How to fuel your workout

Hi there. My name is Clarissa Lenherr, registered nutritionist trained in nutritional therapy. I'm part of the stretching and the city team and I'm thrilled to be here today to talk to you about how to fuel your workout with nutrition. Now, fueling your workout really does start with proper nutrition because what you eat and when you eat can have a significant impact on your overall energy at performance.

I first want to start with water. Now most of us know that drinking enough water is good for our general health, but it's also really important when we exercise, especially if you're doing a lot of sweaty exercise or exercising in hot countries, you may actually need more water than normal because you're sweating it out and you're also losing electrolytes when you sweat.

Ideally most people would have 1 to 2 litres of water a day, but if you are doing a lot of high intensity exercise you may actually need to go for more such as 2 to 2.5 litres of water. If you're really struggling to get that water in, you can add lemon and frozen berries and herbs.

But it is pretty key to get those hydration levels in because when it comes to water it's important for joint lubrication. They're helping with mental clarity and concentration, they're helping with blood flow to deliver oxygen and nutrients around the body and with body temperature regulation. It plays a really key role in exercising as well.

But also, I want to touch on electrolytes because when we sweat a lot, we actually lose electrolytes, and these are certain minerals like sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium. And actually, to help with hydration we may need to get in more of those electrolytes because electrolytes help us retain fluid, help with electrolyte balance in general, they help with fluid distribution, so they're pretty important.

Now you can get electrolytes in electrolyte drink mixes, sport drinks. My favourite way for either a post-workout electrolyte hit or during is to actually drink coconut water, which has a good amount of these electrolytes in.

So, make sure you are starting your workout journey with at least getting hydration.

Now let's talk about food. We're going to talk about what to eat pre-workout, what to eat during workout, what to eat post-exercise.

What to eat pre-workout. Well one of the things I do want to say is that we do want to make sure that we're giving ourselves enough time pre-workout when we eat. So yes, there are certain foods we should consume in, but the last thing you want to do is eat a huge meal pre-workout and then feel quite bloated, quite heavy and actually be digesting whilst you're working out, which can lead to digestive symptoms and also cause nausea as well. So not something you want to be doing too often.

Let's talk about the different food groups to consume pre-workout. You want to make sure that you're getting in some carbohydrates because carbohydrates are going to be converted into glucose, which is our body's preferred source of fuel, giving you lots of energy. Studies have shown it can enhance the duration of exercise. So, they're pretty important.

Now the best carbohydrate sources to go for are going be whole grains, especially if you're eating a few hours before workouts. So instead of white rice, brown rice, instead of white bread, juice, wholemeal bread, instead of white pasta, brown pasta, things like that because these give you a slower, more long-term energy release rather than the white carbs, which do give you only quick release of energy.

Now to caveat this, if you are having carbohydrates during a long kind of endurance exercise or just before actually refined white carbs like white bread and white crackers and things like that actually give you that quick release of glucose that you may actually require to do your exercise to the optimum you want to. But that would be during and also for endurance training and athletes and things like that.

Then we have protein. Now a lot of us know that protein is good for our muscles. We've heard it before, but it does help reduce muscle breakdown. And consuming protein intervals across the day can help with muscle synthesis because when we work out, we actually make micro tears in our muscles, and so we need protein to help prepare these. So lean meats, fantastic. Fish, shellfish, eggs, high protein yogurt, tofu, tempeh and protein from things like beans, chickpeas, nuts or a very good quality protein powder in a smoothie would be nice.

And in terms of fats, a little bit of fats but not too much close to a workout because it takes quite a long time to digest fats. They can keep you quite full, might make you again feel quite sluggish or nauseous, things like that that I mentioned. So, a little bit of fat is okay, but not too much fat close to working out.

You can have a well-balanced meal with those food groups, say 2-3 hours before your workout and that should still keep you energized for your workout. But if you eat, or need to eat close to your workout, say an hour to 30 minutes before, you need to go for those easy to digest foods that aren't going to be sitting in your stomach. So that's why a banana can be really fantastic. Maybe with a little bit of peanut butter for some protein and healthy fats. A high protein yogurt with some berries, a little energy bowl with some protein powder in something like that that's going to be easy to digest in your system.

Smoothies are also great because of the smoothing process. They break down a lot of the fibres. So, a smoothie could be a nice choice for a little protein powder in it.

