sweets and pastries can be eaten without consequences …
But it is advisable not to get carried away with them, but to eat slow, "good" carbohydrates - cereals, grain bread, bran bars. And chocolates can be replaced with healthier fruits and berries.
If the goal of your exercise is to lose weight, then it is advisable to eat about half of the calories burned after training. This will not harm the fat burning process, and the body will receive less stress. You do not need to be limited only to carbohydrates - they should account for about 60% of what you eat, the rest should be fats and proteins. You can eat bean curd, natural yogurt, a slice of cheese, an omelet, cereal with milk. The amount of fat should be kept to a minimum.
