Sauna After Eating: Do’s And Don’ts of Sauna and Eating

In practice, taking a sauna on an empty stomach has also proven to be harmful. This also results in dizziness, nausea, and a brief loss of consciousness.

This is due to the weakness of the body. It needs energy to cope with the metabolism for the sweating process in the sauna. So, here in this article let’s know more about sauna after eating.

How Long You Should Wait To Go To The Sauna After Eating?

You can go to the sauna no earlier than one and a half to two hours after eating.

During digestion, blood rushes to the stomach and intestines, in the steam room the body experiences intense thermal stress, and blood rushes to the skin. Under such conditions, the head may spin. This is especially important for older people.

2 hours before the steam rooms, we also recommend not to eat a lot, let the food be relatively light, for example, vegetable stew, fruit salad, spaghetti with seafood, etc. It is better to refrain from baking, sweets, smoked meats, and meat.

You can take herbal tea, fruit drink, kvass, and mineral water without gas with you to the steam rooms. All drinks must be at room temperature, tea can be hot or warm.

Can You Eat Before The Sauna?

For many people, taking a sauna is part of a beneficial relaxation ritual. The majority of sauna enthusiasts practice this either after a strenuous workout, after a well-deserved end of work, or at the weekend. Both beginners and advanced users often ask themselves the question of when they should ideally have their last meal before the sauna.

Since the digestion process takes several hours and also depends on the food consumed, this question cannot be answered straight away.

Ideally, a light meal should be eaten about an hour or two before going to the sauna. Anyone who goes to the sauna from work can, for example, eat a sandwich or a salad later in the afternoon.

This satisfies hunger for a few hours without overtaxing the body. A sandwich or a fruit salad can also be packed in the sauna bag and taken with you to eat the snack on site. Classic fast food, on the other hand, is taboo: burgers with fries, a greasy doner kebab, or a pizza.

Thermal sauna and similar wellness facilities almost always have an attached bistro or restaurant that serves light fare.

Salads or Asian-style wok vegetables, for example. If it is a large swimming pool with a mix of fun pool and sauna area, on the other hand, dishes popular with children such as fries, burgers, and nuggets are also offered.

As great as the temptation is, the salad is the better choice. After eating, you should wait at least half an hour, better still a whole hour, before going to the sauna again.

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Food And Drinks Before And After The Sauna

Health experts recommend having a small meal an hour or two before going into the sauna. A sandwich or a light salad is an ideal preparatory snack for a long sauna session. The meals mentioned are ideal for snacking between meals without putting a strain on the body.

With a growling stomach, you can hardly really relax in the sauna. But not with a belly full of fries from the swimming pool restaurant.

Many people go to the sauna in the evening after work. They haven’t eaten since lunch and don’t want to wait until they get home late at night to have dinner. It’s tempting to stop by the fast food restaurant on the way from the office to the sauna.

During the big wellness day in the thermal saunas, the on-site restaurant lures you in with delicious dishes and coffee & cake for in-between meals. But sumptuous meals and sauna sessions are not a good combination.

Usually, they order nuts, shrimp, cheese, fruit and vegetable salads, small canapé sandwiches. What is in the sauna from this list, everyone decides on an individual basis, but you should definitely not strive to try everything that is on the table.

Salads

Vegetable salads are rich in useful trace elements and vitamins and therefore occupy an honorable place in the menu of all those who adhere to a healthy lifestyle. By combining and changing the ingredients, you can get a new healthy salad with a new taste every time. Add vegetables, legumes, chicken, fish, and seafood to salads.

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Soups

It has long been believed that soups and first courses in general are the keys to healthy digestion. In any case, low-fat, low-calorie soup is a healthy and tasty dish. Borscht, soup, cabbage soup, fish, or meat soups were sure to be waiting for us at the dinner table.

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Snacks

Like any meal, snacks can be healthy and not so good. If you care about your health and your figure, then, of course, you will choose healthy snacks. These are…

• Whole grain bun
• Cottage cheese with fruit
• Carrot or celery stalk
• Banana
• A slice of cheese
• Apple

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Small Pies

Small pies with vegetable filling.

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Grill

Grilled chicken, or lean meat in a small portion.

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Desserts

Greek yogurt in a glass jars with spoons on wooden background

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Fluids

Water fills the stomach and replaces the body fluid that has just been sweated out in the sauna. A large mineral water bottle therefore always belongs in the sauna bag. An alternative is an unsweetened tea. A fresh apple spritzer from the sauna bistro is also a good choice for longer breaks.

Coffee has a dehydrating effect, but if you also drink a lot of mineral water, there is nothing wrong with a coffee break in between. Sugary soft drinks such as cola, sugar-coated iced tea from the supermarket or, even a beer are less suitable.

One last tip for drinking: It is better to drink small amounts of water throughout the visit to the sauna than to empty half a bottle of water at once “to fill the reservoir” this only puts a lot of pressure on the bladder, which relaxes you the next time ruined the sauna therapy. The body can only process a certain amount of water at a time.

What Not To Eat Before The Sauna?

