The Berman Method
The Berman Method
Episode #174: Pre/Post Workout Meals
What if choosing health over luxury could transform your life? On the latest episode of the Berman Method podcast, we explore the compelling reasons for prioritizing health and wellness above societal pressures and material indulgences. Join Dr. Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman, alongside their little one, Walker Ryan Berman, as we challenge the common trend of splurging on luxury items while hesitating to invest in personal well-being. Through a relatable anecdote comparing the cost of cocktails to nutrient-rich juices, we highlight the potential long-term costs of neglecting wellness. With work and parenting consuming our time, we assert that health must remain a non-negotiable priority, as failing to do so means we may ultimately be forced to prioritize illness later.
Discover the secrets to optimizing your workout performance with pre-workout nutrition and balanced daily nutrition that keeps your body functioning at its best. We dive into the impact of intermittent fasting on morning workouts and the insights gleaned from continuous glucose monitoring. Learn how individualized nutrition plans, especially focusing on protein intake before and after exercise, can drastically improve blood sugar stability and recovery. Whether you're breaking a sweat in the morning or evening, we'll guide you on how to fuel your body effectively, ensuring hydration and muscle growth. Think of it as tuning a car's dashboard to peak performance—our practical tips will help you rethink and revitalize your health and fitness journey.
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This is the Berman Method podcast, featuring Dr Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman. We are here to treat problems and not symptoms. Disclaimer this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and not to treat anyone or to give medical advice. If you are interested in any information that we are giving and would like to use this for yourself, we recommend that you contact your primary care physician or reach out to us and ask us questions about yourself specifically. Enjoy.
Speaker 2:And we are rolling baby with a baby in our lap in Jenny's lap on the Berman Method podcast. In our lap in Jenny's lap on the Berman Method podcast, dr Jake Berman here with my beautiful co-host and wingman.
Speaker 1:Jenny Berman, physician assistant, and Walker Berman. Walker Ryan Berman.
Speaker 2:Good morning everybody. We are David going against Goliath, goliath being the corporate medical system, big pharma, the insurance companies. They do not have your best interests in mind. They will choose profits over patient outcomes. Every single time this has been proven factually for the past 40 years now, case after case after case. So we're here to just show you, tell you, expose the truth or shed the light that there is other options. Western medicine is phenomenal with acute issues, meaning like oh, gunshot wound, let's keep you from dying. But when it comes to other chronic things, you know Eastern medicine, the Chinese, they know something a little bit more than we do, because they've been doing it for 5,000 years. We've been doing it for 150, 200 years. Pretty sure they got some things figured out that we don.
Speaker 2:Yeah, since it's January and people are off to a great start of the new year, I've been getting a few calls lately from new leads, people who just randomly found me on Google and call me for physical therapy services. Why did you call me? Oh well, you got the best reviews, your Google reviews. I like what your message is. I've heard a few of them say I've heard your podcast and I believe it. That's the same thing. But then we've got these other ones that just randomly find us and they're like yeah, I'll give you a chance. And then an hour later, a day later, a couple of days later, call back up and cancel their first session with us, which is a free session. It's a free session where you can come in and try us out, make sure that you like us, make sure that we can help you. Before we move forward with charging you any money or wasting any more of your time, we want to make sure that we're a good fit and that we can actually help you. So people are calling to cancel, saying you know what? I'm going to go try somewhere else that accepts our insurance.
Speaker 2:And I just laugh every single time and I think it's funny because on my TimeHop. So TimeHop is an app that brings pictures up from a year ago, three years ago, 10 years ago. However, this day in time, years ago, three years ago, 10 years ago, however, this day in time, years ago and what popped up is this screenshot that I took off of Facebook, and this isn't mine. This is from Amanda Brown. I'm not sure who Amanda Brown is, but she showed up on my time or my Facebook news feed one day and I loved what she had to say, so let me read it to you real quick. Amanda Brown says I've bartended in nightclubs where drinks were $17 each and most people would pay up plus tip, no questions asked, and then return for more or spend thousands on bottle service. I also managed a cold press juice shop in West Hollywood where a bottle of organic fruit and veggie juice full of vitamins and nutrients was $10 and people would be like, are you serious? $10 for a juice, and begrudgingly hand over their money.
