What you eat before a workout is as important as what you eat after a workout – and these two are essential in your workout regime. Should chocolate be in your pre-workout diet?
In her book, The No-Brainer Nutrition Guide For Every Runner, Natalie Rizzo, R.D, notes that chocolate has carbs and antioxidants, two substances that make it ideal for a pre-workout diet.
Regardless of the type of chocolate, it has enough carbs to keep you on during your workout. However, the darker the chocolate, the better it is as a pre-workout supplement seeing that you need to take less sugar.
Dark chocolate contains more cocoa than sugar. For instance, the chocolate might contain 85 percent cocoa, and the rest is sugar. Better yet, dark chocolate provides more antioxidants.
How else does chocolate help?
Increase Your Body’s Ability to Use Oxygen
If you consumer dark chocolate, your body uses oxygen more efficiently, according to research. The research shows that cacao contains a flavonoid known as epicatechin, which stimulates the mitochondria to function more optimally.
Reduce Inflammation
Chocolate nourished the body with antioxidants, known as flavonoids. These antioxidants help reduce inflammation after exercise. All types of chocolate – dark, white, and milk – have the needed flavonoids. Studies have also shown that flavonoids are great when you need to boost your cardio and brain health.
Enhance Mood
Eating a bar of chocolate makes you feel good. Cacao provides the body with the mood-regulating hormone, serotonin. The darker the chocolate, the more the mood-enhancing hormone you get.
According to a study appearing in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety, people who ate dark chocolate reported 70 percent less depressive symptoms compared to people who didn’t eat chocolate. When you feel happy, you exercise more.
Workout More
Dark chocolate contains caffeine, which increases your strength and your endurance, allowing you to work out for longer. When you consume caffeine and combine it with carbs, you facilitate faster recovery after exercise. Ensure that you enjoy your chocolate in peace before you start working out, and you will benefit from cacao. It is the mindfulness and the time you take to relax that gives you the energy and the mood you need to tackle your workout.
How Chocolate helps as Pre Workout Snack
Like any other pre-workout supplement, you need to do it right to get the benefits outlined above. Chocolate contains fatter than other carb sources, and as such, you should only take a small piece. Again, chocolate takes longer to break down. As such, if you are taking it pre-workout, eat it two hours before you hit the gym. Take it with a protein to facilitate muscle recovery.
If you are taking the chocolate post-workout, only take about two ounces; that is enough to replace your glycogen stores. You can pair the chocolate with a glass of milk to facilitate muscle recovery. Note that chocolate can trigger acid reflux. If you experience heartburn, you might want to avoid chocolate for pre-workout.