Compared to the thousands of sweat glands the millions of cells in your body deserve special attention.
Fruit should be one of the main staples of any athlete, especially endurance athletes.
The components of fruit are a bonus for hydration and provide a great source of carbohydrates, potassium, and fiber. For those concerned about weight gain a bonus is they do not contain fat.
If you are staying hydrated through the use of water and sports drinks you may want to consider using dried fruit.
Consider the raisin as a grape with the water removed. The thing to look for when buying dried fruit is that it is unsweetened, thus it retains all the quality nutrition of fresh fruit, without added sugar that has no benefit to an athlete, or anyone for that matter.
If you have ever been to an endurance event that offers aid stations for participants you may have noticed they will have bananas, melons, grapes, oranges or other quality fruits.
One of the best is the fig, as two will provide 100 calories for a quick boost and also provide antioxidants that are important in boosting your immune system, while providing potassium, calcium and iron, all important to the working body.
With hydration an important part of an athlete’s daily diet, fresh fruit can add to the total needed to be properly hydrated. Yet dried fruit has its place as well.
Vegetables are another means of staying hydrated while offering many other benefits to the endurance athlete. These power foods are a great source of plant sterols that aid in the repair of muscles. Like dried fruit, one should also consider using frozen vegetables. This is especially true if it takes days for you to eat a head of broccoli or cauliflower. While eating fresh is best, eating days old vegetables will reduce the vitamin C content over time. For instance, the vitamin C contained in fresh broccoli dropped nearly 60% in one week. While the level lost in frozen broccoli slipped a mere 10% in a year. Another surprising element to freezing vegetables is that disease-fighting antioxidants called anthocyanins, as well as some minerals, showed increased levels. Many of the aid stations at endurance events also contain potatoes and alongside a dish of salt.
Athletes performing for hours on end know the value of electrolytes when performing in hot weather or for long periods when they only have access to water. Taking electrolyte drinks or capsules are a big plus in a situation where you do not have access to the aforementioned, but sinking your teeth into a potato, high in potassium and dipping it in salt (sodium) is very satisfying, not only to the taste buds, but to your performance. Potatoes have often gotten a bad rap as being a starchy food, yet they are full of 60 different vitamins and antioxidants and are packed with a resistant starch, one that could help you burn more body fat—a great source of energy during hours of training or racing.
Start every day with a banana. The best way to start the day is by fueling with good sources of carbohydrates and this fruit fits the bill. Compared to watery fruits like melons, bananas are low in water and higher in carbohydrates, thus higher in calories. These calories are fat-free and free of cholesterol. Their potassium content helps regulate blood pressure and they are a good source of vitamin B6 which serves to maintain blood sugar levels and is needed to not only build protein, but to nerves and immune cells too. These little yellow wonders also contain vitamin C for immune strength and fiber to assist in cholesterol control and digestive health.
Of course, these are just small ways to increased health through nutrition, but just as important as putting on a good pair of Wigwam socks when it comes to increased performance.