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Healthiest Foods to Eat While Working Out

Your body requires fuel in the form of food to produce its best results. So, when you are headed to the gym to pump some iron or hit the treadmill, you want to make sure that you've eaten properly beforehand to provide energy. Different foods take a different amount of time to break down in your body after consumption, so it depends on how much time you have before your work out, as to what foods you should eat.

  1. One Hour or Less

    • An hour or less before you work out you don't want to eat anything that is too nutritionally complex because you aren't allowing your body a lot of time to break down the food into glucose -- the sugar that is released into your blood from breaking down food. The best things to consume are fresh fruits such as apples, oranges or grapes, an energy gel or an electrolyte-enhanced sports drink. These all break down in less than an hour, giving your body energy to work out and give your all in the gym. But try to eat or drink them with as much time to spare as possible before working out to give your body the maximum amount of time to digest.

    Two to Three Hours

    • With two to three hours before hitting the gym, you have a wider range of options because your body is able to digest more complex carbohydrates, and provide you with more nutrients and vitamins. Using this time frame, you can eat a toasted bagel or whole wheat toast with zero trans fat spread, low fat yogurt with chopped fresh fruit or a small serving of whole wheat pasta with a light marinara sauce. You can eat foods with higher fiber content but want to still avoid foods with a high fat content. Lipids, or fats, are the hardest for your body to digest and therefore take the longest to pass through your digestive system.

    Three to Four Hours

    • With three to five hours before it's time for you to strap on your sneakers, you have plenty of time to eat a balanced meal including vegetables, fiber and healthy fats. While you still want to keep your fat intake moderately low, you can eat a little from each of the dietary groups. During this time you can eat a baked potato with fat free margarine, grilled vegetables, a sandwich with lean turkey and fat free cheese on whole wheat bread, yogurt with fresh fruit and granola, energy supplement bars or a whole grain cereal with fat free milk. These will all be digested within the time frame to not only supply adequate energy to get to the gym but also plenty of energy to allow you to get the most out of your workout.

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