At Mindful Chef, we all know how important it is to balance exercise with proper eating. We wanted to take a look at the best fitness food to help you get the most out of your workout.
Best Fitness Food For Pre Workout Meals
Before your workout you need to be smart about the fitness food you’re eating. Eating beforehand can help to keep your blood sugar steady. This means you’ll have plenty of energy for cardio and strength training. The best thing to do is to mix protein, healthy fats, and good carbohydrates.
Whole grain toast or cereal is a great option to get some complex carbs. Top your toast or porridge with a nut butter for healthy fats and add banana slices for natural sugars and potassium.
A great fitness food for your pre-workout meal is a protein pancake. These Blueberry and Banana Protein Pancakes are full of healthy sugars and nutrients to help you get in the right place for your workout. Blueberries have been known to reduce muscle soreness and are full of antioxidants to keep your cells healthy and keep your nervous system healthy.
These pancakes are super-speedy and can be made in just 15 minutes. Perfect to get you out of the door before that spin class!
Scrambled eggs with avocado and some veggies like tomato and spinach is another great pre-workout fitness food option. Eggs are full of quality protein and essential amino acids.
Be careful to make a point of how long before your workout you’re consuming your fitness food. If you’re having a bigger pre-workout meal, try to leave two or so hours before exercising. If you don’t have that kind of time, then try to make your portion smaller, and leave as much time as you can before exercising. Notice how these timings affect you. Next time, you might need more digestion time or you’re good to go in half an hour.
Try different food combinations, try different timings, and change these up depending on the workout you’re doing. Just like exercise is different for everyone, so is food. So, tailor it to what works for you.
Best Fitness Food For Post Workout Meals
Consuming the right kind of fitness food after your workout is just as important as what you ate before.
It’s important to know that during exercise small parts of your muscles get broken down and damaged. This means it’s important to get the right kind of carbohydrates and protein in your post-workout meals. This will help to repair your muscles quickly, and decrease how much they get broken down next time.
Protein helps to repair and build muscle so you need to eat protein after your exercise. This needs to be lean proteins. Chicken, turkey, eggs, and fish are great sources of lean protein. Protein shakes are another great way to keep your protein levels up.
You also need carbohydrates to replenish your body’s glycogen stores. Endurance exercise will use more of these glycogen stores than resistance training will. Sweet potatoes, quinoa, rice, oatmeal, and pasta are examples of non-stodgy fitness food options.
Eating both protein and carbohydrates after your workout will help to restore this glycogen. It is recommended you have a 3 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein.
Limiting your fat intake after your fitness is a good idea. However, having a little fat shouldn’t affect this glycogen recovery. Avocado, nuts, and nut butters are good, healthy fat options for your fitness food options.
You also don’t have to eat immediately after your exercise, but it can be a good idea to eat within an hour or so afterwards. This will help to begin your recovery as soon as possible. If you ate before your workout, then this isn’t as critical because the benefits of that pre-workout meal should still be working their magic!
Our Fitness Food Recipes
Here are five of our favourite recipes great for using as fitness food. We’ve selected some of our recipes because they contain some of the best foods to help you on your fitness journey. We know it’s important to eat right while you train right, so these recipes include some great foods to help keep your body healthy.
All of our recipes are free from stodgy carbs to make sure your diet is as healthy and balanced as possible.
Grilled Pomegranate Chicken Salad with Roasted Fig
This grilled chicken salad is a great way to recharge after a workout. Grilled chicken breast meets sweet and tangy pomegranate with roasted red onions. Served with lentils, figs, and hazelnut salad. Ready in just 25 minutes.
Chicken is a great lean source of protein which helps to repair muscles and build blood cells. This recipe calls for oil to cook the chicken. We recommend using olive oil which is packed full of monounsaturated fat which is great for heart health. Olive oil can reduce risk of heart disease and is a source of anti-inflammatories – great for after a workout.
Tikka Smoked Tofu Skewers with Apple Slaw
This 15 minute recipe is full of great fitness food. Add a kick to your dinner with juicy tofu skewers, smothered in a spiced tikka marinade. Served on a bed of turmeric-infused rice with creamy cabbage and apple slaw.
You can once again make use of the benefits of olive oil in this recipe. This one’s perfect for a vegan gym-goer, or a meat lover looking for a new source of protein.
Walnut Crusted Cod, Crushed Potato, and Tenderstem Broccoli
This delicious, and quick,15 minute fish recipe is a deliciously healthy alternative to friday night fish and chips. Flaky cod, topped with crunchy walnut and herb crumb goes beautifully with creamy baby potatoes tossed in garlic, mustard, and vinaigrette. Cherry tomatoes sit aside tenderstem broccoli to complete this delicious dish.
Fish is a great source of protein to rebuild muscle and blood cells after a workout. Broccoli is rich in vitamin C, iron, calcium, and fibre which all help to keep your circulatory system and bones healthy. Vitamin C helps in fighting off colds, so you’ll never have to miss a workout. Make use of olive oil once again and enjoy the addition of tomatoes. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant which can fight a number of diseases. They can also reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Good news if you aren’t a fan of raw tomatoes; they actually get more nutritious when they’re cooked!
Grilled Chicken with Orange & Beetroot Salad
Enjoy chicken as a lean source of protein, on a cumin spiced orange and mustard dressing. Served with earthy beetroot and a bed of crisp mixed salad. This tasty dinner is full of vitamins and minerals to keep you going and get you fixed up after a workout. No stodgy carbs to be found here! You can rest from your workout being assured you’re only eating what your body needs. Ready in just 30 minutes.
Salmon, Poached Egg, Green Beans & Seaweed
This recipe packs a punch of health with delicate salmon and quinoa. Green beans and quinoa are paired with a poached egg and a sprinkling of seaweed for a complex taste we can’t get enough of.
Salmon is the star of the show here, being super full of Omega 3 fatty acids which slow memory loss and promote a healthy heart. It can help to prevent obesity and is an excellent source of protein. Salmon is also known to stimulate metabolism and fill you up so you only eat what you need to. Meanwhile quinoa is high in protein, and full of heart-healthy unsaturated fats, fibre (to keep your gut moving and working properly) and vitamin B. Once again you can make use of olive oil to add that anti-inflammatory element. The egg is packed with muscle-building amino acids as well as the vitamin choline which can aid with enhancing memory so you’ll never get this delicious recipe!
How Healthy Recipe Boxes Can Help With Your Fitness
Make sure you’re getting the right food after your workout by having your dinner come straight to your door. With Mindful Chef Healthy Recipe Boxes you can make certain you’re getting healthy, nutritious food to sort you out after your workout. The best fitness food in a box. Healthy eating, made easy.
With options for meat-lovers and vegans alike. Everything is gluten-free so there are no stodgy carbs to be found! Choose from 20 recipes each week and find your new favourite fitness partner.
Cancel or pause at any time. You are in control of your recipe boxes. We just provide the food!
You simply select the delivery date, choose the recipes you want, and we do the rest. Fitness food on your doorstep, ready for you to cook. What could be better than that?