AS A NUTRITIONIST, I’VE ALWAYS BEEN RATHER UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE label “superfood” because it implies that the foods fortunate enough to carry it are somehow better than other natural foods, and that’s just not true. All natural foods are super in one way or another. Indeed, a diet that was made up only of the medicinal foods like spirulina, green tea, and chia seeds that most often get the superfood label and excluded humdrum healthy staples such as oats and chicken would be incomplete and inadequate, especially for a hard-training endurance athlete.
Another way to define superfoods is to create a special category of specific foods that people with particular goals should try to include in their diet. By this definition, there are indeed such things as superfoods for endurance athletes and exercisers—or endurance superfoods.
In studying the diets of elite endurance athletes, I have noticed that the same foods keep appearing over and over, even in disconnected parts of the world. Like the five key habits of the Endurance Diet, this pattern is no coincidence. Certain specific foods fit especially well into the diets of men and women seeking maximum endurance fitness. These foods are characterized by a combination of tastiness, accessibility, familiarity, healthfulness, and, of course, favorable effects on endurance performance. Over time, elite athletes all over the world have identified the foods possessing this combination of qualities and incorporated them into their lifestyle. Whatever your fitness goals are, you will be well served to learn about these foods and consider eating any of them that you’re not eating already.
Separate from the real-world process of trial and error through which elite athletes discovered these staple foods, scientists have studied the effects of certain foods on endurance performance. In some cases they have found clear benefits. As you might expect, there is a degree of overlap between these scientifically proven performance boosters and the foods commonly eaten by elite endurance athletes in far-flung parts of the world. These two overlapping groups of foods constitute what I call endurance superfoods. They are not foods that you absolutely must eat in order to achieve your goals, but they are foods that you are likely to find beneficial in the same ways the pros do.
Of the twenty-two endurance superfoods you’ll discover in this chapter, only one of them—my wild card, teff—can be regarded as exotic. That’s no accident. The virtue of the Endurance Diet is that it is practical, not radical or revolutionary. Part of what makes it practical, besides its beneficial effects on health and fitness, is that, in most cases, it is made up largely of everyday natural foods one can easily find, afford, prepare, and enjoy eating.
Don’t forget, however, that the last of the five key habits of the Endurance Diet is eating individually. You shouldn’t feel compelled to eat any endurance superfood you don’t like or react well to. Few elites eat all of them. But there’s no better foundation for your unique version of the Endurance Diet than the twenty-two foods highlighted in the following pages.
Almonds
Almonds have the same merits as other nuts and seeds. They are rich in unsaturated fats and plant sterols that promote favorable blood cholesterol profiles and healthy arteries and combat oxidative stress and inflammation.
Researchers at the Chinese National Institute of Sports Medicine have shown that these effects may enhance endurance performance alongside general health. In 2014, they recruited eight cyclists and two triathletes as subjects and fed half of them 75 grams of almonds per day for four weeks while the other half ate cookies containing an equal number of calories. After a two-week “washout” period, the treatments were reversed, with the former almond eaters getting cookies and the cookie eaters getting almonds.
All of the subjects performed 20-minute time trials on stationary bikes on three occasions: before the study began, after four weeks of eating almonds, and after four weeks of eating cookies. On average, the subjects covered 5.4 percent more distance in 20 minutes after the almond period than they did after the cookie period and covered 8.4 percent more distance than they did before the study began.
Try this: In addition to eating whole almonds and almond butter, use almond flour occasionally in breads, muffins, and pancakes.
Bananas
Bananas are among the most favored preexercise foods of elite endurance athletes because they are high in carbohydrates and easy to eat and digest. Even those who work out shortly after waking up usually find that they can nosh a banana before heading out the door without experiencing stomach discomfort during the workout. Serbian middle-distance runner Nemanja Cerovac, for example, noted in the questionnaire he completed for me that he always eats a banana with a little honey right before his morning run.
Because bananas come with their own natural wrapper, they are also one of the few natural foods that can be carried and consumed during extremely long workouts in which hunger is likely to occur. Daniela Ryf of the Czech Republic, the 2015 Ironman 70.3 world champion, has taken on-the-bike banana eating to the next level by scarfing chocolate-covered, salt-dipped frozen bananas during races. A 2014 study by researchers at Appalachian State University found that cyclists who consumed plain bananas during a 75-kilometer time trial performed no worse than they did when they used a sports drink.
Try this: Instead of tossing out those overripe bananas, use them in smoothies.