Speaker 2:This is a great example of how most of the society views investing in their health. People will drop over $100 per month on lattes and hundreds more on drinking and eating out, yet no one wants to spend $80 on a gym membership, or hundreds on therapy or a coaching program, and then they wonder why they don't feel good or aren't reaching their goals. People spend hours scrolling on their phones or watching Netflix, but don't have enough time to read, meditate or go for a jog. Your actions show where your priorities are, not your thoughts and ideas. If you're having a difficult time making changes to your health, happiness, relationships, business, thank you. But your energy, time and or attention the more you give yourself, the more you'll get back. You deserve to have everything you desire and nobody else is going to give it to you but you. If you're worried about the price of getting started, you should see the cost of staying exactly where you are. That last sentence is the one that is so powerful.
Speaker 1:If you're worried about the price of getting started, you should see the cost of staying exactly where you are an hour earlier, the fact that you have to prioritize your time or the price to pay for somebody to watch your kid for an hour so that you can get out the price of healthy meals. But it doesn't have to be monetarily necessarily.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you don't make time for your wellness now, you will be forced to make time for your illness later. That's a fact.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and making time for your illness in the hospital, making time for your illness, recovering from a surgery and having to take time off of work, taking time to recover from an illness, because now you have to go for all these different scans and tests and doctor's appointments.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because you didn't focus on your health in your 20s and 30s. But it's never too late.
Speaker 2:Never too late.
Speaker 1:There was also a post that I shared this past week said there are 168 hours in a week. 56 are for sleeping, 40 are for working, 72 are left over. If you can't find three to five hours to work on your health, the problem isn't your schedule, it's your priorities, because you have 72 hours left in your week. Granted, those of us who are parents, the kids take a lot of our time. However, you have to find the time and make the time, or it's not a priority for you. We make the time by getting up at 4 am every day to be able to work out, with or without Walker in our arms, to be able to get some activity in. Just yesterday, we were out in the barn exercising. The girls were working out with us. They were doing the ladders with us. They were working out with us. Walker was sleeping with us out in the gym. Exactly, it's a priority.
Speaker 2:Yes, good. So I think that was a great start to the episode today. We're in the beginning of the year, everybody's excited and motivated, yet there's not much discipline behind the excitement and motivation, which ultimately leads to people quitting, quitting their New Year's resolutions, giving up or backing off. So there you go, rewind. Listen to this first part of this episode again, over and over and over again, until it sinks in. Now let's get into what we really wanted to talk about today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so hopefully you listened to last week's episode. We were talking about a lot of questions that I've had lately, with the start of the new year and everybody trying to get their meal plans on track in addition to getting in the gym and exercising. So we had a lot of questions about how many, how many calories should I be eating? How many calories do you eat, meaning me and we talked a little bit more about that. Calories aren't the sole answer. It's really comes down to your macronutrients your proteins, carbs, fats. So go back and listen to last week if you didn't. But what we wanted to get into with part two today is really talking about how to fuel body for your workout. So another very common question I get is what should I be eating before my workout? What should I be eating after my workout? So that's what we're going to dig into today.
Speaker 2:I'm excited about this. I hope that I learned something.
Speaker 1:Well, I think you will, because you've been the guinea pig trying different things of you know. When the intermittent fasting came out for a while, you decided that you wanted to try that and not eat before you went to the gym and not eat until a couple hours after the gym. And then we had repetitive conversations about how are you fueling your body? You're working out at 4.30 or 5 am and you're not eating until 8, 9, 10 in the morning that's hours after you're done exercising and now it's so many hours after we've eaten dinner, because we eat dinner relatively early, between 5.30 and 6.00, usually usually done by 6.30. So now you're 16 hours from the time you last fueled yourself with any protein. What do you think your muscles are feeding off of?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's a good point, because you always see the successful ones, especially on social media. You see the successful ones that do intermittent fasting and they're jacked. And you see the vegans that are jacked, but that's the minority. I mean, it's not one size fits all. It's got to be unique to you. There's so many different options. No-transcript. And for me. It was horrible for me. One of my best friends. It's perfect for him. He thrives off of it. I failed miserably on it like.
