Eating to Optimize your exercise program

I work out a lot. I have a workout ritual comprised of Yoga and Qigong that I do every morning. I regularly attend yoga and Martial Arts classes. At least three times a week I’m in the gym. I try to walk regularly. I do this in order to maintain good health. A few years ago I found out that even though I exercised, it wasn’t enough to maintain optimum health. I found that in order to maintain optimum health you also have to eat as well. This gives your body the energy it needs both to exercise and to maintain it for the everyday tasks of life. So if you want to make the best of your exercise, eating the fright foods before and after you workout is very important.No matter whether you are going to be doing a cardio workout or a resistance workout, you should always eat a balanced mix of protein and carbohydrates.  The determining factor for deciding the percentage of carbs and protein you consume is whether or not you are doing cardio or resistance exercise along with the intensity level that you plan to work at.Ideally you want to eat your pre workout meal an hour before you start.  If you plan to work at a low intensity level, keep your pre workout meal down to 200 calories or less.  If you plan to exercise at a high level of intensity, you will probably need your meal to be between 400 and 500 calories.If you are doing a cardio session you will need to consume a mixture of about 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein. The carbs will give you longer sustained energy while the protein will keep your muscles from breaking down while you exercise.If you are doing resistance exercises the opposite is true. You'll need to eat a mix of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein. You’ll get plenty of energy from the carbs to perform the resistance exercises while the extra protein will help keep your muscle breakdown to a minimum.  Since anytime you exercise, whether its cardio or resistance, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen, so eating after you exercise is just as important as your pre workout meal. Your brain and central nervous system rely on glycogen as their main source of fuel, so if you don't replace it after you exercise, your body will begin to break down muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert them into usable fuel for the brain and the central nervous system. So you’ll actually deplete your energy while wearing down your body.A key point to remember is that during resistance exercise you break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. What this means, is that after a workout, your muscles will instantly go into repair mode. Since protein is the essential element for muscle repair, eating protein after you eat will keep your muscles from breaking down even further.After a cardio session the best strategy is to eat high fiber carbohydrates. These are things like brown rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and northern fruits like apples, peaches, pears and cherries. Also, try to consume 30 - 50 grams of there types of carbs anytime after you exercise. And don’t worry about waiting. After a cardio workout it is fine to eat within 5 to 10 minutes after you finish.Once you've finished a resistance workout, you will need to consume a combination of carbs and protein. Like I mentioned before, unlike cardio workouts, resistance workouts will break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. As a result you'll need protein to build up and repair these tears so your muscles can increase in size and strength.  The carbs will not only replace the lost muscle glycogen, but will also help the protein get into muscle cells so it can synthesize into structural protein, or the muscle itself.After your resistance exercise wait about 30 minutes before you eat. This way you won't take blood away from your muscles and down to your stomach too fast. By allowing the blood to remain in your muscles you are helping repair process by remove metabolic waste products.So there you have it, how to eat for to get the most of your exercise program. If you would like more information on losing weight and getting fit I have a FREE fitness e-Course.