Beets
Beets contain large amount of betalains, a class of antioxidants with uniquely powerful anti-inflammatory properties, making beets a great food for postworkout recovery. Beet juice is even more beneficial for athletes. It has a high concentration of nitrates, which help the blood vessels dilate during exercise, increasing blood flow and oxygen supply to the muscles. In addition, they cause the mitochondria within muscle cells to generate energy more efficiently.
A number of studies have demonstrated that acute and chronic consumption of beet juice enhances endurance performance. In 2014, for example, researchers at the University of Cagliari found that swimmers were able to swim faster at a given level of oxygen consumption and consumed less oxygen at a given swim speed after consuming 500 milliliters of beet juice per day for six days. Australian professional cyclist Rachel Neylan is among the elite athletes included in my research who reported drinking beet juice before races.
Try this: When you buy fresh beets, don’t throw out the greens. Although lacking the root’s high concentration of nitrates, beet greens are rich in other nutrients, including iron, vitamin K, and beta-carotene. You can sauté them with garlic and olive oil as you would other greens, or pack them into a smoothie.
Black Beans
The many great endurance athletes produced by the nation of Brazil—including those whose diets were shared in Chapter 4—have been nourished and fueled largely by black beans, which are so important to the Brazilian diet that they have a category of their own in the government’s official food pyramid. Research has shown that people who eat black beans frequently have an exceptionally healthy digestive tract. This effect is attributed to the food’s “indigestible fraction,” or its fiber and nonfiber constituents that pass through the body without being acted upon by digestive enzymes.
Try this: Mix cooked, mashed black beans with ground beef or turkey the next time you grill burgers.
Brown Rice
In most places where rice is a key staple food, elite endurance athletes still eat white rice rather than brown rice. But in North America and Europe, most professional racers have switched from the refined version to the whole version of this grain. Through their interactions with athletes and nutritionists from these places, Asian competitors are beginning to follow suit. For example, during one recent trip I sat down with Singaporean elite runner Ying Ren Mok to analyze his diet. Like many of his countrymen, he ate white rice at least once and often twice a day. However, I was able to persuade him to switch to brown rice. I can’t take credit for the national record Mok set at the half-marathon distance a few months later, but the improved diet quality certainly didn’t hurt him.
Both white rice and brown rice are good sources of carbohydrates, but brown rice has more fiber, protein, and phytonutrients and is associated with better health outcomes. A number of studies have shown that replacing white rice with brown rice in the diet lowers type 2 diabetes risk factors and promotes fat loss. Quinoa may be the trendier whole grain today in wealthy societies, but brown rice offers comparable nutrition and benefits at literally half the cost and is an easier switch for many rice lovers.
Try this: Order brown rice instead of white rice at Asian restaurants.
Cherries
Tart cherries have the most powerful anti-inflammatory effects of any food. These effects are mediated largely by anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant that tart cherries contain in high concentration. By controlling inflammation, cherries may accelerate postworkout recovery, increase overall training capacity, and enhance performance in races by reducing muscle pain.
Most of the research on these possible effects has involved tart cherry juice instead of whole tart cherries, because the juice contains a higher concentration of anti-inflammatory compounds. In a 2010 study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, twenty recreational runners consumed either tart cherry juice or a placebo for five days before running a marathon, then again on race day, and for two days afterward as well. The runners who got the cherry juice exhibited less muscle damage immediately after the marathon. They also showed lower levels of inflammation and recovered their muscle strength significantly faster.
On a practical level, it doesn’t really matter how quickly your muscles recover after a marathon. No matter what you eat or drink in the days following such a grueling event, you need to rest and then gradually ease back into training. But any factor that reduces muscle damage incurred during a race is also likely to enhance performance. Drinking cherry juice for several days before an event may get you to the finish line faster and get you out of bed a bit more comfortably the next morning.
There’s also an argument to be made for drinking tart cherry juice during periods of intense training. In a 2014 study, sixteen trained cyclists were separated into two groups, one that consumed tart cherry concentrate for seven days and the other that got a placebo. Both groups trained normally through the first four days of the intervention and then completed a 69-minute ride at high intensity on each of the last three days. After the last of these hard workouts, the cyclists who’d gotten the tart cherry concentrate exhibited significantly lower levels of muscle damage and inflammation compared to their peers.
Try this: For dessert, heat some pitted cherries in a microwave until warm and top with a little ricotta cheese and almond slivers.
