Monday 23 April 2012

Important Foods for Every Runner


Miracle Miles for Kids Race 17April2010-304

The best diet for you may not suit other active people, and vice versa. Many factors come into play when you're crafting a healthy menu to help you train or maintain your fitness, from your activity level to your age, and you may need to work with food allergies or certain preferences that will change any "ideal" diet you come across.

While there may be no universal diet for the runner, there are certain foods that have proven to be good for almost every athlete at any level. Simply adding a few of these to your diet can bring some welcome changes to your workouts and your overall well being.
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What Makes a Food Good for Training?

First, you need energy, and although all foods come with energizing calories, some are clearly better choices. The idea is to find nutrient-dense foods instead of calorie-dense foods, and focus on dishes that take longer to digest. Next, you'll want ingredients to help your cells and muscles recover from the stress of a workout, and luckily there are quite a few foods that can help to protect and rebuild your tissues.
As a runner, your body needs a higher dose of nutrients to perform well and stay strong, but the way those nutrients are packaged will make a big difference. Supplements can be helpful, but they leave out important compounds that only whole foods can provide -- compounds that are crucial for overall fitness.

Foods to Add to Your Diet

Here are some widely available and remarkably beneficial foods for every runner's diet. Try to work them into your menu week by week:
  • Seeds. Everything a full-grown plant needs to survive is contained within the seed, so it's naturally a nutrient-packed health food. You can keep diabetes at bay, lower your risk for certain cancers, and keep a healthy body weight with a daily serving of sunflower, pumpkin or flax seeds. Beans and tree nuts have many of the same healthy compounds, so they're great additions, too.
  • Eggs and Lean Meats. It's no secret that protein is crucial for strong muscles, but if you're recovering from an injury, it plays an even more important role. That's because your body needs more protein to heal than it can make, so you should up your intake to include between 70 and 90 grams each day. Free-range poultry and eggs or grass-fed beef are amazing sources of protein. Also, animals that have been naturally raised provide more nutritious and flavorful meat, not to mention more rejuvenating omega-3 fatty acids.
  • High Fiber Fruits. Fiber should get a starring role in your diet, and certain foods are so delicious that they make it easy for you to get your daily 25 grams (for women) or 38 grams (for men). Apples are notoriously high in fiber, as are berries, pears, oranges and dried fruits. If you get used to making colorful fruit salads to keep in the fridge, you can ensure you get a big dose of fiber every day to keep a variety of diseases at bay and control your appetite.
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