Eating Before Exercise

When we exercise, the body will typically break down our food into glucose which is used for energy. For years, there has been the belief that exercising on an empty stomach will cause the body to burn fat as energy since there is no food to turn into glucose.

While there may be some truth to this, the bigger truth is that exercising without food or “fuel” will cause you to crash and burn during your workout. When the body has no fuel, it will take it from the muscles, causing atrophy. If you are anything like me, you don’t want to give your body any chance to take away your hard-earned lean muscle.

Eating a small amount of carbohydrates before exercise will give you the energy you need to get through your workout. Make note: you will still burn fat through cardio or strength training. Cardio burns calories and fat, and strength training builds lean muscle which also burns fat.

Next time I will give you specific examples of what to eat before each type of exercise. The type of food you eat depends on the type of workout you will be doing.