Fueling Tip Friday

If you are in the off-season right now, skip the sports nutrition products. You don’t need them, especially if you are doing aerobic workouts less than 120 minutes and just exercising for fitness or fun. These products serve a purpose at the right time and place in a training cycle, but the off-season is not one of those times. Instead, time your workouts to occur in between meals or snacks so that you use “real” foods as a fuel source.

Many athletes think of sports nutrition products as mere convenience items, but there are plenty of other convenient foods that serve as a good fuel source such as: yogurt, banana (or other fruit) with peanut butter, trail mix, whole grain high fiber hot cereal, homemade smoothies, banana rolled in a tortilla, or a chia seed gel. Not only will choosing real foods be easier on the pocketbook, but they won’t overload your body on refined carbohydrates and simple sugars.... a good thing when we’re trying to watch our weight during the holiday season.

Dina Griffin, MS, RD, CSSD

dina@fuel4mance.com

Fuel4mance, LLC