5 Healthy Pre Workout Foods to Eat

Health experts suggest eating a meal two to three hours for a workout to get the best results. However, you shouldn't take that as an excuse to break into a bag of chips or indulge with some ice cream.

Instead, you'll want to focus on snacks that have a track record of helping before a workout.

Need some inspiration? Then keep reading as we outline five of the best healthy pre workout meals.

1. Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is one of life's simple pleasures. It's delicious on its own, it goes well with almost everything, and it's chock full of proteins and healthy fats.

A serving of peanut butter contains about 191 calories and nets 7 grams of protein according to USDA guidelines.

For an extra nutritional boost, grab organic peanut butter or powdered peanut butter, which tends to have less sugar and fewer calories respectively.

2. Nuts

As great as peanut butter is, it isn't always super filling. If you're looking to avoid workout hunger pangs, you'll want to stock up on tree nuts.

You can find the following at your local grocery store:

• Peanuts
• Almonds
• Cashews
• Brazil nuts
• Macadamia nuts

Like peanut butter, nuts are high in healthy fats and proteins, so you'll stay fuller for longer.

3. Banana

Bananas are a great source of potassium making them an excellent snack for runners looking to avoid shin splints. As if that wasn't reason enough to pick up a bunch, potassium also aids cardiovascular health so you can maintain breath control.

Plus, if nothing else, they contain the fewest calories out of any snack on this list. A typical banana contains only around 100 calories.

4. Oatmeal

We already know what you're thinking. On its own, oatmeal isn't the most exciting snack in the world. If anything, it's rather bland.

However, there's a reason why so many athletes love it. Oatmeal contains antioxidants, vitamin B, and almost as much protein as peanut butter.

And while it isn't anything exciting on its own, a bowl of oatmeal is like a blank canvas. You can add tons of healthy treats to give it a rich flavor, including protein powders like C4 Pre-workout or PB2, which is powdered peanut butter.

5. Dark Chocolate

Sweet tooths of the world unite! There's finally a pre-workout food that's as beneficial as it is delicious.

While you'll still need to moderate the amount of chocolate in your diet, feel free to munch and crunch on a few pieces of dark chocolate.

Why dark chocolate over milk chocolate? For starters, dark chocolate contains more caffeine, which, when ingested a half hour or so before a workout, can give you the energy you need to get off the couch and into the gym. It also aids with post-workout muscle recovery, so you'll get leaner faster!

Healthy Pre Workout Meals to Keep You Going

These healthy pre workout meals may not seem like much, but trust us, they'll give you the energy you need to conquer your workout. So give them a try.

And don't be afraid to mix and match. Some combinations, like peanut butter and banana or oatmeal and dark chocolate, can give you even more energy!

When you're done with your workout, make sure to check back with our blog, where we post tons of helpful content like this.