Are Bananas Good After A Workout? What Time Is Best?
Are bananas good after a workout Whether your fitness regime is about bodybuilding or weight loss, there is one fruit you ought to have on your diet! It is the mighty banana.
With its extensive fiber, potassium, iron, and vitamin A content, the fruit takes charge of amping up your overall health.
Banana’s natural sugar content also takes care of your stamina. Plus, its ability to promote protein absorption makes it the magic wand for improved strength.
We’ll talk more about this while we answer your question – are bananas good after a workout?
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Should You Eat Bananas After Workout? Here is the Truth.
You should eat bananas after workouts!
Thankfully, this is no myth. Eating bananas actually works to help you recover from your previous workout and makes you ready to conquer the next one. After all, bananas are full of nutrition.
Here’s how a banana helps you after a workout –
1) Bananas Help Regain Your Energy:
Your body stores some energy in the form of glycogen in your muscle cells. After every workout, these glycogen stores need to get replenished. Carb-rich bananas help do just that!
Bananas help increase the production of insulin – the hormone in charge of moving sugar to form those glycogen reserves.
Carbohydrates in the fruit also help make your muscle cells more sensitive to insulin. This event helps speed up the rate of glycogen recovery for your next workouts.
2) They Prevent Painful Cramps:
A tough workout session and painful cramps may go hand in hand if you don’t know how to take care of them.
Muscle cramps are usually a sign of a lack of essential electrolytes in the body. Look out for nausea, lethargy, or irritability. If you experience these as well after your hardcore workouts, electrolyte imbalance is most likely the case.
Bananas are rich in electrolytes like potassium and magnesium. That’s why they make it on our list of best electrolytes food types. Once you have a good dose of electrolytes through bananas after a workout, you can easily say no to most kinds of painful cramps.
3) They Help In Muscle Recovery:
- By reducing inflammation:
Inflammation is the body’s response to the damage done to muscle tissues during your workout. But it may come with swelling and pain that reduces the speed of muscle recovery.
If you don’t have enough time to rest before your next workout session, inflammation may end up ruining it. Fortunately for us, bananas are full of polyphenols that help reduce inflammation.
- By helping absorb protein:
Protein plays a primary role in muscle formation. But carbohydrates can help stimulate muscle cells, thus increasing the rate of protein absorption in the body. And bananas are a prominent source of carbs you can take advantage of.
But how many bananas to eat after a workout?
Many people suggest eating half a dozen bananas after each workout. That’s not necessary unless you belong to the bodybuilder/wrestler category. For the average person, 1 to 2 bananas per workout are enough.
Which Is The Best Time To Eat Bananas – Before Or After The Workout?
The benefits of bananas are too many to ignore.
From the fiber to the potassium content, the natural sugars to polyphenols, each element in a banana helps boost your muscle health in some or another way.
So, it should be no surprise when we tell you that any time is a fine time to eat a banana. That’s right! You can have a banana before or after a workout, as well.
But what’s the best time? Both!
Before
Before a workout, a banana can act as a performance booster. It also helps minimize damage to the muscle cells, which is essential if you want to recover faster post-workout.
After
But after a workout, a banana is essential for muscle recovery. It helps replenish your glycogen reserves and reduce the inflammation and cramps that may hamper your next workout session.
So, it’s good to eat a banana at both times.
But, if bananas cause you some gastrointestinal discomfort, you can always choose an alternate carb-rich food source.
Conclusion
So, are bananas good after a workout? They are! In fact, you can have them before workouts as well.
Apart from that, you can even have a banana after a workout at night if you feel you need a quick dose of energy then.
Also, it doesn’t matter what your objective is. You can have a banana after a workout for weight loss or bodybuilding. Some people eat bananas after working out for weight gain as well.
After all, it will be a pity to miss out on the immense benefits a banana can offer.
All set to peel a banana after your next workout session? Comment below!
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