Fuel Your Workouts

Sports season is starting! Are you looking for foods to fuel your pre-season workouts? This is a great time to improve cardio fitness and muscle mass, and also to fuel your body with healthy foods. Here’s an excerpt from a post I did for LEARN YOUR SOCCER!

Nutrition for Pre-Season

1. Don't Skip Meals. Eat a mix of protein, whole-grain carbohydrates, and healthy fats at each meal and snack.

2. Have Lean Protein with each meal and snack: chicken, turkey, pork or beef tenderloin, fish, canned tuna, deli meats, hummus, peanut butter, edamame, nuts, and seeds.

3. Eat a colorful variety of Fruits and Vegetables.

4. Choose Whole-Grain Carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, brown rice, whole grains breads, whole grains pasta, and quinoa.

5. Include Healthy Fats such as avocados, fish, olive oil, flaxseed, nuts and seeds.

6. Stay Hydrated. Your performance will suffer if you are dehydrated. Women need approximately 11 cups (2.7 L) and men 15 cups (3.7 L) of fluid each day.

7. Feed your muscles a Recovery Snack within 30 minutes of exercise. Aim for a 4-1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein. Then be certain to eat a healthy meal within two hours.

8. Limit foods with added sugars, trans fats and saturated fats; found mostly in processed snack foods and sugary drinks.