Top 11 Superfoods For Endurance Athletes | Healthy Foods For A Balanced Diet

Supporting your triathlon training with a healthy balanced diet is essential to performance. In this video, we look at which superfoods can give you that extra boost naturally.

There is, of course, no singular food that is magically going to make you a better, stronger and faster athlete overnight. It is the balanced combination of various nutritious foods and a well thought out training plan that will.

That said, some foods pack more of a punch than others when it comes to their nutrient values. It is these nutrient-rich foods that are considered to be especially beneficial for our health, the superfoods.

Find out more about Heather's choice of 11 superfoods you should regularly include in your diet!

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Which of these 11 foods do you eat the most of? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[karmayongjong]

Egg
Kale
Beetroot
Sweet 🥔
Banana
Milk
Whole grains
Walnut
Cocoa
Chia/flax seeds
Cherries

[georgec]

Spinach, salmon, lentils, oats, dark berries, garlic

[giovanbattistafichera]

Here's my top 6 food categories:
1. Nuts and seeds for omega 3 and minerals. Men in particular will find the Zinc they need for their testosterone in pumpkin seeds and chia seeds.
2. Beans. Awesome, cheap and healthy sources of protein. You can add them to salads, blend them or eat them in a soup. Filling and very healthy.
3. Greens: cruciferous vegetables, spinach, kale etc.
4. Whole grains: oat, quinoa, buckwheat,
5. Fruits and berries of all sorts. Blueberries and goji berries are particularly rich in antioxidants. Bananas are an important source of potassium
6. Root vegetables: potatoes of all kinds, beetroot, carrots
Take home advice: increase your veggie/grain/nuts and seeds while limiting your dairy/egg/meat and oil, sugar, salt consumption for faster recovery and better overall health. As a rule of thumb, if the food you buy has a list of ingredients that looks like a scientific experiment just avoid them. Chances are they are either rich in sugar, fat, salt or a combination of those.
The foods I recommend above will improve your general health, making you able to sustain higher volumes and intensities while at the same time giving you the best possible fuel to prevent injury, fatigue and illness. That said, don't forget to put in the work and to always listen to your body :)

[margaretturvey]

Vitamins A, D, E, and K (most of which are found in kale) are fat soluble, so it's actually better to cook it in a bit of butter or oil -- you won't lose the nutrients. In fact, they'll be more bioavailable.

[treenahally]

As a newbie glad chocolate was on the list. This channel is helping me so much in my training. Cheers

[johnbarrick]

Protein shake- Milk-bananas-kale-ice if you blend it right it will take just like banana ice cream but itll look green.

[miguelsaez]

Spanish omelette by definition is “Tortilla de patata”, omelette with potatoes and a bit of onion. That’s a very simple dish that in my point of view is a delicious nutritious meal!

Also, here chickpeas are very common and have a very high 2:1 carbs/protein proportion with almost 0 fat. Very recommendable to look after in your shopping list!!!

[MessedUpZucchini]

Watching this before track and field day, thanks for taking you time to research this.

[cynthia_Aux]

I'm glad that I eat most of these already! Just nee to add more beets and cherries to my diet 😊 I'll find a better vit D/calcium replacement because dairy is not good for me

[davidk.]

Beets (nitrates) definitely improve my performance on the bike after 4 or 5 days of consumption. Juice seems to be better than the powered form.

[davidmarries]

The video was informative. Plus I would listen to anything GTN puts out!

[erikknudsen]

Good list! More foods = avocado, salmon, oats, Olive oil, honey and of course coffee :)

[robertmcdaniels]

Let's recap. milk, bananas, cocoa, nuts, and cherries are all "superfoods." In fact, that is almost half the list. When you put those together, and recognize that ice cream comes from milk, then you get a banana split. That is why I love triathlon. It lets me eat banana splits. I will head to Dairy Queen right now. Thanks Heather!

[stiiffyrabbit]

Apart from the dairy, I'm, mostly, all for this list!

[woody]

I like how triathletes seem to be more health conscious than most other athletes, this seems pretty useful, particularly compared to much of the official studies I've done.

[Jayne-Michael]

It's a good suggestion. Thank you for the video. It's helpful. Looking forward to following ones And good luck

[virginiathompson]

Sorry didn’t finished before I sent..

Continuing: I’m so way outta of shape since Covid took control of our lives and daily routines.
Thank you for all the information you all are giving especially for me that wants get back out there!
Via

[rasher]

You did a very good job hosting this video. Well done.

[jambos]

It would have been beneficial for us to know where you got your information from. In terms of milk in particular, I cannot find any non-industry funded research that shows milk is beneficial (I'm sure there are some). The only research I can find shows that milk is actually detrimental to bone health, i.e increased risk for developing osteoporosis.