If you start exercising too soon after a meal, you risk feeling bloated, cramping and nausea. But if you wait too long, you won't have the energy needed to reach your exercise goals.
So what is the ideal time?
The answer to that question was given by Laura Harel Rafals, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. According to her, a general rule of thumb is that you should wait three to four hours after a meal and one to two hours after eating a snack to exercise.
It depends on the type of exercises you do
Light exercise after a meal, such as walking, is fine, but more intense exercise takes time for your body to digest.
By giving your body the time it needs to digest food before you exercise, you'll allow it to actually use the fuel from that meal to power your workout, explains Rafals.
You will also give the stomach time to empty its contents and thus reduce the chances of nausea, reflux, heartburn and other unpleasant digestive problems during training.
We all tolerate and digest food differently, so there is no one-size-fits-all guideline for how long you should wait after a meal to start exercising. Factors such as the duration and intensity of your training, as well as the type and amount of food you eat, also play an important role.
Be especially careful about the timing and type of food before high-intensity training.
For example, before a run, your stomach may need simpler food and more time to digest compared to what it can handle before lighter activities, like walking or yoga, writes Glamour.
What is good to eat before training, and what will bother you
Pre-workout nutrition is just as important as the workout itself. While some foods will fill you with energy, so you'll be faster and train harder, there are also those that are hard on the stomach, so they'll make you feel sick.
Dieticians Chloe McLeod and Jessica Spendlow explained to the magazine "Bed Threads" that there are two key factors that influence whether food or a certain meal should be avoided before exercise. These are the fiber and fat content.
"Foods with a high fat content, regardless of whether they are healthy or saturated, are high in energy and take longer to digest. This means that it will stay in the stomach longer, which leads to the feeling of nausea during training. "You might think fiber is healthy, but if it's consumed right before a workout, it increases the risk of gastrointestinal issues," says Chloe.
They advise avoiding pre-workout vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, legumes including beans, lentils and chickpeas, pizza, chips, fried food, alcohol and anything too spicy or acidic.
On the other hand, carbohydrates are a key source of energy and are good to consume before most workouts. Dieticians believe that a larger meal should be planned two to four hours before training, while smaller bites can be eaten one to two hours before you start exercising.
Good options are oatmeal, eggs on toast, sushi, vegetable soups, chicken sandwiches, cereal with yogurt and fruit, fruit salads or homemade smoothies.
Eating before training helps to calm your stomach and its juices and suppress hunger. Most experts agree that you should always have a snack about 30 minutes before your workout, as this will help prevent nausea during your workout.
Bonus video:
