The article "Exercise Nutrition: How To Keep That Energy Up!" talks about fitness, it has been created by Kathryn O'Neill.
How many times has that happened to you?
>> You psych yourself up mentally (you are GOING to do it! )
>> You don the outfit (you can practically believe 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 preky 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're burning!
That
size 2 exercise insturctor is going to look like a whale
compared to you when you get through!
The adrenaline hits your blood and you believe 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 believe 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 semes 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 adlut loses 10-12 cups of water a day (that’s not
including water we lose from exercise, caffeine, etc).
It’s esitmated 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 that faitgue 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 glasess 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 pesrons prefer to get their carbohydrate from fruit also, it
depends on what works for you.
Try to combine that with a little bit of prtoein (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 wtaer 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 carbohydarte every half hour (i.E. From sports bars,
fruits or whole grains).
If you're exercising for more than 3 hours you should consider
sipping a sports drink to rpelace lost electrolytes.
Both sports
drinks and energy bars help to manitain 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 atetntion 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 believe great both during AND
after you exercise.
You’ll be able to believe as if you’ve made your body better and
stronger, by feeding it and exercsiing it and keeping that
energy up!
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