Getting yourself to workout at home is tough. You’ve got to put on the workout attire, prepare the trainer mat, move the home furniture aside for extra space, pre-plan your daily workout checklist and calculate your nutrition intake *gasp*! In a bid to help ease a portion of the process, we’ve compiled 8 nutritious ingredients and their recipes for you to eat before and after your workout. Read on!
Pre-workout
Mastering the proper pre-workout meal helps provide your body with the right amount of energy and keeps your blood sugar level steady during strength training, resistance training or cardio workouts. Here are 4 ingredients (along with the recipe) you should be opting for:
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Banana
Photo credit: healthyfood.co.uk
Banana tops the pre-workout list due to its high concentration of potassium. The mineral is essential in promoting muscle recovery and growth. It also boosts your overall energy and enhances your endurance, which is beneficial for future progression. Additionally, consuming bananas before your workout reduces muscle cramps. Here’s a simple honey-banana toast recipe for you.
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Nuts and Seeds
Nuts and seeds are high in complex carbohydrates, which is recommended for prolonged workout sessions. This is due to complex carbohydrates’ ability to break down slowly and provide energy to the body consistently over longer periods without any sudden spikes. Make a no-bake banana walnut cake to double up on your nutrition, with potassium from the banana and complex carbohydrates from the nuts! Get the recipe here.
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Chicken
Photo Credit: foodforfitness.co.uk
Ever heard of having a diet plan consisting of chicken breast for people trying to bulk up? Well, there’s a reason for that. Chicken breast contains a substantial amount of protein beneficial to preventing muscle breakdown during a workout sesh. This allows your body to build and increase muscle mass. Also, chicken breast does not contain unnecessary fat that slows down your body’s digestion and hinders your performance. Add the ingredient to your pre-workout meal with this garlic chicken recipe.
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Eggs
Egg whites are packed with proteins while the yolk contains the 8 essential amino acids. Not only do both minerals boost muscle building and recovery, but eggs are also hassle-free to prepare and cook too! With the Thermos® Shuttle Chef®, you can opt to make a simple steamed eggs recipe or chawanmushi!
Post-Workout
Everything requires balance, and with pre-workout meals come post-workout meals to help your cells regenerate, replenish lost nutrients, and encourage muscle recovery for you to be ready for your next session. Here are 4 ingredients to incorporate into your post-workout menu:
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Pasta
If you feel really tired after a workout, it means that the glycogen level in your body has significantly depleted. To replenish it, you will need to consume the right amount of carbohydrates to do the work. You can find carbohydrates-rich food in pasta, whole-grain food and quinoa. Here’s a pine nut tomato linguine recipe you can make!
Tip: You can pre-cook the meal before the workout and keep the food warm in the Thermos® Food Jar so you’ll have it ready by the time you finish exercising.
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Avocado
Photo Credits: runtastic.com
There’s some misconception about incorporating high-fat ingredients in your post-workout meal. Ingesting high-fat food after working out will not inhibit recovery. Instead, it actually increases and promotes muscle growth - that is if you choose healthy high-fat food ingredients like avocados. Here is an avocado and steak salad recipe to try.
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Tuna
Photo Credit: cafedelites.com
Canned or fresh, tuna is high in protein, and comes packed with the essential amino acid and omega-3 fatty acids. It’s easy to cook or prepare too. You can add it into a simple pasta, as a spread for sandwiches or in salads like this avocado tuna chickpea salad.
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Fruits
Sweating after an intensive workout is great, but it means that your body is also losing water. Making fruit smoothies can rehydrate and replenish water back into the body, while milk and fruits boost the body with vitamins and nutrients such as calcium, potassium, vitamin C and iron. Natural sugar content from fruits will also provide energy for the body’s recovery. Make a mango-banana smoothie with this recipe here!
