Which foods are rich in carbohydrate?
Grains and grain-based products such as breads, cereals, rice and pasta, fruit, starchy vegetables such as potato and sweet corn, legumes, milk, yoghurt, custard and some dairy alternatives all contain good amounts of carbohydrate.
Carbohydrate throughout the day
Eating carbohydrate-rich foods at breakfast is especially important as the body’s stores of carbohydrate (in the liver and muscles) are drained during sleep. The carbohydrate eaten at breakfast is used to replenish these stores, providing an energy source the body can draw from over the day.
Eating sufficient carbohydrate-rich foods throughout helps to top up the body’s carbohydrate stores to maintain physiological functions, physical activity, and to maintain concentration. Low carbohydrate stores can lead to feeling low in energy, tiredness, poor concentration and difficulty focusing, all making daily activities and exercise more difficult.
Carbohydrate before exercise
The body prefers to use carbohydrate as its main energy source during moderate to high exercise as it’s able to break the carbohydrate down quickly and efficiently for readily available energy. Eating a carbohydrate-rich meal or snack before exercising ensures sufficient carbohydrate stores to fuel the entire exercise session to optimise performance and make the most training gains.
Carbohydrate-rich meals before exercise should be eaten 2-4 hours prior, to fuel the session. If a snack is preferred instead, this should be eaten 1-2 hours beforehand. For exercise before breakfast, a carbohydrate-rich snack eaten just prior to bed the night before, followed by a light carbohydrate snack on waking, will optimise energy stores.
Carbohydrate after exercise
Carbohydrate stores decrease during exercise as the carbohydrate is drawn on to provide energy for the activity. Eating foods rich in carbohydrate after exercise replenishes the stores, thereby ensuring the body continues to have enough energy to fuel its ongoing physiological functions, fuel the brain, and prevent fatigue. The body is most efficient at replenishing fuel stores for faster recovery and to prepare for the next exercise session in the hours after finishing a training session.
A recovery meal or snack containing carbohydrate-rich food and eaten soon after completing exercise takes advantage of this. It is also thought eating carbohydrate-rich foods soon after exercise has a positive effect on the immune system as it may reduce exercise-induced immunosuppression.