Coffee
Elite endurance athletes love their morning coffee largely for its caffeine content. A 2014 study revealed that 73 percent of more than twenty thousand urine samples taken from Olympic athletes over a five-year period contained traces of caffeine. The highest levels of caffeine use were found in cyclists, triathletes, and rowers. It’s no mystery why. Not only does a well-brewed mug of high-quality coffee taste delicious and create feelings of well-being and mental alertness, but it also enhances endurance performance by acting on the brain to reduce perception of effort (i.e., make exercise feel easier). Other sources of caffeine, including caffeine pills, have the same effect, but the unique combination of caffeine and antioxidants in coffee makes it a multifaceted health booster as well as a performance enhancer. Regular coffee drinkers are known to be less likely to develop depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Research indicates that it is safe to drink as much as four cups of coffee per day, but that’s way more than you need to boost your workouts. I limit myself to one large mug in the morning to avoid becoming dependent on the stuff for wakefulness and alertness.
Try this: Drink cold-brewed coffee on hot days. A growing number of cold brew connoisseurs swear it’s the way coffee was meant to be enjoyed.
Corn
Every culture has a favorite staple grain that serves as a major source of carbohydrate fuel for its elite endurance athletes. Corn (or maize) performs this function for the top racers in Central America, Kenya (the home of ugali), and a handful of other places. One cup of corn provides 123 grams of carbohydrate, along with sizable amounts of fiber, magnesium, vitamin B6, iron, and antioxidants such as lutein and ferulic acid.
Corn has acquired a negative reputation lately because in affluent nations all too much of it is consumed in processed forms such as corn syrup. But unprocessed forms of corn, including corn on the cob, whole cornmeal, and even nonmicrowave popcorn are true endurance superfoods. As with other grains, heirloom and landrace varieties of corn are the healthiest.
Try this: Use corn-based salsas on tacos and fish and in salads.
Eggs
Eggs are among the most ubiquitous foods in the diets of elite endurance athletes. I found them in the food journals of Brazilian swimmers, French stand-up paddle boarders, Russian triathletes, Japanese runners, and others. In a diet survey of ten professional triathletes from various countries conducted for active.com by retired pro triathlete Katya Meyers, nine said they included eggs in their breakfast either occasionally or routinely.
And why wouldn’t they? Eggs are inexpensive, tasty, versatile, and nutritious, supplying 1 gram of high-quality protein per 11 calories, plus choline, phosphorous, vitamin B12, and other goodies. Once labeled unhealthy because of their high cholesterol content, eggs have been vindicated by recent science, which has shown that they are not linked to any unfavorable health outcomes.
Try this: Add thinly sliced hard-boiled eggs to green salads.
Garlic
A little garlic adds a lot of flavor to a wide variety of dishes. Science suggests it may also boost endurance fitness and performance.
In 2006, Japanese researchers subjected rats to a four-week endurance running program. Half of the rats were fed garlic extract before each workout and the others were not. When their training was complete, the researchers measured various biomarkers of fatigue in all of the rats. After analyzing the results, they concluded that garlic “ameliorates the various impairments associated with physical fatigue.”
That’s great news if you’re a rat. But what if you’re human? In 2015, Chris Womack and colleagues at James Madison University subjected eighteen healthy male college students to a graded exercise test after half of them had consumed garlic extract and the other half a placebo. Fourteen days later, the test was repeated, but the treatments were reversed. On average, the subjects’ VO2max scores were 2.7 percent higher in the garlic trial.
It should be noted that both of these studies involved garlic extract, not the whole garlic we cook with, and that other studies have failed to show positive effects of garlic supplementation on human endurance performance. So you shouldn’t expect cooking with garlic to lead to major performance breakthroughs. But this can be said of any endurance superfood. Performance breakthroughs happen through the cumulative effect of eating lots of different foods like garlic that make small contributions to endurance fitness.
Try this: Who says you can only eat garlic bread at Italian restaurants? Make your own at home (using whole-grain bread, of course!).
Olive Oil
Of all the foods that the Sky professional cycling team might have lent their brand to, they chose olive oil. The decision to create Team Sky Extra-Virgin Olive Oil was not arbitrary. The members of Team Sky consume great quantities of olive oil and their coaches and nutritionists believe very strongly in its benefits for endurance athletes. And they’re hardly alone. Elite endurance athletes all over the world consider it a vital component of their diet.