Speaker 1:However, one of the bigger things for you is you're a morning exerciser. So for someone who's exercising in the afternoon, intermittent fasting may work, because they can fuel themselves before they go to the gym. They can fuel themselves after they go to the gym and then be done eating for the next 16 hours. So if they are exercising in the afternoon and they can eat lunch, work out, then eat dinner, then be done. Versus you, you are essentially exercising 10 to 12 hours after you eat dinner and then still not fueling for two or three more hours after your workout. You just were not providing the fuel to your cells. Our muscles feed off of protein. Protein is the major building block to muscle. So we hear all these things about carb loading for exercise and carb loading to be stronger, but really the protein is what's going to be the most important thing to fuel your cells and to build the muscle mass.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it didn't fully resonate with me until I put a CGM on continuous glucose monitor, put one on and I was watching my blood sugar levels, and I remember going to the gym when I was not eating anything before working out. So started working out at five in the morning and by 515, 520, my blood sugar would plummet, absolutely plummet. I'd feel jittery, I couldn't do any pull-ups, I couldn't lift any heavy weight, so to speak, and it took me 20 to 30 minutes for it to gradually come back up to where I could start doing something that I thought was productive again. And then, whenever your spouse says something, it's really hard to hear it.
Speaker 2:On the 11 millionth time that you said it, you go. Well, why don't you try protein shake before you go to the gym? So I did it. So I quick protein shake before I went to the gym and worked out and my blood sugar did not drop, it didn't crash and I felt good throughout the entire workout. And I've been doing that ever since. So that's what works for me.
Speaker 1:Right and we also have seen not just through you, through many, many, many clients of using the continuous glucose monitors, the CGMs, that when their blood sugar through the night while they're sleeping was either unstable meaning rising and falling, or steadily staying in the one teen. So for you, for instance, you were steadily in the 115, 116, 117 for your blood sugar while you were sleeping at night, so not even eating anything. Everybody looks at you as a relatively healthy guy. You're thin, you're strong, you work out every single day. We eat healthy at home.
Speaker 2:Go on, yes, go on. Your weekends may be not as clean, but no, talk about the fit and the strongness some more. How nice you look, not the weekends.
Speaker 1:But regardless, you know, with how clean we eat during the week and the fact that you do exercise for 90 minutes every day and we go on walks after our meals and especially every night, but your blood sugar was staying in the 116, 117 range while you were sleeping at night until we increased your protein and your fiber. So protein and cooked vegetables at each of your meals increased your protein a little bit at your snacks as well, and then your glucose through the nighttime came down.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:It came down to normal. So we weren't changing a lot other than increasing the quantity of protein and the quantity of complex carbohydrates through cooked vegetables, and that actually decreased your fasting glucose. So it's not the point of me telling you that it's not all about cutting things out. It's not all about eating less or having less calories or eating less frequently, as it is finding the right fuel, meaning food. Food is gasoline to your body, it's a fuel to your muscle mass, it's a fuel to your metabolism, for your body. So let's get into really the nitty gritty of what should we be eating before we work out? And it really depends what time are you working out? As we've mentioned and this is always our opinion, right, Every body is going to be a little bit different, and that's where we come in at Berman Health and Wellness is really just to identify your metabolism, your blood testing, your activity level, the type of exercise you are doing. But if I could give some blanket statements here, okay, these are all blanket statements and just kind of generalized. If you are a morning exerciser meaning 5, 6, 7 am you're exercising you should be getting up, having your room temperature water. So 16 ounces of room temperature water first thing in the morning for everybody, but especially if you're going to work out and then having a source of 10 to 20 grams of protein before you even step foot in the gym. So that can be a scoop of protein powder with water. Highly recommend vegan protein powder over whey Could be a scoop of protein powder with water, which is somewhere between 10 and 20 grams, depending on the type of protein powder you're doing.
Speaker 1:It could be some of the Catalina Crunch cereal that our house loves. The kids love it, we love it. Could be a quarter of a cup of Catalina Crunch cereal. There's 12 grams of protein right there for you. Maybe it's a Greek yogurt. So one of the 12 grams or 20 gram Greek yogurt that you're getting right before you go into the gym. It could be a chicken stick. You know, if you're somebody that doesn't mind eating, it doesn't have to be a breakfast food in the morning. It could be a chicken stick. If you need something more vegetarian or vegan, that's where the protein shake is a good option. Or maybe the Siggy's plant-based yogurt. So something 10 to 20 grams of protein.
