Mercury News published 100 tips for healthful eating for different lifestyles in Food+Wine section on Wednesday. Here are the tips for serious athletes:
- Never try a new food right before a competition.
- Drink low-fat chocolate milk after you lift weights; the combination of protein and carbohydrates helps speed amino acids to muscles.
- Drink something like Boost or Ensure for a quick, easy-to-digest meal if you have a very early morning workout.
- Never try a weight-loss plan during your sport season.
- During long bouts of exercise, drink 5 to 10 ounces of water or sports drink every 20 to 30 minutes.
- Eat a bagel, snack crackers, energy bar, fruit yogurt or fig bars in the hour after exercise to help speed the resynthesis of muscle glycogen.
- If you cramp, drink more fluids and eat more salty foods.
- Keep a small bag of pretzels or an energy bar in your gym bag for those times when you need a pre- or post-workout snack.
I agree with most of them except #5 as the recommended guideline is to be "guided by your thirst" instead of "stay ahead of your thirst". See this blog entry for more details. Also for #3, most of my workouts are in morning and I’ve always done better empty stomach. All the other points indeed make sense to me.
Technorati: Running Marathon Fitness Healthy Eating