Greasy food, French fries, fast food, doner kebabs, and the popular currywurst, on the other hand, are not ideal snacks. This is partly due to the numerous additives and partly to the carbohydrates.

Both put a strain on the body. The digestion process takes much longer than with a salad. In addition, these foods promote the emergence of nausea in combination with the sauna heat.

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Can You Eat After The Sauna?

After the visit to the sauna, the loss of liquid that has occurred through sweating during the sauna must be compensated for. It is best to drink still mineral water, juice, or unsweetened tea. Ideally, however, make sure that they are neither too cold nor too hot.

Coffee, alcoholic or sugary drinks should be avoided in order not to put additional strain on the organism and not to deprive your body of fluid.

If feasible, avoid drinking (or at least not too much) between sauna sessions. Because when you sweat, your body is preparing for purification and detoxification, so this valuable process should not be interrupted.

However, please pay attention to your body’s signals: if you are thirsty, you should also drink something in between to avoid possible headaches.

In the sauna, the body loses a lot of water and minerals. This deficit should therefore be compensated for afterward. Because this prevents a defect from occurring. To support digestion, only easily digestible foods are eaten before and after the sauna session.

When you sweat, your body loses a lot of calories. Therefore, food that contains sugar can also be consumed afterward without hesitation. Different fruits are very suitable for this purpose.

Because it is not only very tasty and contains numerous important vitamins, but can also provide the body with liquid. Vegetables, fish, salads, soups, and pretzels can also be eaten after the sauna.

Here, too, it is important to avoid heavy food. Because even after a sauna session, the digestive system would be unnecessarily burdened by greasy and poorly digestible food.

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Eating And Drinking In The Sauna

If overeating could not be avoided, you need to go to the steam rooms no earlier than after 4-5 hours. Under high pressure due to temperature, blood moves away from the internal organs to the skin. But for good digestion, the intestines need to be supplied with blood.

It turns out that food in the steam room is not digested, but “roams” in the stomach, causing discomfort and sometimes pain.

There’s nothing wrong with a little snack. If you can choose vegetarian options, great. Eating in the sauna itself is not recommended.

Firstly, it is unhygienic, and secondly, it is unhealthy. If you can’t cope with the feeling of hunger, you can eat an apple, a banana, or some dry cookies. But if you go to the sauna not only for health but also for a slender figure, it is better to get by with warm drinks – green tea, herbal infusion.

Drinking healthy drinks is not only possible but also necessary. After all, the body loses a lot of fluid. With sweat, not only water and toxins come out, but also trace elements and salts, without which dehydration can occur.

Definitely, you can not drink coffee, strong black tea, not to mention alcohol. If you want coffee, drink it at home. Do not force your heart to work for wear, in the sauna, the cardiovascular system is already under serious stress.

The best drink for a sauna is herbal sweetened tea, loose leaves, not bags. In general, it is better to replace the classic tea brew with a collection of linden leaves, strawberries, and currants.

If there is no opportunity or desire to cook herbal teas at home, it’s okay. Almost all sauna baths with a pool that take care of their customers offer a good selection of aromatic tea drinks.

Do not eat before a bath or sauna heavy fatty foods that take a long time. digested in the intestine. The best choice would be a light salad, poultry dishes, vegetable stew, or durum pasta with seafood. Do not lean on fatty and smoked foods, sweets, and pastries.

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Eating Tips For A Great Sauna Experience

Eating after the sauna. A suitable diet is very important so that the sauna brings the desired relaxation. Because even if sweating is beneficial and healthy, it also demands a lot from the body.

Among other things, various nutrients are also flushed out, which should then be returned to it as quickly as possible. It is therefore very important to drink and eat enough and, above all, the right things after the sauna.

Don’t Go To The Sauna On An Empty Stomach

In order to master the tightrope walk with flying colors, you can ensure an “optimal grip” on the tightrope in advance: Breakfast here is the perfect basis for giving the necessary kick when your body is busy with the strenuous processes in the sauna.

Provide your body with a nutritious and vitamin-rich power diet so that you don’t stumble when taking a sauna.

Here, for example, colorful smoothies made from your favorite fruit or power muesli made from flakes, seeds, and grains are suitable, which offer a wholesome basis and fill you up without weighing you down.

You can add fresh fruit as a vitamin bomb: berries, bananas, or apples. Top it all off with some power nuts for a healthy source of fat and enjoy with milk or yogurt.

If saunas are on the agenda, then you should also eat light and wholesome food throughout the day. But don’t go sweating on an empty stomach! Maybe try it with a soup that you enjoy rather lukewarm, or with a delicious salad.

Be Careful With Too Much Food

Experts recommend not eating a large meal before going directly to the sauna. After all, the body wants to relax during the sauna and strengthen the immune system.

If, on the other hand, the sauna-goer has enjoyed an extensive meal in the pool restaurant or in the canteen shortly before entering the cabin, his or her body concentrates on the digestive process.

The stomach breaks down the ingested food. He then recycles them. In this physically demanding process, the organism usually does not tolerate strong heat.

In addition, symptoms such as nausea or even loss of consciousness arise during the sauna with a full stomach. In individual cases, nausea also results in vomiting from the ingested food.

