How Long After Walking Can I Eat (And Why)?

Exact Answer: 2 Hours

Eating and walking are some of the most important things in a man’s life. They are necessary for maintaining good health and generating energy, and any person can never avoid doing both of these things. Eating healthy food helps your body to get various nutrients, which improves your immunity and increases your energy level. Walking helps in strengthening our bones, reduces the risks of diseases and stroke, and improves conditions of high blood pressure and diabetes. Thus, it also helps your body to maintain overall health and fitness. It is also said that we should consume food after walking. But after walking, exactly how long should we wait before we can consume anything?

How Long After Walking Can I Eat?

Walking is considered as one of the best exercises a man can do, to improve his overall health. Doctors have recommended walking for at least 30 minutes every day. This will help your body maintain fitness, improve immunity, and decrease excess body fat levels. It is also advantageous for people having high cholesterol, diabetes, cancers, or any other cardiovascular condition. Walking is also the most recommended exercise for people who wish to reduce weight.

For eating, it is important to consume a healthy and balanced diet. Consuming a healthy diet is necessary to gain nutrition and maintain health as well. Same as walking, it also helps in increasing our energy levels and improving immunity.

Although it is said to have a walk after having a meal (lunch or dinner), walking before eating is also recommended. This is because, when you are eating, if your body still contains sufficient energy, the consumed food gets converted into fat. But having a walk reduces our energy from the body. Thus, when we consume a meal after walking, the food consumed, instead of getting converted into fat, is used for restoring the lost energy in our body. It also helps in our digestion. It is said that you should have a walk at least 30 minutes before your meal.

But in cases where you are walking in the morning or evening as an exercise, you should consume food within 2 hours after the walk. It is suggested that the longer the walk is, the more food you should consume so that your body receives a sufficient amount of food needed for muscle recovery.

Why Can I Eat That Long After Walking?

When you are walking, your body’s muscles start using their glycogen. When you finish your walk, the glycogen in the muscles of your body is quite a lot decreased and your energy levels are low as well. Also, if you’ve walked for a longer period of 2 hours or more, then you must consume food, as your body would’ve expended most of its energy. Thus, it becomes quite important for us to increase the glycogen and refill our energy. You must also consume the given amount of sugar so that it will be used for restoring the energy levels of muscles. That is why once you have finished walking, it is suggested to eat within 2 hours.

But what you should eat after walking is also equally important. You must consume a healthy diet so that it will help your body for recovering the muscles and restoring the glycogen which was lost. For this healthy diet, it is recommended to consume carbohydrates and proteins, as they will help with replenishing and rebuilding our energy. As the muscles in our body are made from protein, consuming protein becomes necessary so that your muscles get sufficient protein to repair themselves. How many carbohydrates are needed for recovery and how much you should consume depends on your walking period and your body weight (1g carbohydrates / 1kg of body weight / 1 hour of walk). When you are mixing proteins and carbohydrates, their ratio should 1:4 respectively. There are some recovery drinks available as well, which also contain a 1:4 protein and carbohydrate ratio. Consuming such drinks also helps to repair the muscles in your body.

Conclusion

Thus, it is important to consume a healthy diet after a long walk. The longer you walk, the more food your body will need to recover itself. To consume carbohydrates and proteins, you can eat sweet potatoes, chickpeas, yogurt, wheat bread, and raw veggies. The sooner you consume food, the faster your energy is replenished. But after a walk, your body not only needs food but water as well. This is because, as lots of energy is lost, it becomes important for your body to hydrate to keep itself hydrated. Hence, after your walk, you must also drink 2 – 3 cups of water within 2 hours. 

References

1. https://journals.lww.com/nutritiontodayonline/Abstract/2012/03000/Food_and_Fluid_Guidelines_Before,_During,_and.6.aspx
2. https://www.velofix.com/company/news-events/eat-workout-fuelling-recovery/