Modern life with its fast pace requires endurance from a person. And this quality can only be achieved if a number of conditions are met, the main one of which is an active lifestyle. Perhaps it is for this reason that many people of different age categories willingly engage in certain types of sports disciplines.
Of course, each individual has his own goal of sports activities: some are struggling with fat deposits, while others, on the contrary, want to build muscle mass. But in any case, in order to achieve a positive result in the sports field, you must, in addition to a strict training regimen, strictly follow the rules of nutrition.
Nutrition is, one might say, the basis of all achievements. After all, only a properly structured diet will help an athlete withstand enormous physical exertion and quickly recover after performing a set of mandatory exercises.
Eating behavior after training sessions
Any type of physical activity is perceived by the body as stress. After all, in just one hour-long workout, an athlete who is seriously involved in sports spends about 400 kcal. Therefore, after such an event, the body experiences a shortage of energy resources. The fact is that in the first hours after intense exercise, the body actively breaks down fat. Considering this factor, experts do not recommend eating within two hours.
Some athletes believe that eating a small apple after working out in the gym is acceptable. We will try to answer how justified such a relaxation in diet is.
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Apples and sports
After doing a home workout to lose weight or maintain general physical fitness, or working out hard in the gym, almost anyone will feel hungry.
During sports, calories are lost and a lot of energy is consumed. However, you can’t overeat on unhealthy and filling foods, otherwise you can harm your well-being, and all the results obtained from the workout will simply evaporate. What can you snack on after exercise to replenish your energy? First of all, it is recommended to pay attention to fresh vegetables, berries, fruits, as well as dairy/fermented milk products. However, even in this option, you need to choose wisely. Only those food options that contain a lot of water, with a minimum amount of calories, are suitable. In this context, apples are an excellent option.
Apples themselves are a very healthy fruit. They saturate the body with iron and some essential vitamins, really provide energy, and improve digestion. One apple after training cannot negatively affect body size, since it contains about 50 calories and contains a lot of water. Apples will not cause a sharp rise in blood sugar, despite the fact that they contain a lot of fructose. Saturation will occur gradually. At the same time, apples perfectly quench both thirst and hunger.
There are two important things to remember before eating apples after a sports workout:
- It is necessary to give preference only to green fruits; You can eat 2-3 of these apples at a time; It is also permissible to eat yellow apples, but not more than one small fruit; but you should abstain from red varieties of apples;
- You can eat an apple after sports only in the first half of the day; this fruit is perfect for a short snack; But it’s still not worth eating apples at night, even if you’re training hard.
How do experts feel about an apple diet after a workout?
It should be noted right away that the attitude of nutritionists towards apples, like other fruits, is ambiguous.
Although all the gifts from gardens are very useful for the body, since they are the most valuable products in terms of vitamins and other useful elements. But at the same time, apples contain a lot of fructose (up to 60%), and this component belongs to carbohydrate compounds. These substances are easily transformed into glycogen or fat, the accumulation of which is undesirable for an athlete. Especially those people who train for the sake of body correction, that is, with the goal of losing weight, need to pay attention to this point. It is known that the daily requirement of the body, or more precisely the liver, for glycogen is only about 150 grams. It follows that the daily dose of fruit should not be significant. If we are talking about apples, then it is enough to include one yellow or 2 green fruits in the daily menu. This light fruit snack is best taken by an athlete in the first part of the day. But under no circumstances should you eat apples before bed after an evening workout. This limitation is due to the fact that in the passive state of the body, carbon is broken down more actively, and this is accompanied by the release of energy. An unclaimed energy resource will necessarily be converted into fat.
From the above, we can conclude that it is possible to eat an apple after physical activity, and sometimes even necessary. It all depends on the specific situation and the purpose of sports activities. For example, an athlete seeking to quickly gain muscle mass is allowed to make such a deviation in a strict dietary schedule. If your workouts are based on weight loss, then it is better to give up the apple snack.
Is it possible to drink kefir after training?
Why are apples eaten before bed harmful?
Even in a situation where a person spends the whole day in the gym, one apple eaten before bed can cause harm. Why can't you eat this fruit at night?
Firstly, it is recommended to avoid apples in the evening or at night because of the fruit’s ability to saturate with energy and keep the body in good shape for a long time. Having a snack in the evening after training with an apple, you can toss and turn in bed for a long time, unable to sleep. Additionally, apples in the evening are contraindicated for people who do not want to gain muscle mass. Due to the presence of fructose, there is a risk that even one fruit before bed will not allow you to get rid of extra pounds and volume.
Secondly, apples affect the digestive system. They improve the process of digesting foods, relieve constipation, normalize stool, but at the same time cause increased gas formation. For some people with sensitive intestines or stomach problems, eating an apple before bed can cause bloating, heartburn, and pain. One apple is unlikely to cause diarrhea the next morning, but it will definitely keep your digestive system from resting while you sleep.