Speaker 1:I'm not overly concerned about you getting carbohydrates If you are, just make sure you have the protein with it. Maybe you're someone that's like I, have to eat a banana before I go in the gym every morning Great. But don't eat a banana by itself, because that's 18 to 24 grams of carbohydrates and sugar. If you're depending on the size of the banana, that's sugar that you're getting. You need protein to stabilize your blood sugar so that you do not spike and fall throughout your workout. So if you're going to do the banana, get about four tablespoons of that PB. Fit that powdered peanut powder and add some water to it. Reconstitute it, make it into peanut butter. There's your 16 grams of protein to go along with your banana.
Speaker 2:Man, this is turning into effort.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be. That's why we are notorious for doing a scoop of protein powder with water, shake it up and chug it, or a handful of Catalina Crunch and walk out the door with your 16 ounces of water.
Speaker 2:That's what I do every morning is the protein shake. So 16 ounces of water, I drink half of it. Put a scoop of protein powder in the rest of it, shake it up. Then I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1:Right, it doesn't have to be complex. It could be something easy. Again, that's where the plant-based yogurt or the Greek yogurt can be helpful, as you're walking out of the door and then after your workout is where you're actually having your breakfast, your meal. So your protein, your carbohydrate, your fat Definitely pair protein and carbs in the morning. We definitely want to surround it with your workouts in the morning. If you're an afternoon workouter, I still encourage you to have your carbohydrate serving at your breakfast or lunch before you work out. For blood sugar stability purposes. Our body utilizes carbohydrates more efficiently in the morning than we do in the evening, even if you're exercising through the night.
Speaker 2:Not through the night, but at night, Sorry that was my mistake At night.
Speaker 1:So if you're a morning exerciser, 5 to 6 am, wake up 60 ounces of water, 10 to 20 grams of protein. After your workout you're having 30 grams 35 grams of protein. You're having a carbohydrate serving like a half of a sweet potato, or maybe you're having a slice of the carbonate bread because it's full of fiber. Maybe you're having a half of a English muffin or gluten-free English muffin, a protein pancake or waffle. There's your carb serving plus a healthy fat. Maybe you're having a quarter of an avocado. You have some olive oil on your eggs that you're eating. Maybe you're having some chicken sausage which is naturally going to have a little bit of fat in it. So you're getting your balance of your proteins, your carbs and your fat after your workout as your breakfast in the morning. If you're an afternoon or evening exerciser, make sure you're getting your protein throughout the day, every two or three hours, make sure you're having your carbs serving like your fruit or your brown rice or your quinoa at your breakfast or lunch with your protein.
Speaker 1:But naturally in the evening time we are already stimulating cortisol levels when we exercise. That's natural, right. Cortisol is our fight or flight response. So when we exercise, we are naturally stimulating cortisol levels. So if we're exercising in the evening, we're really already stimulating cortisol, whereas we would prefer cortisol levels to be coming down in the evening time. So I do not recommend then going after your exercise and consuming a baked potato, a sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa at your dinner meal, because that is also going to stimulate blood sugar and cortisol response Again. We want our cortisol levels coming down in the evening time so that we can actually get restful, adequate sleep.
Speaker 2:Love it. That's really important there for all the afternoon and evening work routers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause you see all this stuff online like, oh, I have to have carbohydrates after I work out to fuel my muscles. Well, first of all, no, you don't. And secondly, really we want your body to be able to get rest and adequate recovery at night, and if your blood sugar and cortisol levels are stimulated because of the carbohydrates you're getting in the evening after you're working out, you're not getting the right recovery to gain muscle mass and burn fat.
Speaker 2:Love it.
Speaker 1:So there we go Good protein before and after workouts. That's the most important, making sure you're going back and listening to the last podcast about adequate macronutrients, meaning proteins, carbs, fat. Have your carbohydrate serving with your breakfast or your lunch after your morning workout, or breakfast and lunch, even if you're an afternoon workout, or and drink water.
Speaker 2:Drink a lot of water. You know what. This is very similar to exercise and physical fitness, gut health. All these things are very similar to the gauges on your dashboard in your car where, when you're kind of just going at it without knowing what your blood sugar is doing, without putting a CGM on regularly to know how is your blood sugar responding to your diet and your exercise level, when you don't know these things, it's kind of like driving your car and not knowing how much fuel you have in the gas tank, without knowing how fast you are, because your speedometer is not working, without knowing what the temperature of the engine is. It could be overheating or not at all. If you don't know what the gauges are saying in the car, it's really easy to run it hot or go too fast or go too slow. Either way, you're not going to get to your point of destination as efficiently as you would if you knew exactly how much fuel you had in the gas tank, how fast you're going, what the temperature gauge is saying.