Olive oil offers several benefits to endurance athletes and exercisers. Antioxidant compounds in olive oil, especially hydroxytyrosol, prevent oxidative damage to blood vessel walls and other tissues. Other antioxidants, including oleocanthal, fight inflammation through a mechanism of action similar to that of ibuprofen. Olive oil also aids in converting cholesterol into testosterone, which in turn facilitates muscular adaptations to training. Finally, olive oil acts upon the neuromuscular system in ways that support endurance fitness. An intriguing 2012 study by scientists at the University of Florence found that supplementation with extra-virgin olive oil reduced age-related declines in motor coordination in rats.
All in all, the benefits of olive oil for endurance athletes and exercisers are as diverse as its uses in cooking.
Try this: Use an olive oil mister instead of olive oil cooking sprays (which are not pure olive oil).
Peanut Butter
When I visited with the LottoNL-Jumbo cycling team in Spain, I was struck by the vast quantities of peanut butter that Laurens ten Dam ate. But I wasn’t shocked. Many elite endurance athletes rely on old-fashioned peanut butter (just peanuts and salt, no sugar or added oils) as a source of easy, high-quality calories during periods of heavy training. Too often dismissed as kids’ food, sugar-free peanut butter is as wholesome as the peanuts it’s made from and as nutritious as more expensive alternatives such as cashew butter. Indeed, peanut butter is actually higher than cashew butter in protein, fiber, and unsaturated fat.
Sometimes, when you’re training hard, you need a go-to comfort food that you can use to quickly fill the void without sacrificing your quality standards or breaking the bank when you eat it often. Peanut butter—spread on toasted whole-grain bread, smeared on celery sticks, or added to smoothies—is that kind of food for lots of athletes.
Try this: Use peanut butter in smoothies (it goes well with bananas, spinach, milk or yogurt, and honey, among other things).
Potatoes
In his memoir Running to the Top, Australia’s Derek Clayton, who set marathon world records in 1967 and 1969, wrote of his diet, “Potatoes were so high as a source of carbs, as well as being efficient as fuel, that I found myself eating enormous quantities of them throughout my competitive career.” Clayton is not the only elite endurance athlete who has depended on potatoes as an efficient fuel source. Alongside grains such as rice and corn, spuds are among the most popular high-carb staples in the diets of top racers in many parts of the world.
Anticarb propaganda has turned many health-conscious eaters outside the ranks of elite endurance athletes away from potatoes, but without justification. Potatoes are as healthy as any other natural food. In fact, they may be healthier than most. According to Adam Drewnowski of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington, potatoes provide more total nutrition per unit cost than any other food except sweet potatoes.
Other research has revealed that nonfried potatoes are one of the most satiating foods available. When people eat potatoes they get full on fewer calories and eat less in their next meal than they do when they eat any other food. So it’s not surprising that, as I mentioned in Chapter 4, a 2014 study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition reported that the addition of nonfried potatoes to the diet facilitated weight loss.
From a culinary standpoint, the best thing about potatoes is their versatility. There are dozens of ways to prepare them, and they can be included in every meal. But some ways of preparing them—particularly deep frying—turn them into a low-quality food, so save French fries for special occasions. Sautéing potatoes in olive oil is okay.
Try this: Have a healthy stuffed baked potato as a meal every now and then. Topping ideas include chili with sour cream and cottage cheese with grilled vegetables.
Red Wine
After he won his first Tour de France title in 2013, Chris Froome surprised some people by telling a reporter for The Daily Mail, “Actually, on quite a regular basis we do have a glass of red [wine], even on the Tour. If we had a good day’s racing, or even a bad day’s racing, and the guys just wanted to unwind, we’d crack open a bottle. I don’t think a glass of red would really do any damage and would probably do just the opposite, and help you to relax and unwind before the next day.”
Many, if not most, elite endurance athletes consume alcohol in moderation for the same reason. Apart from its beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system, a nice drink does indeed help an athlete relax, and a relaxed athlete performs better.
The preferred drink among elite endurance athletes is red wine, and that is because of its beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. All alcoholic beverages are healthy in modest amounts, but red wine appears to be the healthiest. What makes it special is resveratrol, an antioxidant that improves cardiovascular health by increasing the elasticity of blood vessels, increasing HDL cholesterol, and reducing blood clotting. In nonathletes, these effects help prevent cardiovascular disease. In endurance athletes and exercisers, they strengthen a physiological system that is vital to aerobic performance.
Try this: Join a wine club. This can be a great way to make wine exploration a part of your lifestyle without investing a lot of time and energy into it.
