Table of Contents
What do professional marathon runners eat?
1. Eat Everything. There are six basic categories of natural, whole foods in the human diet: vegetables (including legumes), fruit, nuts and seeds, unprocessed meat and fish, whole grains and dairy. Most elite runners include all of these foods in their diet.
What foods should marathon runners avoid?
To dial in your performance, ditch these 12 foods:
- Diet soda. Instead of sugar, diet soda is sweetened with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, cyclamate and acesulfame-k.
- Cookies and candy.
- Full-fat dairy.
- Saturated and trans fat.
- Alcohol.
- Fried foods.
- Caffeinated beverages.
- High-Fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
What foods are good for marathon runners to eat before and after a race?
Most runners know they should eat pasta, rice, potatoes, or other high-carb foods before a half or full marathon. After all, carbs are a great source of energy, and you need a lot of energy to cover 26.2 or 13.1 miles.
What food should long distance runners eat?
Refuel post-run Within 30 minutes, runners should eat a well-balanced and healthy meal containing protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. This post-workout meal should include water and fluids rich in electrolytes.
Do Runners eat junk food?
Both runners said they relied on junk food during the race, including potato chips, Coke, McDonald’s hash browns, and Pop Tarts. The strategy makes sense for extreme athletes when they’re racing, but it also reveals a nasty truth about processed food: It enters our bloodstream super-fast and can make us eat more.
What should I eat 3 days before a marathon?
For a successful marathon, it’s critical to fuel your body with proper nutrition and keep it sufficiently hydrated before, during and after the race. Before any big race, build up your energy reserves by loading on carbohydrates, starchy vegetables, fruits and lean protein for three days.
What foods help you run longer?
The best foods every runner should include in his or her meal plan are:
- Bananas. If you need a high-carb energy booster before your afternoon run, you can’t go wrong with a banana.
- Oats.
- Peanut butter.
- Broccoli.
- Plain yogurt.
- Dark chocolate.
- Whole-grain pasta.
- Coffee.
What do runners eat for breakfast?
Good breakfast options for the morning of your race may include:
- Pancakes and mixed toppings, such as fruits and nuts.
- Porridge oats with milk or soy milk.
- Granola with milk or soy milk.
- Multigrain bread topped with eggs.
- Fruit salad and low-fat Greek yogurt.
- Bagels or breakfast muffins with low-fat cottage cheese.
What foods are bad for athletes?
There are certain foods that an athlete should avoid at all cost.
- Anything with high-fructose corn syrup. Sweets and candies may provide a quick energy burst, however these foods are filled with sugar and empty calories.
- Foods cooked with oil or containing trans fats.
- Avoid protein and energy bars.
Do Runners eat pizza?
While frozen or takeaway pizza is a go-to meal for many time-poor runners, homemade versions are fresher, tastier and pack more nutritional punch. ‘DIY-ing pizza lets you stud it with wholegrains, lean meats and vegetables that deliver the nutrients runners need,’ says sports dietitian and marathon runner Tara Gidus.