Workout Nutrition & the Window of Opportunity

For most of us, workout is an important part of daily life. Exercising is much required to maintain physical & mental strength, as it releases hormones that make you feel good & balance the internal chemistry to help body function within the scope of homeostasis. However, that’s one aspect of exercising that talks about its benefits. We equally need to focus on aspects that help us to keep up with a good exercising practice which revolves around the energy that is driven out of the foods we consume.?In this post, I have tried to explain about the importance of pre & post workout nutrition & the facts & myths around ‘Window of Opportunity’. My idea in this post is to provide you information around clean & vegan way of eating for maximum workout results, even if it is strenuous workout! So lets first understand what is ‘Window of Opportunity’ & why pre & post workout nutrition matters.

Window of Opportunity

The concept of ‘Window of Opportunity’ after exercising is based on the assumption that immediately after exercising, till after a certain time, the body is extra-responsive to nutrition. Post workout the state of muscles is something like a sponge which has the capability to absorb aximum nutrition that helps repair & build muscles quickly. This happens for following reasons:

• Exercise induces the activation of enzyme that supports glycogen production. Glycogen is the energy (glucose) reserve stored in the liver & muscles, & is converted into energy during intense exercise. Researches suggest that one can quickly build upon glycogen (energy) reserves for future workouts by consuming good quality macronutrients till after a certain time after intense exercising.
• Exercising makes muscle membranes permeable, allowing easy inflow of nutrients to the muscle cells. Also, the body cells become more sensitive to insulin after exercise, allowing glucose to enter the cells at ease.

As per the research studies, the ‘Window of Opportunity’ is open for 30-45 minutes & may last upto 2 hours post workout, giving you a golden chance to fill body with right nutrition to help it repair & build post workout. Though, there are some counter researches proving that the ‘Window of Opportunity’ is a myth except in cases where one chooses to exercise in a fasting state.

However, whether or not the ‘Window of Opportunity’ is a reality, it is important for us to realize a basic fact that workouts impact muscles & tissues at a deeper level & a good nutrition can help us repair the damage done to our body internally during exercise.

Why Pre & Post Workout Nutrition?

Intense workouts require fuel (energy), & in the process our tissues do get damaged at the deeper level. However, to derive the benefits of a workout to become, fitter, leaner,?energetic & beautiful, we must support body’s repair process. Your approach to body’s ‘Repair & Rebuild’ process pre & post workout determines whether you become more leaner, fitter & beautiful with your workouts, or you age faster! This can be smartly addressed by designing your pre & post workout nutrition in a way that begins to support the repair process of the body as soon as the damage occurs.

Biologically, How Does the Repair & Rebuild Happen?

Repair & Rebuild is a biological process where protein breakdown of old & damaged proteins occurs & to compensate the loss, the production of new proteins takes place through the process called protein synthesis. The breakdown of proteins is much rapid than protein build-up specifically after resistance training. Hence, our approach to pre & post workout nutrition must be such to contract the lag between the two processes. The repair of damage done will depend upon the rate of muscle protein synthesis & muscle protein breakdown, & if the lag is lesser by ensuring that we have enough raw material to compensate for the nutrient loss during workout, which can be achieved by designing pre & post workout nutrition in a way that supports quick muscle protein recovery & fills back glycogen reserves soon. This induces a state of repair & rebuilt phenomenon & saves us from muscle wasting & aging. Thus, pre & post workout nutrition is of utmost importance.

Smart Approach to Pre & Post Workout Nutrition & the Nutrients Involved

When it is about workout, the only nutrient we know in question is?protein.?The core workout believers do everything to ensure their protein reserves are full, and that’s the only fact we consider because the marketing industry, specifically the protein industry told us so!

However, we see the holistic approach is missing when we talk of workout nutrition & too much emphasis on proteins, specifically the concentrated sources of proteins can overload our body with too much to handle, which is often an undiscussed aspect of workout nutrition. I intend to discuss this untouched aspect of concentrated protein & a more holistic approach to pre & post workout nutrition in this blog.

