No matter if you're a serious athlete, someone who’s trying to get fit or just a busy person who’s always on the go, your active lifestyle requires proper fuel. A healthy diet is crucial for optimising your performance both at the gym and outside of it, so make sure to keep your nutrition high-quality. If you're not sure how to boost your diet, here are a few tips that will come in handy.
This one is especially important for people who are trying to lose or maintain weight. A lot of experts agree that if you skip breakfast, you're just going to feel exhausted during the day and end up making up for lost calories later in the evening. And you don’t need anything elaborate in the morning. A light and balanced breakfast will fuel you with enough energy to get you through your morning exercise and keep you full until your lunch break.
Are you trying to eat as much lean meat as possible and avoid pasta and bread? If you have some serious workouts planned for your week, you'll need some carbs since they are what your body burns during effective exercise sessions. Carbohydrate-rich foods give you glucose that transforms into immediate energy (the rest is stored in muscles as glycogen). The more glycogen you have, the longer you can maintain a high training level without feeling exhausted. So, make sure to give your body some carbs before you hit the gym.
Oftentimes, it’s very hard to juggle work, family, friends, exercise and meals, so something needs to get pushed aside. Don’t let that be your diet! But when you're an active person, you probably have a tight schedule that doesn’t react well to long lunch breaks and complicated food-prep processes. Luckily, you can always find a way to eat healthy and clean. You can plan your meals in advance and try food-prepping. Or you can find a company that prepares and delivers healthy food. You just need to pick one of their several practical meal plans and you'll get high-quality meals delivered to your doorstep. This way, you don’t have to sacrifice your diet or your precious time!
A good pre-workout meal should contain carbs, protein and some fat. Of course, you don’t want to eat an entire plate of pasta before your workout! Something small like trail mix will give you just enough energy to build and tone your muscles and keep up the good pace. Have a small meal one to two hours or a small snack 30 minutes before your workout.
Post-workout meal is just as important as fueling beforehand. Again, think a small meal filled with protein and carbs, nothing over the top. If you have your meal within two hours of your exercise, your body will be ready to repair muscles and supply them with nutrients.
Unprocessed whole foods are your best source of energy - no replacement meal or a snack can change that. Your body needs phytonutrients, fibre and many other nutrients no protein drink or energy bar can replicate. While these quick snacks are convenient in a hurry, don’t make it a habit to eat them instead of real foods.
Unless you drink five glasses of milk a day, you'll need to supplement your diet with some calcium. This mineral is very important for your performance at the gym since it provides strong bones and prevents fractures.
Even if you don’t feel obvious thirst, it’s important to drink water throughout the day. If you're hitting the gym, make sure to always have a bottle of water with you or a small hydration pack when you run. While you probably know this, it’s important to say that you need to consume more fluids when it’s hot outside. If your workouts are especially hard, you might need to replace your lost salts with sports drinks, otherwise, plain water is more than enough.
Don’t think you can have a successful active lifestyle without some high-quality nutrition. Luckily, you don’t need to do anything super special in order to fuel your active lifestyle. Just follow these diet tips and you'll feel ready to tackle all your workouts, social functions and work responsibilities.
Luke is a fitness and health blogger at Ripped.me and a great fan of the gym and a healthy diet. He follows the trends in fitness, gym and healthy life and loves to share his knowledge through useful and informative articles.