What to eat before you exercise

Have you finally lost all of those pathetic excuses for not working out? Good! Now let’s talk about how to properly fuel that body of yours before you exercise!

Because physical activity lowers your blood sugar, try to avoid working out on a completely empty stomach—especially if you are prone to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar.) In general, it’s recommended to eat:

• Large meals at least 3-4 hours before exercising
• Small meals 2-3 hours before exercising

If it’s been longer than two hours since your last meal, eat a small carbohydrate-filled snack mixed with a little protein about 30-60 minutes prior to your workout. Any one of the following will do:

• 1 banana with 1 Tbsp of nut butter
• ½ of a bagel with 4 ounces of yogurt
• 1 Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate bar (or any energy bar that has 25-40 grams of carbohydrate, 100-200 calories and no more than 5 grams of fat or fiber and 10 grams of protein.)
• ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese with ½ cup of pineapple chunks
• 8 ounce fruit smoothie

Stay tuned for next week’s Food For Thought to learn about post-workout snacks and fluid needs before, during and after exercise!

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