To improve your athletic performance, there are three elements to consider: your diet, your training, and your recovery. Whether you're a high-level athlete or an amateur, adapting your diet around your workouts has many benefits. What foods should you avoid before your workout? How can you optimize your recovery and muscle growth through nutrition after your workout?

Nutrition before sports practice.

Why eat before exercising?

Eating before exercising gives you the energy you need to complete your workout. However, you shouldn't eat just anything. As a general rule, it's recommended to eat 2 to 3 hours before your workout. If you fill your stomach too soon before your workout, digestion or gastric emptying won't be complete, which can lead to digestive discomfort (nausea, stomach cramps) and a decrease in your performance.

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However, if you want to eat something before your workout, opt for fruit. The nutritional value of bananas is particularly good for giving you energy for your workout.

Foods to avoid before your workout.

Some foods are easier to digest than others. For example, foods high in fat are digested slowly by the body. It is therefore best to avoid, for example, cheese, cold cuts, pastries, or biscuits with a fat content higher than 10%. It is also recommended to limit your consumption of foods too high in fiber before any physical activity. Since fruits and vegetables are foods rich in fiber, it is advisable to favor very ripe fruits and cooked vegetables, without skin and seeds. This will help limit your fiber intake.

In summary.

Before exercising, you should consider eating easily digestible foods. This will help limit digestive discomfort during your workout and optimize your performance.

Nutrition during sports practice.

Goal of food intake during your training.

The goal of eating during physical activity is to avoid dehydration and to limit the depletion of glycogen stores, primarily. Indeed, using food during physical activity allows you to quickly increase, preserve, and replenish muscle glycogen, while maintaining your water balance.

What foods should you choose during your workout?

If your effort lasts more than 1h30, it is strongly recommended to use a carbohydrate intake. This helps compensate for muscle glycogen depletion, save blood sugars, maintain basal blood sugar and therefore limit the risk of hypoglycemia, which is synonymous with a drop in performance. You will therefore need to favor simple carbohydrates with a medium to high glycemic index in order to have this energy quickly and without overly stressing the digestive mechanisms (for example, fruit jellies, energy gels, etc.)

Hydration.

Exercising leads to a greater or lesser amount of water loss depending on the duration, intensity of the exercise, and ambient temperature. Be careful; if you lose a lot of water, you may experience certain difficulties during your workout, such as fatigue or decreased reflexes.

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Studies show that a 1% weight loss due to dehydration leads to a 10% decrease in performance.

For any effort not exceeding 1 hour, water will be sufficient to keep you well hydrated.

If the effort lasts more than 1h30, you can consume a sports drink with carbohydrate intake (BEAG). Indeed, the longer the effort, the more your glycogen stores are depleted and the greater the loss of sodium and magnesium through perspiration. A BEAG is a drink that contains minerals and carbohydrates and therefore the composition can vary depending on the ambient temperature. These differences in composition help compensate for the different degrees of perspiration:

• If the outside temperature is above 20°C, the drink should contain about 20g of carbohydrates per liter of water and 1g of salt per liter in case of excessive sweating.
• If the temperature is below 10°C, the carbohydrate concentration should be higher with 60 gr/l and a maximum of 1.2 gr of salt per liter of water.

There are many preparations on the market for making BEAGs, but the "homemade" option is definitely an option. Grape juice, for example, contains an average of 15g of sugar per 100ml and is often used in BEAGs.

Water loss varies for every athlete. That's why it's important to consider your own needs. To do this, weigh yourself before and after your workout. Since weight loss is often linked to dehydration, you may find it necessary to consume a BEAG during your workout. To optimize your athletic performance, try to limit this weight loss as much as possible during exercise.

Nutrition after sports practice.

Why eat after exercise?

Often overlooked, recovery is the most important aspect to improve your athletic performance. Recovery includes your diet, sleep, and hydration after exercise. Indeed, poor nutrition after sports can, in the long term, compromise your future workouts and your progression curve. During a sporting activity, your body draws its energy from circulating, hepatic, and muscular carbohydrates. When carbohydrate reserves are depleted, your body will transform circulating lipids and those in body fat into energy. If necessary, even protein reserves will be called upon to provide this energy. However, this stage is your body's last resort for energy supply because this phenomenon results in muscle wasting. After exercise, your glycogen reserves must be restored to ensure proper organ function. Without food intake, it is body fat and muscle protein that will be called upon to replenish these reserves.

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The recovery aims to:

• Repair muscle tissue damaged during physical activity.

• Rapidly replenish muscle and liver glycogen stores.

• Rehydrate properly according to your needs.

• Rapidly eliminate metabolic waste induced during exercise.

What to eat after sport?

For optimal recovery, the meal following the sports session should contain fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals, complex carbohydrates to allow the replenishment of glycogen reserves and proteins for muscle repair. Example menu: Mixed vegetable soup Lean fish with rice and ratatouille Plain yogurt with fresh fruit For those who do not have time to prepare such a meal, there is the OKR SPORT range which offers meals with 50g of vegetable protein, low glycemic index carbohydrates, quality lipids and 33% of the recommended daily intake of 24 vitamins and minerals.

In summary.

Nutrition plays a vital role in improving athletic performance. Before, during, and after exercise, proper nutrition and hydration will allow for optimal recovery and therefore improve your performance.