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6. Oats
As I mentioned earlier, carbs pre-workout are a necessity. But again, you do want high quality carbohydrates. And a pre-workout food discussion without mentioning oats just wouldn’t be right.
I mentioned oats in my previous post on time saving breakfast ideas. Oatmeal is digested slowly and provides sustained energy over a longer period of time than refined carbohydrates.
A study posted in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition showed that food rich in oat bran raised energy levels in the body in the form of glycogen stores more than regular “chow”. The conclusion was that carbohydrates with soluble fiber, like oatmeal, resulted in a longer time to exhaustion.
One thing to keep in mind is to choose high quality oats like steel cut oats. While it isn’t as easy as instant oat meal, it is still fairly easy to make. The whole oats contain more nutrients and are a better form of carbohydrate than instant oat meal, sustaining energy for longer.
If you’re concerned about the time issue, a simple fix here would be to simply prepare overnight oats to save you time in the morning!
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