Because of these reasons, if you have a strong feeling of hunger in the evening, provoked, among other things, by sports training, it is better to give preference to a light salad without abundant dressing and salt. Or drink a glass of kefir with cinnamon or fermented baked milk at night.
Nutritional value of apples
Apples have many useful qualities that will provide effective assistance to the athlete’s body after intense exercise. The fruits have the following beneficial properties:
- They normalize digestive processes due to their high content of plant fiber.
- They stabilize hemoglobin levels, because one of the main components of the fetus is iron.
- They help actively burn fat because they saturate the blood with oxygen.
- They have pronounced antioxidant properties, which manifests themselves in cleansing the body of waste and toxins.
- The tannins present in apples perform a preventive mission, preventing the development of urolithiasis.
- Organic acids inhibit the process of putrefaction in the intestines.
- Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a natural immunomodulator that maintains the normal condition and function of blood vessels.
- Pectin neutralizes and removes heavy metal salts.
This entire list of beneficial effects can be provided by one small apple. The energy value of 100 grams of product is approximately 46 kcal. Therefore, one fruit will be enough to satisfy the feeling of hunger and give the body a boost of energy.
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Is it good to eat apples after a workout?
Exercising alone is not enough to lose weight: you also need to eat right. Can I drink and eat after physical activity? Are apples after a workout harmful or beneficial? When and in what quantity should you eat them?
Text: Olga Fomina · November 14, 2016
Apples are a real storehouse of organic acids, vitamins and minerals. They are 86% water and contain tiny amounts of fat. Due to pectin, apples are classified as low glycemic index foods, which means that after eating them, blood sugar levels rise gradually.
The tartanic acid they contain prevents carbohydrates from being converted into fat cells, and folic acid dulls the feeling of hunger.
How to eat apples after a workout
It is recommended to have a light snack in the first 20 minutes after class. During this period, the anabolic window remains open in the body, that is, all components that enter it will be directed towards the recovery process.
The optimal apple varieties for an athlete's diet are Simirenko and Granny Smith. They have a lot of iron and a minimum of sugar. Therefore, these apple varieties will not affect weight gain in any way if the training process is aimed at losing weight. Red fruits cannot boast of such qualities; in addition, they can cause allergies.
How to properly eat fruit before and after training?
When creating the right diet for an athlete, it is important not only to correctly calculate the number of calories consumed, but also to distribute them over several meals throughout the day. During intense training, it is worth taking care of having additional meals before and after training:
It is quite difficult to say which fruits are best to eat before and which after training. Moreover, it all depends on your personal preferences - some people like exotic sour or bitter fruits, while others like sweet apples, pears or peaches.
Choose the fruits that you like and eat them as you desire - 40 minutes before training and 20 minutes after.
What can you replace an apple with?
If your sports activities do not allow you to relax your diet and eat even a small apple, you can find an alternative option.
Drinking after workouts is very beneficial. Moreover, there is no need to limit the amount of liquid provided that the drink does not contain sugar. The following drinks are suitable for restoring water balance:
- green tea;
- cocoa;
- fruit juice;
- purified plain water.
Such inclusion in the athlete’s menu will help to quickly recover. There is another option - low-fat kefir. The optimal dose of fermented milk drink is 2 glasses.
To summarize, it is safe to say that apples are very beneficial for actively training athletes. If they are wisely introduced into the diet, they will help replenish the lack of fluid and necessary energy.
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What fruits can you eat before and after training?
Since childhood, it has been ingrained in our subconscious: fruits are healthy. However, from time to time we still question this axiom, thinking about when, how much and in what form it is best to use them. Especially often, these questions arise for people involved in sports - after all, training, even not professional, requires a serious approach, including in organizing a nutritional regime and forming a balanced diet. Is it possible to eat fruits after training or before starting classes, and if so, what kind? We will try to answer these questions in this article.
Nut mix
Recipe: 1 cup raw unsalted nuts (almonds, seeds, cashews, hazelnuts), 1 tbsp. l. olive oil, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, cayenne pepper, chili and sea salt, 1 tsp. maple syrup. Preheat the oven and lightly toast the nuts for 5-10 minutes. Mix butter, spices and syrup and add roasted nuts. Return them to the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes, don’t forget to line them with baking paper. When to eat: Before training to build muscle mass, add dried fruit for endurance. Eat an hour or two before training. Calories: 546; proteins: 20 g; fats: 60 g; carbohydrates: 23 g; sugar: 7 g.
Oh gods, how delicious it is! Nuts are very high in calories, they contain a lot of fat, but at the same time they also contain protein. They also have enough calories to help you get a good workout. But be careful: eat less if you want to lose weight. You can use ½ cup of nuts and dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, figs) for more carbohydrates and less fat. If you want to buy a nut mix, make sure that there is no chocolate or nuts in the glaze in order to avoid simple sugars.
Proper nutrition plays a huge role in exercise performance, endurance and recovery. Eating the right foods before exercise will help you get the most out of your exercise. Prepare food in advance so that you can feel at ease: you will eat correctly and will not nullify your efforts.
