Fueling Your Workout: What to Eat Before Exercising for Better Performance

I am one of those people that can eat almost the same thing every day. I switch up my lunches from week to week, but I prep the same lunch for Monday through Friday, and I eat pretty much the same snacks on repeat because I know I like them and they make me feel good and fuel my activity.

But how do I decide on my pre-workout meal? Well, there's a few things you want to make sure to include in your pre-workout meal regardless of what time of day you're having it:

1. Easily digestible carbs

2. Protein

Things you want to avoid if you're going to be exercising in the next 30-60 minutes:

1. High amounts of fat

2. High amounts of fiber

You want food that will fuel your workout (carbs) but without sitting like a rock in your stomach while you're exercising so you want to stick to things that digest quickly and your body can use for energy while you train.

Easily digested carbs include things like rice, potatoes, rice cakes, fruits and fruit juices, rice based cereals (Rice Chex, cream of rice), honey, sports drinks, or even some candy.

You also want lean sources of protein to support muscle growth and spread out getting in your protein throughout the day, but you want it to be easily digestible protein so stick to egg whites, lean meats, whey protein isolate, etc.

My current favorite pre-workout meal is cream of rice with a scoop of protein powder stirred in, topped with a banana, a little honey, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.