So that's pre-work out. Now during exercise, you ideally shouldn't need to eat but if you're doing long intense exercise over 90 minutes you may actually need to have easy to digest carbs during your workout. Now, obviously if you're running things like that, that can actually put stress on the digestive system while you're digesting. People who do endurance training can often have gel packs or drinks, but coconut water would be a nice one. It's going to give you a little bit of sugar, natural sugars to keep you energised. Alternatively, especially when you are not doing too much running or you have it in small amounts, things like dried fruit, like dates and banana because they're going to give you that quick glucose to help you with your longer term energy output that you're going to need for these kind of endurance training.

But otherwise just sipping on water should be great for anything under 90 minutes to make sure that you stay hydrated and avoid dizziness post workout.

There are wonderful, delicious meals that you can have post-workout and often we do find that we get quite hungry after a big workout because we've used up our glucose stores and our blood sugar can drop low which makes us hungry.

Now there is this thing called the anabolic window or the workout window, which is that we should try to really eat within one to two hours post-workout because our muscles are primed during that time to absorb nutrients and support muscle repair and growth. So we do want to make sure that we're eating in that timeframe, but also our blood sugar can drop low if we've done a lot of high intensity exercise and we've used a lot of energy and if we wait long a long time before eating it just gets lower and lower. And the concern around that is that not only would you have low blood sugar, so you might feel a bit dizzy or shaky, but also you're then going to become ravenous for food. It's harder to make healthy choices when you're ravenous. So instead of wanting smoked salmon and eggs and avocado or something, you're going to want a pizza, crisps, chocolate and sweets. I do like to recommend that people try to eat the first hour, not the first hour to two hours post exercise. The more intense you'll exercise, the sooner ideally you should try and eat.

Now within that meal post-workout, similar to pre-workout, you want to have protein in there that's going to help you with the muscle growth and repair. You want to have the complex carbohydrates which are going to help give you more of that kind of glucose and restore your glycogen stores and stop blood sugar level dropping.

With fats, they're not exactly essential straight after you exercise because, like with pre-exercise, it takes a long time to digest fat. They're not a quick release of energy, they're going to give you energy later down the line and keep you full. That's not to say that you shouldn't have any fats at all, but just being mindful of how much fat you're having is pretty important. I'd say maybe a tablespoon of fat maximum and rather than focusing your diet on very, very high fat only, such as say having you know, cheese, nuts and seeds, avocado and oily fish in one go without that carbs element and more protein.

Some of my favourite choices post-workout would be things like some sourdough toast with some eggs and maybe some veggies, an omelette with a little bit of cheese, some vegetables with some chicken, sweet potato, maybe a broccoli salad. Getting those complex carbs in some nice lean protein, maybe a little bit of fat and lots of vegetables with a little bit of fruit sometimes as well for antioxidants and consuming anti-inflammatory foods which we're going to move on to next because when we exercise, we do produce inflammation in the body. It's totally normal and we also actually have free radicals that we create as well that can impact our health. They accumulate as we work out.

Getting in foods that are high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory can actually help with recovery. It can enhance recovery and support the immune system, which can sometimes get a little bit impacted from lots of intense exercise. Now my favourite ways to get in antioxidant rich foods and anti-inflammatory foods is to really fill your plates with colour, alongside proteins, carbs, and a little bit of fat. You want to be making sure half your plate is non-starchy veggies, maybe a little bit of fruit. So that can be things that are going to be colourful. Red peppers, kale, purple cabbage, yellow peppers, tomatoes, trying to get as much colour on your plate, but the non-starchy ones - trying to avoid potato and sweet potato, which are going to give you more carbohydrates and go for these less starchy vegetables that give you those antioxidants, vitamins and minerals which are important for recovery and fibre, which is good for your digestive system in keeping you full.

Anti-inflammatory foods are also good as well and they're going to be found in all those colourful fruits and vegetables, in extra virgin olive oil, oily fish like salmon and sardines which are full of Omega-3s.

Turmeric, which is a wonderful spice that you can add in post-recovery and dark chocolate. 70% plus dark chocolate actually can contain antioxidants, and can be good for your digestive system, especially if you're needing that little bit of a sweet hit, maybe post lunch, but not straight post-workout because that will give you majority sugar without the protein and the carbs.