It’s often recommended to eat before exercising to top off your energy stores. However, some people may experience side effects when eating too close to exercising. These can usually be avoided by allowing sufficient time for digestion, though this time period varies by the type of exercise.
Here are some tips:
- Experiment to determine your ideal digestion period before exercising, as this varies depending on the individual.
- Waiting at least 1 hour (up to 3 hours) after eating a moderate-sized meal seems to be sufficient to avoid any gastrointestinal discomfort associated with eating close to the activity. However, you may want to wait at least 1.5 hours prior to activities such as swimming, cycling, running, or CrossFit.
- After consuming a snack, waiting 30 minutes should be sufficient before exercising.
- Meal size and food composition affect the rate of digestion, so it’s best to avoid large meals that are high in fat, protein, and fiber shortly before exercising.
- Some people find training on a full stomach uncomfortable and may even feel tired and sluggish. If this is you, avoid eating prior to exercise and focus on re-fueling close to when you’ve finished your training session.
References:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/exercise-after-eating?slot_pos=article_1&utm_source=Sailthru%20Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=menshealth&utm_content=2021-03-18&apid=37287323&rvid=a2e19903a17aea29e0e637faa77b683317cecb493c32185d6e7d534d1a39cf06#exercising-after-eatinghttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4102158/
