Workouts have now become an essential part of our daily routines. You often find your day incomplete and dull without exercising. No matter what your workout includes or how do you like to exercise, first you need to make sure that your body has enough fuel for carrying out such fitness regimens. For this, you need to take some pre-workout snacks that can fuel your body and prepare it for all sorts of exercise.
While exercising, your body needs the energy to carry out movements and protect you from injuries, strains, and fatigue. However, overeating before a workout can put an extra burden on your digestive system, making it difficult to perform movements. In the same way, starving before exercising can also hinder your way to optimum performance and cause earlier exhaustion.
Therefore, you must consider munching on some healthy snacks before your workout so, you may feel healthy, fresh, and can smoothly do your workout. Let’s start hunting for the best snacks that will keep you going during your vigorous workouts. This list is an effort to bring you the Top of 5 power-packed, light and healthy snacks, in descending order, that you can eat to fuel your Workout.
5Smoothie
Smoothie is an ideal snack for both pre and post-workouts. Replace your sugary-colorful drinks with a healthy tasty smoothie and get ultimate benefits. Smoothie is a handy and delicious snack that is portable and customizable. You can add your favorite fruits, blend them with milk or yogurt,and can drink it with your favoriteconsistency.
You can even use add-ins like dark chocolates, peanut butter or protein powder to enhance flavor and get the best out of your smoothies.
4Yogurt and Spreads
Moving on to our next snack on the list and that is Yogurt and Spreads. Greek yogurt is high in protein and low in sugar thus, it offers a complete package to fuel your workouts. You can also munch on peanut butter, almond spread, jams, honey to boost your energy levels.
If you find yogurt and spreads alone boring then you can even eat them with fruits, mix them with your smoothies or add them to your granola bars. In this way, you can double the nutrients as well as taste.
3Almonds, Oats
Almonds and oats are a great way to fuel your workouts and maintain your energy level during an intense workout.
Almonds are rich in Vitamin E, Proteins, Fibres having health benefits of regulating blood glucose level, maintain blood pressure,and an important source of energy. You should consider eating 7-9 almonds before exercising.
And interestingly, you can even get creative with almonds. If you have plenty of time then you can make DIY almond bars with the help of few ingredients. You can store these bars for later use too. There areseveral DIY almond bars recipes available online, and you can make these bars using your favorite ingredients.
Oats, alone or in combination with other foods, are a potential source of energy. Oats release energy at a slow rate due to their low GI(Glycemic Index) thus, aid you in continuing your workout for longer periods. Like almonds, oats can also use with other foods, for an overall better experience.
2Bread and Eggs
Bread can serve as the best alternative when other snacks can’t satisfy your taste-buds. Besides its taste, bread has several important nutrients that will supply you with enough power for your workouts. Whole grain bread, pita bread, sourdough are preferable pre-workout snacks and can be eaten with spreads like peanut butter, almond butter, honey, jams, etc. You can also make sandwiches by using your favorite add-ons.
But note one thing, some types of bread are not healthy at all. Instead of fuelling your workouts, they will increase the risk of premature fatigue and ruin your workout. So try to select your meal carefully.
Eggs are among the healthiest, power-packed, nutritious snacks to fuel your workouts. Besides, health professionals, around the globe, recommends eating Egg daily because of its enormous benefits.
So, whenever you are feeling down or not in the mood to prepare a pre-workout meal, just take 2 Eggs, boil them and enjoy! Or else, you can cook scrambled eggs, add ingredients that go well with eggs, or may get creative with eggs.
1Fresh Fruits & Vegetables
What can be healthier than munching on a fresh stick of carrot or grabbing an apple? Fresh fruits and vegetables are nature endowments for mankind. They are home to the most important nutrients and luckily, are easily available.
Fruits are a rich source of proteins, carbs, and vitamins, readily available on the go and provide an immediate supply of glucose thus, generally known as Instant Snacks that will keep you fuller for longer. Also, they are light on the digestive system, take greater time than other pre-workout snacks for their absorption and digestion hence, provide a continuous source of fuel for exercise.
You should consider following fruits/vegetables as a snack to fuel your workout:
- Bananas: Rich in complex carbohydrates, potassium, also known as Nature’s Energy Bar. Banana with its sweet delicious taste is the ultimate source of energy and minerals and the best snack for fuelling your workout. You can even make a banana smoothie or eat them with yogurt.
- Berries, Apples, Grapes are also in the category of fuelling your body for intense movements.
Vegetables like Carrots, Potatoes, Asparagus are easy to cook and soft on your digestive system, providing you with enough energy for your workouts.
The Bottom Line
Try to avoid foods that drastically affect your productivity during workouts. Snacks that have a high Glycemic Index or high levels of Glucose should be avoided as they can overload your digestive system or may have faster absorption rates thus leaving you tired and exhausted.
Similarly, starving before a workout can drain out all your energy quickly and make it difficult to complete your exercises.
You can eat anything nutritious and is light on your digestive system particularly before workouts. During exercise, your body needs a continuous supply of power, which is provided by carbs and glucose you consume and when there is a decline in their supply, proteins come into action and fuel your workouts.
Keeping in view this scenario, you should eat snacks that are rich in carbohydrates, glucose, proteins and fuel your workout so you may carry out your intense workouts efficiently.
