What you eat can significantly affect how you feel and your energy levels.
It’s especially important to monitor your diet if you regularly work out and lead an active lifestyle. Some foods can slow you down or cause unexpected surprises that make exercising difficult. Here are some foods you should avoid before physical activity to prevent mishaps and protect your health.
Protein Shakes
Many people drink a protein shake right before a workout because they believe it helps muscles grow and recover faster. Unfortunately, this doesn’t provide the intended benefits. Protein is essentially the last nutrient your body needs before physical exertion. What it really requires are carbohydrates, which provide the energy necessary to handle the workout. Protein slows digestion and prevents carbs from being absorbed efficiently. As a result, a protein shake might leave you feeling nauseous — an unwelcome sensation during a tough workout that could cut your session short.
Don’t get it wrong — there’s nothing inherently bad about protein shakes. They are beneficial for muscle recovery and growth, and they help keep you feeling full. Just make sure to drink them after, not before, your workout if you want to feel your best.
Fried Foods
As delicious as donuts or fried potatoes with onions may be, they’re not the best pre-workout snack. When you’re moving, your blood needs to flow freely throughout your body, nourishing tissues and muscles so you can set a personal record or challenge your endurance. However, fried foods are hard to digest, so when you eat fried chicken wings, the blood rushes to your stomach instead of your muscles. As a result, you’ll feel weaker and unable to complete your usual workout routine.
It’s like putting bad fuel in your car and expecting it to run smoothly forever. Plus, since your body is working hard to digest fried food, you might feel so sluggish that you’d rather stay on the couch than push yourself at the gym.
Nuts and Avocado
While nuts and avocados are healthy and packed with essential nutrients, they are not the best choice if you’re planning to do cardio. Like fried foods, these fatty snacks take a long time to digest. They can disrupt blood circulation throughout your body and often lead to feelings of weakness. Additionally, if they are still sitting in your stomach while you’re moving, nuts and avocados may cause nausea and bloating. Although they won’t completely ruin your workout, they can make it harder to perform high-intensity exercises and move quickly, which can negatively affect your progress and the overall benefit of your session.
High-Fiber Foods
Eating high-fiber foods is generally great for gut health, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar. However, if you want to avoid constant trips to the bathroom during your workout, you might want to skip fiber-rich snacks like granola bars, cereals, and muesli. Fiber isn’t digested by the body and passes through your intestines mostly unchanged. Combine this with the fact that exercise causes the muscles in your digestive system to contract, and you could end up with sudden, intense urges to go to the bathroom while lifting weights or doing cardio. To avoid this discomfort, save high-fiber foods for rest days or post-workout meals.
Dairy Products and Their Derivatives
This can vary from person to person, but for most, dairy products before a run or an intense workout should be off-limits. Why? Dairy contains both protein and fat, which can stimulate the digestive system—even if you’re not lactose intolerant — especially if you’re exercising in hot weather or a stuffy gym. Consuming dairy, cheese, or treats made from them before your workout can make you feel like you have a ton of bricks in your stomach. Under those conditions, good luck with crunches, pull-ups, or barbell exercises! Even worse, eating dairy before a workout can lead to nausea or vomiting.
Spicy Food
Consuming spicy food before a workout is not advisable for several reasons. First, capsaicin, the compound that makes food spicy, can irritate the lining of your intestines, which, combined with physical activity, can lead to stomach discomfort, nausea, and heartburn. Second, spicy foods often trigger acid reflux, resulting in an unpleasant burning sensation in your throat and chest. These symptoms can make your workout unbearable and might force you to cut it short much earlier than you planned.
Too Many Eggs
If you’re used to working out in the morning and having several boiled eggs for breakfast, you might want to rethink your nutrition plan. While eggs are indeed healthy, it’s best not to exceed two per day. Overeating eggs — especially having your entire daily portion at once, right before a workout — can lead to problems. Eggs are high in protein and fat, meaning they digest slowly. As a result, you may feel sluggish, tired, and heavy, making it difficult to complete your workout. It’s better to avoid overconsumption and remember that even nutritious foods can be detrimental when eaten in excess.
