Nutrition tips: optimize the efforts of sports..

What should you eat before a workout to be at the top, and then, to recover better? Advice Astrid Verhelst, dietician and sports coach for CoachClub.

The plate before sports

Eat at least three hours before sport to allow the body time to digest. Just after a meal, the energy of the body is mobilized for digestion. Doing sport during this period can disrupt the process and will also be less fit and therefore less efficient.

For the same reasons, it is better never to eat before workout unless there is a major effort to. In these cases, you can consume sugars, easily digested energy bar for example.
The basic meal to be more efficient during exercise must be composed of carbohydrates (pasta, rice ...), lean protein (white meat or fish), vegetables rich in fiber, a dairy product (yogurt or cheese), fruit or applesauce. It is essential to the menu of foods that are easy to digest.

If our workout is scheduled at the end of the day, you can take a balanced snack during the afternoon, especially if you did not eat a salad at lunch. It will consist of a fruit, a dairy and grain product (cereal bar).

Menu after sport

If our workout was very physical and we asked for intense efforts, you can take sugars right after, if the next meal is still far away. Next convocation which will be composed of lean proteins, carbohydrates if you did cardio or endurance, to replenish sugars, vegetables (vegetable soup, for example, which provide fiber and hydration) and a lean dairy.
As the meal pre sport, it should consist of easily digestible foods and especially that do not generate too many toxins. This is why red meat is recommended before and after sport.

Contrary to some beliefs, red meat is not actually essential for building muscles. To build muscle, you need protein, but no red meat. White meat can therefore perfectly suitable as eggs. If you are a vegetarian, you will turn to vegetable proteins and food combinations. Then combine legumes and grains at every meal: lentils + rice or semolina + chickpeas.