Conscious Approach to Workout Nutrition

So, before we discuss the pre & post nutrition workout, lets consciously quickly try to understand the wholesome nature of everything we do, that also forms our holistic approach to workout nutrition at Svarasya.

The conscious approach to nutrition is about supporting the body holistically & from functional perspective to perform its best at all times, be its state of intense workout, mild daily activities or even deep state of relaxation. Thus, my approach to nutrition is not just based around filling-in missing nutrients in the body, but also supporting every body organ to be able to process the nutrition well including transporting core dense nutrition to the cells for the release of super energy. Thus, this approach is about introducing more nourishing, earthy, live & alkaline-forming foods into your diet & helping you push out acidic wastes & toxins out of the body.

One of the examples of a perfect workout nutrition is?Svarasyas’s Clean Beauty Detox Smoothie?that incorporates all parameters of my approach to nutrition. It is nourishing, earthy, live, alkaline & is super powerful in removing acidic wastes & toxicity out of the body. It helps you stay strong & energized & rather saves on your energy expenditure, to have preserved more energy within you to be incurred on your workout sessions.

One of the most important aspect of fitness is energy regulation. The Clean Beauty Detox Smoothie is light on digestion & maximizes digestive functioning, which helps you preserve your energy for other activities. With an extra focus on protein consumption, a state of digestive inefficiency gets induced, due to an overloaded digestive system where the rate of absorption may go low & the amount of proteins consumed may not be able to reach the cells, rather may form a vicious cycle of digestive discomfort. Additionally, that extra volume of proteins may create a highly acidic body state that tires the body & lowers the immune functioning. Thus, the net effect being extra protein consumption, low digestive capability & acidic body state! This is exactly the opposite of what we would want to perform for energetic workouts! This approach gives the digestive processes much required rest to spare you more available energy for your workouts.

Holistic Approach to Workout Nutrition

Though your energy requirements may vary depending the workout level of workout that you may perform, it is equally important to deal with your energy, repair & rebuild needs with a holistic approach, than keep filling-in proteins, that too from concentrated protein sources such as animal protein or whey protein.

The very first approach that I recommend about workout nutrition is to fuel the body right, along with having a holistic approach to fulfilling the protein needs. I personally follow a Yogic approach to fitness & try to cover up for my cardio & weight training needs with Surya Namaskars & lifting Yogic postures respectively. And my workout nutrition?revolves around a plant-based diet designed in a way to fuel me well for workouts & for repair & rebuild needs after the workout. I have managed to get leaner & toned over years & also have drastically improved upon my energy levels while supporting my body for advanced Yogic postures.

3 Tips to be on a Conscious Beauty & Selfcare Approach to Workout Nutrition

Tip #1: Perform Workout Empty Stomach

The science behind empty stomach workout is to spare the energy for workout than redirecting a part of your energy to the digestive processes. Doing a workout post meal, shifts the energy towards digestion making you feel more tired & lathergic in your practice. However an exception to this rule is Svarasya’s Clean Beauty Detox Smoothie that does not consume much of digestive power, yet fuels you enough to perform your workout effectively.

Tip #2: Balance Out Your Carbohydrates & Proteins

Research has proven that combination of good carbs & proteins is the route to supporting the workouts for best results. This is because your primary source of energy is carbohydrates to fuel you enough during a workout, while proteins support the body for the repair & rebuild function post workout. For example a banana with a glass of Sattu drink can provide you very good quality carbohydrates to refill depleting glycogen reserves while also offering plant-quality proteins to repair & rebuild the body.?Svarasya’s??Clean Beauty Detox Smoothie provides you with clean fuel & a good combination of plant-based carbohydrates & proteins (you can add 2 teaspoonful Sattu to the smoothie to make it protein rich) for a clean source of energy & body building nutrients.

Tip #3 End Your Workout by a Relaxation Practice

To yeild the full benefits of your workout, spare extra time to relax the body. The repair & rebuild process happens in a relaxed body state & a stressed body after a workout may not begin the repair until body’s relaxation mode switches on. By performing relaxation practices like a small-duration deep breathing meditation practice will immediately switch on your relaxation response for the body to begin the repairing process.

Live Consciously & Eat Clean!