Essential Diet Tips for Daily Runners

Diet forms the basis of any fitness regimen for good health. A runner’s diet can be simple for some while for others, it might take a little getting used to. This is especially for complete beginners who have only recently decided to run. 

For these people, it’s important that you make the necessary changes in your nutrition before you go on a running spree. 

Just as your muscles need time to adapt to the rapid reformation, your digestive system and metabolism will also need time to come to terms with the change in consumption. 

You will be burning calories and carbs rapidly and while it’s good for weight loss, it’s not good if you don’t replenish your body to get it the energy that it needs. 

Running can be an intense exercise especially when you go for interval running sessions. 

That’s why we recommend reading up on the diet fundamentals that suit your fitness goal. 

Here’s an overview of the essential diet for runners who plan on working out on a daily basis: 

What Should Runners Eat? 

Runners who are looking to run a marathon or a race can have specific meal plans since their goals involve endurance, stamina and strength. These will involve specific regimens that will involve extensive workouts with hard exercises. 

Whereas, people who’re looking towards running as a way to lose weight will need to make certain changes in their diet different from those above. While the workouts for weight loss aren’t exactly much different, they can be considered easier than muscle training due to their simplicity. 

So, are you planning on running a marathon or just looking to get in shape? You’ll need to decide this before you decide on the best running clothes. 

Identifying your goals here is, thus, of paramount importance. 

To help you start off, let’s take a look at the important nutrients you need:

● Carbs

● Proteins

● Fats

● Vitamins

● Minerals

These foods and categories can help you identify specific food items to go with your diet that contain the above-mentioned nutrients:

● Whole Grains

● Fresh Fruits

● Low-Fat Yogurt

● Almonds

● Lean Proteins

Once you list down an exhaustive list of items, you can get nit-picky with your selection and narrow down items that appeal to your taste buds. 

Moreover, since you will need to organize your meals for the day, it’s better that you mix up things that you need and the things you like accordingly. 

Make sure to maintain a balance throughout each individual meal. 

Regardless of what you go for, there can be some food items that are a staple to running workouts that include: 

● Bananas

● Broccoli

● Oatmeal

● Plain Yogurt

● Peanut Butter

● Potatoes

● Coffee

● Whole-Grain Pasta

● Lean Beef

● Eggs

● Sweet Potatoes

● Salmon

● Cherry Juice

● Kale

● Skim Milk and more

Essential Diet Tips for Daily Runners

Just as important as knowing what to eat is knowing when and how to eat your food. 

There are certain things you need to take care of such as planning, organizing and scheduling your meals while keeping in view your workout routines and their warm-up and recovery times. 

Let’s get down to looking at the essential diet tips every runner needs to know:

Timing

You’ll find many foods to be effective for running but not all of them can be eaten at any given time. 

For example, you can’t rely on a single item to be taken before the run, after the run and during the recovery period after an intense running workout. 

That’s because certain nutrients such as carbs can be detrimental to your running efficiency if taken 1 hour before a running session. 

Whereas, consuming the same nutrient 2-3 hours prior to your workout can prove significantly effective. 

As you can probably deduce, every minute and hour counts towards how well your workout will go in terms of achieving long-term results. 

Longer Gaps 

You will always feel the need to eat more whenever you start running. This is probably because you’re thinking that you’re spending more calories. 

However, while metabolic theory doesn’t work that way, it’s true that you will be needing a change in diet. But just not in the way that you think. 

You can try eating something that makes you feel full. This is where making the switch to proteins from carbs can help. 

These nutrients are unlike others that your body is used to. Since carbs are quickly used by the body and burnt away, your stomach feels empty and your body wants you to put something else in its place. 

Proteins, on the other hand, can mitigate symptoms of hunger and curb your appetite to help you last longer in between meals. This can work towards increasing your overall stamina and even help you lose weight by running. Just make sure that you’re eating the right amount and no more. 

While protein is a great nutrient you can rely on to increase stamina, it’s just as easy to lose track of your consumption and end up creating problems for yourself. The idea is to lower your appetite and not to stuff yourself with enough protein that your liver, kidneys and bones feel a huge burden. 

Regulate Drinks and Beverages 

Dieting plans include and exclude certain beverages and drinks that may or may not be a part of your daily routine as of now. Let’s break these down to size so that we can have clear labels to put various items into. 

Healthy drinks and beverages are those that don’t exaggerate the number of calories and carbs that you’re taking in. 

Moreover, healthy drinks don’t involve massive amounts of sugar as is the trend with cokes and even diet cokes. 

It’s best that you try not to get hooked on caffeine by resorting to coffee jugs on a daily basis. Instead, try herbal teas such as the famous green tea, camomile and black tea. 

It’s also recommended for everyone with preexisting medical conditions to refer to their physicians and medical professionals for advice and then with a dietitian or nutritionist to get the best meal plan for themselves. 

Regardless of whether you choose to run or not, it’s always a healthy decision to cut off shelf-products from your life. You can’t rely on them to give you anything other than fats and sugars that will inevitably result in other problems if not obesity and diabetes. 

A runner needs their stamina and high-calorie drinks are the worst enemies of it. The same can be said for alcohol. You are risking liver and heart problems if you drink too much alcohol. 

While scientific research doesn’t say you can’t drink alcohol, it certainly states many limits on the human body, particularly for people who wish to maintain an active lifestyle. 

Go Green and Then Add More Colors

Runners are bound to need essential nutrients and then some in order to keep up with their activity. Without getting into much detail, let’s just say you should keep up your intake of magnesium, potassium, calcium and Vitamin D compared to normal people. 

Luckily for those who have access to seasonal produce, foods such as blueberries, turmeric, tart cherries, blackberries, blackberries, cranberries, blackcurrants and strawberries are excellent for runners. Being rich in antioxidants, these healthy colorful quick foods can serve as delicious snacks for at work or on-the-go circumstances. 

All in all, the idea of adding variety is to make sure that you don’t deviate from your healthy choices and keep yourself motivated to do more. Running isn’t something you can do inadequately. To get started, consider hiring a running coach in Denver to get started like a pro.