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Workout Nutrition to Fuel a Lean Strong Body

Pre-exercise nutrition needs.

What and when you eat before exercise can make a big difference to your performance and recovery. You not only want to fuel your workout but you need to have enough of the right types of food in your body to preserve muscle mass and speed recovery.

Strategy #1 - Protein before exercise.

Eating some lean protein, (dairy, meat, fish, chicken, protein powder) in the few hours before exercise:

Can help you maintain or even increase your muscle size. That’s important for anyone who wants to improve health, body composition, or performance.
Can reduce markers of muscle damage (myoglobin, creatine kinase, and myofibrillar protein degradation). Or at least prevent them from getting worse. (Carbohydrates or a placebo eaten before exercise don’t seem to do the same thing.) The less damage to your muscles, the faster you recover, and the better you adapt to your exercise over the long term.
Floods your bloodstream with amino acids just when your body needs them most. This boosts your muscle-building capabilities. So not only are you preventing damage, you’re increasing muscle size.

Strategy #2 – Carbs (fruits, veggies and healthy starches) before exercise.

Eating carbs before exercise:

Fuels your training and helps with recovery. It’s a popular misconception that you only need carbs if you’re engaging in a long (more than two hour) bout of endurance exercise. In reality, carbs can also enhance shorter term (one hour) high-intensity training. So unless you’re just going for a quiet stroll, ensuring that you have some carbs in your system will improve high intensity performance.
Preserves muscle and liver glycogen. This tells your brain that you are well fed, and helps increase muscle retention and growth.
Stimulates the release of insulin. When combined with protein, this improves protein synthesis and prevents protein breakdown. Another reason why a mixed meal is a great idea. No sugary carb drinks required.

Strategy #3 – Healthy Fats (olive oil, fish oil, avocado, nuts) before exercise:

Don’t appear to improve nor diminish sport performance. And they don’t seem to fuel performance — that’s what carbs are for.
Do help to slow digestion, which maintains blood glucose and insulin levels and keeps you on an even keel.
Provide some vitamins and minerals, and they’re important in everyone’s diet.

Pre-exercise nutrition in practice

If you work out late enough just eat a well-balanced meal 2-3 hours before exercise. If, however you are working out upon waking try these options that digest quickly:

A protein shake made with protein powder with some veggies and fruit and juts thrown and a low calorie milk or almond milk
Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts

During Exercise Nutrition Needs:

If you are only working out 30 – 120 minutes there is no need to fuel with anything but water and maybe an electrolyte drink, however if you are training for longer you will need to eat some protein and carbs during the workout to enhance performance. During-exercise nutrition needs.

For training that is longer than two hours, sports drinks can be a huge help. Every hour you’ll want to consume:

15 grams protein
30-45 grams carbs

This can come in the form of liquids, gels, or even some solid food.

Post-exercise Nutrition Needs.

Post-workout nutrition can help you recover, rehydrate, refuel, build muscle, and improve future performance.

Strategy #1 - Protein after exercise:

Eating protein after exercise prevents protein breakdown and stimulates synthesis, leading to increased or maintained muscle tissue. So it’s a great strategy for better recovery, adaptation, and performance.

Want fast and convenient? Make an awesome post-workout protein shake.
Want real food? Then make an awesome high-protein meal. Any high quality complete protein should do the job, as long as you eat enough. That means about 40-60 grams for men, and 20-30 grams for women.

Strategy #2 - Carbs after exercise:

Eating healthy carbs, (fruits, veggies and fiber rich starches) will restore our energy after a workout so while eating your protein throw some fruits and veggies into that shake OR add ½ cup brown rice and a veggie to that post workout meal.

Strategy #3 – Fats after Exercise:

Emerging research suggests that healthy fats eaten post exercise can actually increase the amount of available protein that we are eating. So use 2% milk in that protein shake and reduce the amount of milk OR drizzle some olive oil or add ¼ of an avocado to your meal.

Eating properly will keep you energized and create a lean fit body in no time!

Live a Peak Life!

j01818
Jun 25, 2014
4 min read

Living at Your Peak

Performing at your best, being in “flow”, feeling invigorated and excited about life, sounds wonderful, huh? Want some of it? Peak days can happen if you are feeling energized, healthy and fit. You become energized healthy and fit by exercising and eating a healthy diet. In fact, exercise and a healthy diet have been proven to keep your neurons firing efficiently and effectively. And certainly exercise and healthful eating will keep you “fueled up” with energy to get more work completed. Best of all a good exercise program and diet plan will keep you feeling good from the inside out as you create a healthier body.

