You Asked, I Answered
Filed under: Nutrition
I know I just did a You Asked, I Answered segment, but this question was one that I think a lot of people should hear the answer to, as there is so much myth and, as Alan Aragon likes to call it, broscience, that people blindly follow without actually looking at the evidence.
Q. My question is, “what is the best meal or drink before and after exercise?” It seems everyone’s opinon is different. I thought for a long time sugars have no value, but now, I hear they are good for recovery and energy. I make sure to ingest plenty of them in pre and post workout drinks. Mostly I use Gatorade and protein powder, I recently started to add the Cytosport performance drink. I like to eat pineapple too, after my workout. Maybe that is not the best time for fruits, but I fell better with it. I think what I do works, but it would be great to hear your advice, if you have the time to do so. Thank you Brian.
A. Well I will start this off by saying that this is an excellent question, and it really all depends on many factors, like all things in nutrition the answer is very context dependent.
There is no one “best”, what might be perfect for me would not necessarily be perfect for an endurance athlete, or someone who is allergic to something I am not. It is all about what works for you, end of story.
Having said that, in my opinion sugars still have very little place pre & post training. They are ok and certainly work, but I would definitely not call them best. For the vast majority of the population* I think people would be much better off with high-quality carbs that offer much more than just glucose; vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, phytonutrients, etc. Why take in your biggest carb servings of the day from sources that provide you nothing beyond their carb content?
The goal of the peri-training time period is to maintain hydration, fuel upcoming training session, boost training performance, recover from completed training session, increase muscle protein synthesis, decrease muscle protein breakdown, and spare and restore muscle and liver glycogen.
Why would simple and nutritionally empty sugars accomplish this any more effectively than quality carbs? Answer – they don’t.
Research is pretty clear that a blend of glucose and fructose, from low-moderate GI sources, can be just as effective, if not more so. This blend is more readily oxidized as fuel, better tolerated by the gut, maintains and restores liver glycogen more effectively, maintains and restores muscle glycogen equally as effectively, and may improve next day performance more effectively.
It only takes minimal insulin elevations, 2-3 times above baseline, to maximally inhibit muscle protein breakdown, and this is easily accomplished by a mixed pre-training meal. No simple sugars needed. A quality mixed post-training meal will also keep it elevated to that point for up to 5 hours after as well, so again, no need for tons of simple sugars and huge insulin spikes.
People will also champion faster proteins like whey and casein hydrolysate, to “get to the muscles faster”. Well whey hydrolysate has been shown to be too transient in the bloodstream, being in and out too quickly to maximize anabolism, and casein hydrolysate has been shown to be preferentially taken up by the splanchnic tissues, so unless you want jacked organs it isn’t the way to go either.
For the most part any high quality protein will do, though if you want liquid nutrition a combination of a quality whey protein with some casein, like from grass-fed dairy (whole milk, yogurt, etc) would work well.
Yes I said whole-fat. Research has also shown that post-training fat consumption does not blunt glycogen replenishment, and may actually increase net protein balance, potentially making you more jacked.
Finally comes timing. Many meatheads will tell you to down that post-training shake immediately, and I mean immediately, after you are done training. Is this necessary? I would say no, especially if your pre-training nutrition, which is equally important if not more so, was spot on. Waiting an hour to have your post-training shake or meal won’t make a bit of difference.
I hope that covered just about all the angles and convinces you that as usual real food is the answer.
* – the only exception might be endurance athletes who have multiple glycogen depleting session within 8 hours of each other.
Check out the BSP Training & Nutrition Newsletter!
You will get immediate access to:
- Weekly updates and exclusive content.
- The 20-page report "The Truth About Saturated Fat & Cholesterol."
- Become more awesome!
Posted on September 10th, 2010 by Brian St. Pierre
24 Comments
September 10th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Interesting info, I’ve always been of the idea that fat consumption blunts an insulin spike. But my only source has been random forums. Could you give a link to that study?
I always have smoothies and grape juice pre/during/post work out. Can’t get a much better source of carbs than that!
September 11th, 2010 at 6:37 am
Brian,
This comes strictly from th anecdotal file, but I recall listening to bodybuilding coach Scott Abel mention that he has always been a proponent of using whole foods around workouts (my apologies to him if I somehow misinterpreted what I was hearing). So for all those guys who are primarily focused on size and strength, this would seem to be more ammunition for the contention that liquid nutrition is anything but necessary (and possibly even inferior for the reasons you hit upon pertaining to its being void of much micronutrition. When one of the best in the muscle-building business says whole foods are the way to go, that says something.
So other than the example you presented pertaining to endurance athletes training or competing twice per day (and possibly for other types of athletes engaged in two-a-day sessions, depending upon the nature of each session), I see no reason why liquid nutrition would be needed to optimize results. Of course for those who tolerate it, a quality whey or whey/casein blend + some fruit and quality fats would be in the mix, too, but it seems like high time that the mask was pulled off of the glucose, maltodextrin crowd.
As for potential positive effects of some post-training fat on net protein balance, would this possibly have anything to do with slowing gastric emptying enough so that the body ends up utilizing more (and oxidizing less) of the amino acids from the protein ingested?
