Many health “influencers” vilify candy and chocolate, claiming sweets have no place in a healthy diet. Here’s why they are wrong, and the best time to eat candy.
Well-timed sugar intake will satiate your sweet tooth and propel you towards your fitness goals. Plus, sugar-free diets are unsustainable over the long term; they set people up for failure and rebound weight gain.
Science tells us the best time to eat candy…and the best sweets to enjoy. Here are the 3 best times to eat candy:
1) Eat Candy Before Exercise
Eating sweets before a workout sounds counter-intuitive. But here’s why it works:
Carbohydrates are made of sugars, the body’s favorite exercise fuel. Muscles run on stored sugar (glycogen) and sugar from the bloodstream (glucose). That’s why ingesting carbs before exercise improves performance (Ormsbee 2014).
Simple carbs, like the sugar in candy, digest easily and provide quick fuel for your workout. Who doesn’t want high energy levels for exercise? It’s easier to train hard and reap the benefits of exercise, like offsetting the health risks of sitting.
For maximum energy and focus during hard training sessions, I pair a sugary snack with a delicious pre-workout beverage. The caffeine and sugar boost my training performance, strength, endurance and pain tolerance.
2) Eat Candy During Exercise
High-intensity training burns up energy fast. A sugary snack during an intense training session elevates blood sugar for sustained energy.
It’s why athletes drink Gatorade. And why Marshawn Lynch ate Skittles on the sideline. Personally, I opt for fruit snacks during a long powerlifting session.
Regardless of your preferred sugar source, eating sweets during a hard workout is a win-win. You can train harder and satisfy your sweet tooth.
3) Eat Candy After Exercise
After training, carbs play an essential role in recovery. Ingesting carbs after exercise replenishes the muscle’s energy (glycogen) stores (Gonzalez 2017).
Refilling the glycogen tank prepares the muscle for high performance the next training session. Recover faster by eating simple sugars along with fast-digesting protein to rebuild your muscles.
For example, some athletes eat a sugary snack, like Frosted Flakes or Skittles, right after training. And many take whey protein after exercise because it digests rapidly and provides all the essential amino acids needed to rebuild muscles.
Serious athletes enjoy sweets and a whey protein supplement after training to recover faster and perform better.
The Best and Worst Candy
I won’t waste time convincing you which candy bar is the tastiest (Butterfinger, of course). But you should know the best candy to eat around your workout.
Select high-sugar, low-fat candy to enjoy before, during, or after training. High-fat foods slow digestion, which is the last thing you (or the guy spotting you) wants during a workout.
Here are my top 5 candy choices to fuel your workouts:
- Starburst
- Sour Patch Kids
- Skittles
- Jolly Ranchers
- Nerds
BUT WHAT ABOUT CHOCOLATE? Chocolate bars have higher fat content and aren’t the best choice close to a workout. There’s a better time to indulge in your chocolatey favorites…and it may surprise you.
The Best Time to Eat Chocolate
Research indicates the morning is the best time of day to enjoy chocolate (Hernandez-Gonzalez 2021). Eating chocolate early reduces cravings for sweets and may improve diet adherence.
But it’s not for everyone. Personally, if I eat sweets early in the day, I’ll eat sweets ALL day!
Try it out for yourself. Does getting your chocolate fix early in the day assuage your cravings? Or intensify them?
Either way, the next time you find yourself eating chocolate for breakfast, just think, “the science made me do it!“
Bottom Line
Eating candy in moderation won’t stop your metabolism or hinder your fitness goals. In fact, you can use sweets to optimize your training. The best time to eat candy is around exercise.
You can satiate your sweet tooth and have more energy to crush your run, lift, or low-impact cardio workout. Eating chocolate in the morning may even enhance your craving control!
Readers: Do you use sugar to train harder and recover faster? Which “best time to eat candy” do you prefer? What’s your favorite source of sugar? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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