First let’s take a look at exercise and how you can add more into your daily life to keep you feeling refreshed and alive. Take this test to see how active you are now. PS. One of the best way to add calorie burn into your day is to add daily living activities into your day…sitting at a computer or in front of the TV burns no more calories than sleeping!

Do you climb stairs daily?

1-5 flights 1 point

6-9 flights 2 points

10 or more 3 points

Do you run errands and attend meetings during your daily schedule?

More than 6 times daily 1 point

Do you walk daily?(20 city blocks = 1 mile)

½ mile 1 point

1 mile 2 point

2 miles 4 points

3 miles 8 points

4 or more 10 points

Do you perform household chores daily?

Up to 5 hours 1 point

Add up your score.

7 or more points You are creating enough activity in your day to enhance your body and your health.

3-6 points You need to find ways to increase your activity.

0-2 points Your body and health are at jeopardy due to your lack of physical activity.

Try to find a way to be a 7. Someone that is willing to walk around, take stairs and the like. Here are some extra ways to add further walking into your workday.

Take the opportunity once a week (or more) to walk to your colleagues’ offices when you need to speak with them instead of using the phone or office email.
Keep a pair of walking shoes in your workspace and walk during your breaks on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Take an extended walk during your lunch hour on Wednesdays.

Walking isn’t the only activity you can do to keep yourself running full steam head. Check out the Desk-er-cise Program below. You can wake yourself up or chill yourself out by incorporating them into your day.

Perform each activity 1 – 3 times per day for 5 –10 repetitions.

Rock The Baby

Clasp hands to elbows and swing your arms and gently twist your torso side while sitting in a chair

Shoulder Rolls

Roll your shoulders from front to back

Air Walking

Sit on the edge of your chair and swing your arms with bent elbows while marching your feet

Power Sitting

Sit on the edge of your chair with your feet as wide as the legs of the chair, stand up and sit back down.Make sure your weight stays in your heels and your knees stay over your ankles.

Leg Raises

Sit on the edge of your chair one leg extended out in front of you - the other knee bent with your foot flat on the floor, lift and lower the extended leg 10 times - switch legs

Exercising is great but is only half of the picture. Your diet is equally important to keep you working at your peak and feeling energized and happy. In fact, what you eat is directly related to your enthusiasm for life, your mood, your level of concentration and your ability to make good decisions. Here are some simple tips you can utilize to render your diet a positive influence on your day.

Eat breakfast. Breakfast provides a good foundation to build on the rest of the day. If you skip it, you’ll regret it because your midday slump will come at 10 in the morning before anything has been accomplished, and the doughnuts your colleagues brought in are too easy to grab.

Eat at regular intervals. Don’t skip meals. Instead plan to spread your meals out over the day. For example, eat half of a bagel at 11:30, soup at 12:15, and a banana at 1:00 instead of a heavy lunch at 12:30. You will experience an increase in your energy level from your well-balanced blood glucose levels.

Use timesavers. Buy precut and bagged lettuce, baby carrots, and frozen vegetables. Then spend some time on Saturday or Sunday deciding what you are going to eat for the next week, then precut, prepackage, and prepare your meals as much as possible. Strive to cut your trips to the snack machine by ½.

Drink water. I know this is old news – just do it! Aim to drink 64 ounces during the day, ending around 6:00 (so you won’t disturb your night’s sleep). Water helps to curb your cravings and you will be surprised to find that you aren’t as hungry as you normally are.

Add two servings of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are naturally high in fiber, so they fill you up with few calories, leaving little room for those fattening desserts that are sitting in the break room.

Now to review your “To Do” list for the day.

Add exercise into your workday to increase the amount of calories you burn and your energy level.
Plan healthful foods into your workday.This will help you reduce your calorie intake and keep your blood glucose levels running smoothly so you will experience increased energy, pleasant moods and a higher level of concentration!

Now excuse me while I take the stairs and get another bottle of water to go with my strawberries.

Julie Luther is the founder and president of Julie Luther’s PurEnergy Health and Wellness Services. Julie has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of people in their quest for happy, healthy days. She can be reached at www.julieluther.com.