How fast?

[Cyrus]

My question is how fast the nutrients and fat in food and drink are absorbed and put to use in the human body, and what's the optimal amount of time to "burn fat" or work out after eating?

 

[DHYANA]

this is like asking "how fast does an object fall?" Without knowing the resistance the object has while its falling its impossible to answer.

Likewise, without knowing the type of food in question its impossible to know how fast it is absorbed into the body. Straight glucose for instance is absorbed almost instantaneously. Whole wheat bread dunked in olive oil and smeared with brie is absorbed much, much slower (think hours like 6 or 7 even!).

The optimal time to burn fat is right after lifting intense weights. The weight lifting will mobilize free fatty acids into the bloodstream and the cardiovascular exercise following this will burn that fat for energy so it doesn't redeposit.

 

[Cyrus]

this is like asking "how fast does an object fall?" Without knowing the resistance the object has while its falling its impossible to answer.

Likewise, without knowing the type of food in question its impossible to know how fast it is absorbed into the body. Straight glucose for instance is absorbed almost instantaneously. Whole wheat bread dunked in olive oil and smeared with brie is absorbed much, much slower (think hours like 6 or 7 even!).

The optimal time to burn fat is right after lifting intense weights. The weight lifting will mobilize free fatty acids into the bloodstream and the cardiovascular exercise following this will burn that fat for energy so it doesn't redeposit.

ah yes that's silly of me to ask without specifying the food in question. i'm really asking this question to try and figure together what the best time to work out is after eating. 5 minutes after seems ridiculous and two hours after you eat seems too long in my eyes.

are there any foods or nutrients that help "mobilize" fatty acids? lol

 

[aanallein]

As DHYANA said it depends on the type of food. Some nutrients can even be absorbed through the mouth itself so they are nearly instantly absorbed while others can take several hours.

the best time to eat is within the 1 hour window after you workout. I can usually dominate like 2-3k cals in that time frame. very little of it will be stored as fat. you will have an enormous insulin response that will put the nutrients into your depleted muscle cells as glycogen as well as your liver (where a lot of glycogen is stored and is called upon during a workout). other times of days you don't have this same mechanism to use the nutrients so it gets put into long term storage as fat cells.

it is also important to eat a small meal prior to working out (45 minutes is ideal). this meal should contain some simple and complex carbohydrates (ie, oatmeal), very little fat, and some protein (and water!!). then immediately before working out its always good to down a spoonful of sugar and a bit of salt with some water because your body can immediately put that to work.