September 12th, 2010 at 7:15 am
This is a very interesting post. Once I finish off my tubs of serge and serge workout, it’s back to basics. I don’t want jacked organs.
I eat a lot of dried fruit (dates, raisins, prunes and sultanas) as a carbohydrate source, and to satisfy my sweet tooth. Does anyone think that this might be a foolish move because of the relatively high quantities of concentrated fructose they contain?
September 13th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
This article is a big help to me, it cleared up a lot of confusion I had. There is so much hype over consuming the high glycemic carbohydrates and no fat, but I know now, there is no reason to buy into these methods. I can eat the way I prefer to eat and I feel great about that.
September 15th, 2010 at 7:57 am
Jeff,
It is possible. The authors were unsure of the mechanisms behind it, but that is one possible explanation.
Hooch,
It shouldn’t be a problem at all, I myself am a big fan of dried fruit. Just keep the serving sizes and daily intake reasonable and you will be just fine.
The concern over high fructose consumption is really more of a problem in a hypercaloric state and with very large amounts of fructose, most likely more than you are getting from fruit.
September 15th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Dush,
Fat consumption usually does decrease the spike in insulin, but that is rather irrelevant really. As I noted it is not necessary to jack up insulin tremendously to maximize its benefits.
As for studies that point to this, see below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7665416
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16679981
September 15th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
I like banana’s/prunes with whey protein before my workout.
July 13th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
I very much like your website’s blog post and all and i enjoy the threme structure also the colour but probably it needs a new look, its been a long time, anyone have any suggestions?
November 23rd, 2013 at 12:26 pm
But having a advance loan, you will probably be able to acquire around hundreds of 1000s of dollars within weekly
with minimal requirements not fake the treatment is painless with long-lasting results and it is nowadays the best method
to get gone unwanted hair.
November 30th, 2013 at 5:28 am
binary options
I simply couldn’t depart your website prior to suggesting that I extremely loved the standard information a person supply for your guests?
Is going to be back steadily to inspect new posts binary options
December 7th, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Great beat ! I would like to apprentice at the same time
as you amend your site, how can i subscribe for a weblog web site?
The account aided me a applicable deal. I have been a
little bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered shiny transparent concept
Feel free to surf to my site seo
December 14th, 2013 at 12:01 am
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after going
through many of the posts I realized it’s new to
me. Anyways, I’m definitely delighted I discovered it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly!
Here is my web blog – garcinia cambogia
February 4th, 2014 at 9:06 pm
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger,
and I was wanting to know your situation; many of us have created some nice procedures and we
are looking to exchange methods with other folks, why not shoot me an email if interested.
April 10th, 2014 at 12:25 am
Hey there! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how
to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog looks weird when viewing from mmy iphone.
I’m trying too find a theme or plygin that
might be able to correct this problem. If you have any recommendations,
please share. Many thanks!
April 10th, 2014 at 2:21 pm
Your means of explaining everything in this piece of writing is in fact pleasant, every
one be able to easily be aware of it, Thanks a lot.
May 3rd, 2014 at 7:42 pm
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you are using?
I’m experiencing some minor security issues with my latest site and I’d like to find something more safeguarded.
Do you have any solutions?
May 16th, 2014 at 10:34 pm
I pay a quick visit daily a few web sites and
blogs to read articles or reviews, however this blog offers feature
based writing.
Feel free to surf to my web site – SEO company directory list
May 23rd, 2014 at 6:46 am
I really like it when people get together and
share opinions. Great blog, stick with it!
May 27th, 2014 at 7:05 am
I’ve been browsing on-line more than three hours these days, but I by no means found any fascinating article
like yours. It is beautiful worth enough for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the net will probably be
a lot more useful than ever before.
May 27th, 2014 at 9:08 pm
I was suggested this web site through my cousin. I’m now not positive whether or not this put up is written via him as nobody else recognise such precise approximately my difficulty.
You’re amazing! Thanks!
May 30th, 2014 at 1:53 am
hey there and thank you for your info _ I’ve definitely picked up
anything new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical points using this
website, as I experienced to reload the website a lot of times previous to I could get it to
load properly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK?
Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
Well I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for a lot
more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you
update this again very soon.
July 8th, 2014 at 5:59 am
I was able to find good advice from your articles.
For a better solution please jump over to this
page – real estate website design
August 21st, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Hmm is anyone else having problems with the pictures on this
blog loading? I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog.
Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
Feel free to surf to my web site :: wsi expert internet marketing,internet marketing expert job description,engine internet marketing optimization search,email marketing small business,internet marketing expert group,expert internet marketing,internet marketing expert philippines,internet marketing expert group justin jones,email internet marketing service,effective email marketing,firm internet marketing,effective internet marketing,email internet marketing,expert internet marketing service,internet marketing expert group sevierville tn,email marketing articles,internet marketing expert orlando,internet marketing expert india,email marketing expert,online marketing expert group,email marketing news,expert witness internet marketing,effective online marketing,effective internet marketing strategies,email marketing design
September 25th, 2014 at 4:24 am
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually realize what you’re talking approximately!
Bookmarked. Kindly also consult with my web site =).
We may have a hyperlink exchange arrangement among us
my page: medi weight loss reviews