Salmon
In 2013, when I asked American professional triathlete Meredith Kessler to describe her typical dinner, she said, “We eat a lot of salmon in our household. My husband makes a mean miso marinade and grills the salmon on cedar planks, which tastes amazing.”
This answer was not unexpected. Salmon has appeared more often than any other fish in the elite endurance athlete food journals I’ve reviewed. Its worldwide popularity stems not only from its much touted health benefits but also from its appealing taste and texture. Even many people who claim not to like fish like salmon.
Salmon is one of the best sources of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. A typical four-ounce serving contains a combined four grams of these essential fats. Eat it twice and you’ve met your omega-3 requirement for a week. Less appreciated is salmon’s high content of bioactive peptides, which are protein fractions that combat inflammation and oxidative stress. The fish is also rich in a long list of vitamins and minerals.
Try this: Eat smoked salmon (lox) with cream cheese, red onion, and capers on a whole grain bagel once a week or so.
Spinach
Spinach is perhaps the most versatile leafy vegetable. I’ve seen elite endurance athletes eat it raw in salads, steamed or boiled as a side dish to hot meals, and blended into smoothies. It is also one of the most nutritionally complete foods on Earth. Loaded with vitamins A, C, and K, a variety of minerals, and an array of phytonutrients, spinach earns a Completeness Score of 91 from Nutrition Data (a measure of how complete a food is with respect to twenty-three nutrients). That’s six points higher than the green-of-the-moment, kale.
Of particular interest to endurance athletes, spinach is one of the best food sources of dietary nitrate next to beets. Recall that nitrate enhances endurance performance by increasing blood flow to the muscles and by helping mitochondria, the aerobic factories within cells, function more efficiently.
Try this: Add spinach to meatloaves, lasagnas, pizzas, and other comfort foods to make them more nutritious but no less comforting.
Sweet Potatoes
More than almost any other food, sweet potatoes are gaining new fans among elite endurance athletes. In the case of American professional cyclist Ally Stacher, the discovery of the colorful root vegetable’s virtues made such an impact that she developed her own sweet potato–based energy bar (Ally’s Bar).
Sweet potatoes are becoming increasingly popular among pro racers in large part because they are nutritionally well-rounded compared to some other high-carb foods. One cup of cooked sweet potato supplies 41 grams of carbs. But sweet potatoes are also rich in vitamins A and C, fiber, and the antioxidant beta-carotene. Their Nutrition Data Completeness Score of 65 is about 20 points higher than that of any whole grain.
Try this: Put your blender to work to make quick-and-easy sweet potato soups. Just bake the sweet potatoes until soft, combine them with your other ingredients in the blender, and press a button!
Tea
In places where coffee is less popular among elite endurance athletes—places like England and India—its cousin tea is more popular. It carries the same benefits for health and endurance performance as coffee. A 2013 scientific review conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin reported that green and black tea may reduce the risk of some cancers, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes and may also slow some aspects of the aging process. These effects are attributed to its caffeine content and its high concentration of antioxidants, particularly polyphenols. There is evidence as well that green tea improves brain function and reduces body fat slightly.
Despite its caffeine content, tea has been shown to hydrate about as well as plain water. Among Kenya’s elite runners, tea is the primary source of hydration. As described in Chapter 5, they like to take it with plenty of milk and sugar. In this form it makes an especially good postexercise recovery beverage, providing water for rehydration, carbohydrates for muscle refueling, protein for muscle rebuilding, and antioxidants to combat oxidative stress. (Do take it easy on the sugar, though!)
Try this: If you’re normally a coffee drinker, replace your morning joe with a cup of black or green tea once a week or so for a little nutritional and flavor diversity.
Teff
What ugali is to the cuisine of Kenya, the world’s greatest running nation, injera is to the cuisine of Ethiopia, the world’s second-greatest running nation. If you have ever eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant, you’ve eaten injera, a spongy bread that is torn into small pieces and used to wrap bite-size portions of vegetables, beans, stewed meat, and other delights.
Injera is made from teff, a millet-like grain that contains 50 percent more iron than whole wheat. A 2014 study by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute found that only 2 out of 101 elite Ethiopian runners tested was iron deficient. Because Ethiopians eat very little red meat, it is likely that teff is responsible for the low rate of iron deficiency among the nation’s hardest-training athletes.
You don’t have to be Ethiopian to benefit from teff. In another 2014 study, researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University added teff to the diets of eleven recreational female runners from England. Initial testing determined that they were not consuming iron in adequate amounts. Their average intake was 10.7 milligrams per day, well below the recommended intake of 15 milligrams per day for premenopausal women. Four of the women also tested as iron deficient.