Speaker 2:Same thing is true with us, and I'm a perfect example, where I was in my mid-30s I think it was the first time I put a CGM on continuous glucose monitor and I was starting to get a little fluffy and I just chalked it up to saying, okay, time for the dad bod. I lost the shreddedness that I had in my 20s. It's gone. I'm going to be a little fluffy now and I just on my own, started thinking that I needed to eat less. On my own, started thinking that I needed to eat less. So over the course of 12 to 18 to 24 months, my meal portions were just getting less, and that was just me being subconscious, thinking I need to eat less because I'm getting fluffy.
Speaker 2:I put that freaking CGM on and I'm watching my blood sugar stabilize and actually drop by eating more protein and more vegetables. It was almost double the portion size that I had been eating and I'm just going. This doesn't make sense at all, but when you see the numbers in real time, it's a game changer. It's a no-brainer. I'm about to put another CGM on this week just because it's time again. It's time to know what exactly is happening. It's been three, six months, something like that since my last one, because you can see it in real time and it makes it so much easier to know for a fact that you're making the right or wrong decision 100% and it changes depending on other factors in your life your stress response, your sleep, your activity level, the medications that you're taking.
Speaker 1:All these things are going to play into what your blood sugar level is doing and that's going to affect overall your metabolism and your body's ability to burn fat. Your body's ability to have energy, to have a clear mind, to be able to sleep through the night, to be able to build muscle mass is all dependent on your blood sugar, and your blood sugar has so many factors that play into it. So for me, I just had a CGM on for several days not too long ago, being postpartum, and my blood sugar was higher than I've ever seen it as my average number. And I realized that and I told you this that I just wasn't fueling my body enough with the amount of energy I'm expending, being back in the gym, not sleeping through the night with a newborn nursing and pumping excessive amounts of milk. It wasn't until I said, okay, I'm going to make a valiant effort today to boost up a little bit more protein, a little bit more fiber intake, especially at my snacks, because I was getting busy and just not having adequate snacks. I was doing something simple and easy and it wasn't enough for me.
Speaker 1:So it wasn't until I actually increased again with the amount of fuel. My body needed to see that glucose level come down. So that's strictly based off of the amount of stress my body needed to see that glucose level come down. So that's strictly based off of the amount of stress my body is under right now, with not sleeping well and nursing, as opposed to my exercise, really didn't change. It didn't change from pre-baby to post-baby. I'm not working out longer or harder. In fact I'm probably working out less because there's mornings that we have to cater to Walker and don't get a full workout in. But it's just in response to sleep and stress internally.
Speaker 2:Yes, so upstairs, the closest thing to an easy button is the continuous glucose monitor. Put a continuous glucose monitor on and you can see it in real time. What does that cookie do to your glucose level? What does protein do to your glucose level? And it makes it so much easier to make decisions Downstairs. The easiest thing or the closest thing we have to the easy button, is shockwave. Haven't talked about that in a few episodes, but that is like crack. If you don't know about shockwave, look it up on my website, birmingptcom. It's a game changer. There's a shameless little plug for me. Downstairs, but upstairs, cgm easy button. Downstairs, shockwave easy button. Share this episode with somebody Like it. Subscribe to us Comment. Email us what you want us to talk about next. Subscribe to us comment. Email us what you want us to talk about next.
Speaker 1:Sounds good. Ciao for now. Thank you for subscribing on your social media and podcast platforms to the Berman Method Dr Jake Berman with Berman Physical Therapy and Jenny Berman, Physician Assistant, with Berman Health and Wellness. You can find more information on our website wwwbermanptcom for physical therapy, wwwbermanptcom forward slash wellness for the health and wellness. You can also find us on social media Facebook, Instagram and on your podcast platform, so be sure to follow us, like us, subscribe to us and, if you would like any further information, definitely visit our website and reach out to us. You may also find our free reports on the websites as well, where you can download this free information for yourself. Have a great day.