What foods you eat and when you eat them can affect your fitness goals and other bodily functions like energy and sleep. For me, it helps to plan my food and weekly workout schedule ahead of time (usually on Sunday). That way I know when I expect to be eating - which allows me to map out what foods I will be eating at certain times throughout the day.
Without getting into too much scientific detail, here are some of the "rules" (that have been scientifically backed) that I try and abide by to give myself the best chance for success.
You want to finish eating your food roughly three hours before you go to bed. This allows your body to have time to digest your food so that you aren't actively digesting your food while you sleep. If you want to learn more about this I highly recommend listening to Kristen Holmes (Global Head Human Performance & PPL Scientist at WHOOP) speak on the Diary of a CEO podcast. I will link it at the bottom of this blog!
Time your carbohydrates. If you are 4 hours out from a workout, you can eat more complex carbohydrates (like sweet potatoes, pasta, or wild rice) because your body will have time to digest them. If you are within a 2 hour window to your workout, keep your carbs simple. Choose easily digestible carbs like fruits. Smoothies are a great choice. During your workout, carbs in the liquid form will work best because your body can readily access them. For immediately after your workout, choose simple carbohydrates. Hours after your workout, you can move back to more complex carbs. This will ensure you load and replenish your glycogen stores before and after your workouts.
Consume enough complete proteins throughout the day. Complete proteins are protein sources that contain all nine essential amino acids. Examples of complete proteins are eggs, fish, meat, or dairy. Examples of incomplete protein sources are nuts, beans, or whole grains. This is not me telling you incomplete protein sources are bad for you, but rather simply informing you of their amino acid profile deficiency. The reason I say cosume tenough proteins "throughout the day" is because over the last 10 years there has been so much conversation and research over the "anabolic window" - anabolic window being the 30-60 minutes right after a workout. Over time science has seemingly debunked the idea of an "anabolic window" and has instead put a greater focus on just consuming the right amount of protein over the course of the day. Personally, I aim for 1 gram of protein/lb of bodyweight due to my high activity level. In general you meet your nutritional requirments with 0.36g/lb. Note - you should adjust these based on your own goals. Everyone is different. Through your research, trial and error, and testing you can determine what works best for you.
For me, working on these three items has benefitted me so much. I feel better (gut, sleep, and overall energy), my performance and recovery has improved, and my routines have solidified. Again... everyone is different. I hope you can have some positive takeaways from this blog and test some things out for yourself. I have made so many mistakes, but have read and learned a lot to figure out how to fix some of the problems I was dealing with around this topic. I have linked some resources below if you want to look through them!
Links:
Protein Consumption
Anabolic Window
Carbohydrate Timing and Food Options
Podcast About Sleep (A PERSONAL FAVORITE!)
See you next post!
Andrew
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nutritionist, dietician, or any kind of medical professional. Therefore any statements contained in this website or blog should not be considered medical or nutritional advice. None of this content is intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease or condition. This is general nutrional information collected from my own research and experiences.