Best food for runners

Running is called an aerobic exercise as it uses oxygen to burn calories in order to produce energy. This is the single biggest reason why running is considered the best form of workout for weight loss. Running is one sport that allows you to enjoy high-carb food especially if you are a long distance runner. If you are planning to run a marathon, 10K or 5K, you need to include quality carbs and protein in your diet to help you run better, faster and injury free. Carbs are needed to provide you energy before and after you run. Protein is also important as it helps to rebuild muscle and repair damaged tissue and assist in development of new tissues. While you can get carbs from super food such as banana and sweat potato, protein can be obtained from the food such as milk, tofu and yoghurt, white meats and eggs. Lets discuss in detail some of the best food for runners.

Banana

Most people believe that bananas are high in fat content and stays away from it if their primary goal is weight loss. It’s a misconception that bananas are high in fat content but we agree that they are rich in carbs and are a great source of energy, provided you consume banana at the right time i.e. before or after running, or early in the morning. If we eat banana during these time, the body is able to utilize the energy from banana without converting and storing it as fat. It also protect against all types of cramping such as muscle cramp, stomach cramp, night time leg cramp because of the Potassium content of Banana. Any successful runner or marathon will swear by bananas as their favorite energy food.

Eggs

A single egg can cover 10% of our daily protein needs and are a great source of both energy and protein and is one of the best nutrition for marathon runners. 

Peanut butter

Peanut butter contains protein and fiber and makes us feel fuller, stopping us from over eating and acting as a good source of Vitamin E, one of the most powerful antioxidants.

Sweet potato

Sweet potatoes contain quality carbs and are an excellent source vitamin A, a powerful antioxidant. They’re also a good source of vitamin C, potassium, iron and are considered as one of the best carb loading nutrition for marathon runners. 

Soya bean and tofu

Soybeans and tofu are both good sources of protein that will help promote post-exercise muscle recovery and calcium to strengthen bones. They are also high in good cholesterol (HDL) and therefor one of the best food for runners recovery. 

Milk

Without a doubt milk is one of the best food for runners. If you go with the skim milk, it can becomes the ideal post-exercise muscle recovery food for runners. Research has shown that muscle glycogen stores are replenished and muscle tissues are repaired fastest when carbs and proteins are consumed together after the completion of a workout.

We should also consider mid-run fuel as an important part of our meal to prevent us from running out of energy, running injury free and to help further boost your performance. You can refer to the detailed article we did earlier on marathon runner diet and options for mid-run fuel. http://www.fatmarathoner.com/mid-run-fuel/