During the sauna, the metabolism focuses on sweating. Therefore, blood pressure rises. Due to the high heat, the sweat glands are also busy. A digestion process, on the other hand, means distraction.

Hydration Is The Key

Of course, it is very important that you keep your body hydrated to avoid dehydration when you sweat. This is the only way to avoid headaches and circulatory problems as possible consequences in advance: Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day before you go to the sauna.

It is not ideal immediately before going to the sauna, as you cannot switch off and relax with a full bladder. It is better to ensure that you drink enough fluids during the day and then do not drink anything or not so much one to two hours before going to the sauna.

Do Not Eat Greasy Food

Fried foods, meat, sausages, flour, lard, ice cream, and various smoked types of meat are already quite hard to digest. What can we say about such an energy-intensive process as soaring.

It is also best not to use synthetic food additives contained in “unhealthy” foods because under the influence of huge humidity and temperature in the human body, metabolic processes change somewhat.

Eat Light Healthy Food

Before a steam room and between breaks, light vegetable salads are best suited as a snack. They are non-caloric and digest quickly. For the same reason, you can eat fruits, seafood, or just vegetables.

And for lunch, soup is perfectly digested, but only in vegetable broth. By the way, you don’t have to refuse fermented milk products, so don’t limit yourself if you want porridge, eggs, kefir, and other goodies.

Healthy Drinks

In the sauna, the body is cleansed of toxins by dehydration. Therefore, it is imperative to restore the water balance. Of course, water will be the best assistant in this.

It’s already known to everyone how useful natural juices are. A mixture of beet, carrot and radish juices with the addition of a small amount of honey has long been the most popular.

However, tea will still be in the first place among healthy drinks. More often they drink green or black, but more useful herbal decoctions, with mint, currants, raspberries, or strawberries.

And if you catch a cold, you can get up on your feet for an hour with lime blossom, dried raspberries, and rose hips.

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FAQs on Sauna After Eating

Following are the common questions asked on sauna after eating

Is It Possible To Eat Before The Bath Or In The Sauna?

For 2-3 hours before visiting the bath-sauna with a pool, give up high-calorie, heavy meals and a full three-course set with dessert. It is better to eat a light meal with a high content of “slow” carbohydrates.

It can be a fruit salad, boiled potatoes, buckwheat porridge, or a vegetable dish. Set aside meat, fatty fish, pilaf, and chops for another time. The body spends a lot of energy on digesting fatty foods, and in the sauna, the loads are already high.

Why do you need extra overloads? In addition, heaviness in the stomach is far from the best companion in the steam room.

What Do You Drink After The Sauna Session?

When it comes to reducing stress and doing something healthy for the body, nothing beats a soothing sauna session. In order to maintain the function of the body, it is important to drink enough liquid after a sauna session.

Drink at least one liter of water or spritzer after the sauna session. Experts disagree on the best time to drink. Some advice drinking only at the end of a full sauna session and not before or after.

However, your well-being is crucial. If you feel thirsty, it is advisable to pay attention to your body’s signals and to drink fluids.

What To Eat After The Sauna?

It is essential to replenish fluids and mineral salts that are lost with sweat. It is even better to avoid sugary, stimulating and, above all, alcoholic beverages, both before, during, and after the sauna. Infusions and fruit and vegetable juices are suitable.

What Sweet To Eat After A Sauna Session?

Light curd and mousse desserts are suitable after a sauna session.

What Snack To Take With You To The Sauna?

This question usually arises if there is no way to order food in the sauna and health complex. When deciding what to bring to the sauna, gather diced cheese, salted nuts, chopped vegetables, and fruits.

A piece of cheese, a slice of cucumber, a few nuts, and a slice of an apple – this is the food in the sauna that perfectly satisfies acute hunger and does not cause a feeling of discomfort.

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Conclusion

It is not recommended to take heavy food before and after the sauna, as well as alcoholic beverages, including beer. Since, after taking a sauna, we feel a feeling of thirst and hunger, it is necessary to replenish the water-salt balance in the body.

Therefore, after the sauna, it is necessary to drink water or tea! It will not only replenish the water balance but also stabilize the metabolism, as well as give the whole process a fragrant piquancy.

Hydration is another of the key variables in the process. Sips of water or an isotonic drink should be taken, since we can lose up to two liters of water in the natural process that the body carries out to eliminate toxins, so it is very important to hydrate before and after the sauna. Do not do it when you are in the session inside the sauna.

Be careful with too much food. Before entering the sauna, do not overeat with food, since it is not advisable to enter the sauna with a very full stomach.

Allow at least one hour to pass since the last meal you made so that the digestive process is in an adequate state.

Practice it on an empty stomach: as the sauna speeds up the metabolism, certain energy will be consumed during the practice, so it is advisable to have a minimum level of glucose in the blood in order to avoid dizziness. Better to eat a piece of fruit or some wholemeal bread first.

 

References:

• brightlineeating.com/contact
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• zoominfo.com/c/bright-line-eating/397563259
• staceymattinson.com/2019/03/bright-line-eating-diet-review/
• healthline.com/health/fitness/sauna-after-workout
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