The runners were then asked to replace the bread they normally ate with bread made from teff flour. This one simple substitution elevated the subjects’ average daily iron intake to 18.5 milligrams. This increase was associated with significantly improved iron supply to body tissues.
If you’re concerned about iron deficiency, and you’d rather get additional iron from a source other than red meat and supplements, consider incorporating teff into your diet.
Try this: Start your day with a bowl of teff porridge. Toast the teff in a heavy sauce pan on medium-low heat before adding 1.5 cups of water for every half cup of teff and boiling until it’s thick. Add whatever you like for flavor, texture, and extra nutrition: dried or fresh fruit, seasonings, butter or milk, and/or chopped nuts.
Tomatoes
Members of the Torque Konya Sekerspor Club pro cycling team from Turkey often include sliced tomatoes and cucumbers in their breakfast—but only during the summer, when they’re in season. The Turks are particular about their tomatoes. Indeed, they are the world’s ultimate tomato connoisseurs, consuming more tomatoes than people in any other country.
Turkish professional racers are not the only ones who take advantage of the food’s special benefits, though. Elite endurance athletes in many parts of the world consume tomatoes frequently and in a great variety of forms—fresh, juiced, and in sauces, salsas, and soups. One of the great virtues of tomatoes is that they offer a lot of flavor and satisfaction without a lot of calories. (One medium tomato contains 22 calories.) They are rich in vitamins A and C as well as in the antioxidants beta-carotene and lycopene.
Among the special benefits of tomato consumption for endurance athletes is improved muscle recovery. In 2012, researchers at Stockholm University reported that tomato juice significantly reduced oxidative stress after exercise in a group of nonathletes. A year later, a team of Greek scientists recruited fifteen endurance athletes as subjects and asked nine of them to replace their regular sports drink with tomato juice during and after training for a period of two months. The researchers reported that the tomato juice drinkers exhibited significantly reduced biomarkers of muscle damage and inflammation.
Tomatoes are also known to improve the elasticity of blood vessels. In nonexercisers, this effect reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. In endurance athletes, it enhances cardiovascular performance. This was shown in another study conducted by Greek researchers. In this experiment, thirty ultrarunners were given either a whey protein bar to eat or tomato juice to drink daily for two months while they continued with their normal training. At the end of this intervention, blood vessel elasticity was improved only in the runners who drank tomato juice.
Try this: Grow your own heirloom tomatoes. They won’t keep you “in the red” year-round, but throughout the summer you’ll be spoiled with fresher, tastier, and more nutritious tomatoes than you can get anywhere else.
Tuna
The award for the most interesting use of tuna I witnessed in researching this book goes to Canadian elite cross-country skier Devon Kershaw, who placed a dollop of Thai spice tuna atop a salad of mixed greens, kale, beetroot, red and yellow peppers, apple slices, avocado, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and cottage cheese. Like many other endurance superfoods, tuna has the quality of versatility. You can sear a tuna steak in slices or whole, create a tuna salad for sandwiches, enjoy it in sushi, and even spread tuna pâté on crackers.
Another benefit of tuna is its healthfulness. That’s why many of Devon Kershaw’s elite peers also eat tuna regularly. It is an excellent source of unsaturated fats, which support brain function and create healthy cell membranes. Tuna is also one of the best food sources of selenium, a mineral with antioxidant properties. Scientists discovered recently that much of the selenium in tuna occurs in the especially potent form of selenoneine.
Try this: Replace mayonnaise with avocado in your tuna salad for a healthier sandwich that still tastes good.
Yogurt
Lina Augaitis, who won the 2014 stand-up paddle boarding world championship for Canada, starts each day with one of three breakfasts. Some days it’s a smoothie, other days eggs and potatoes, and still others a bowl of homemade granola with fruit, almond milk, and yogurt.
I’ve lost count of the number of regular yogurt eaters I’ve encountered within the ranks of elite endurance athletes. Many of them like to eat yogurt for recovery after workouts because its balance of carbohydrates, fat, and protein is ideal for that purpose. But perhaps the greatest benefit of yogurt for endurance athletes is its effect on body composition. No fewer than three of its ingredients help athletes shed excess body fat. Protein promotes satiety, probiotics such as lactobacillus shift the balance of gut bacteria to reduce dietary fat absorption, and calcium reduces body fat levels through several different mechanisms.
Not all yogurts are equal, however. The healthiest ones are those without added sugar or reduced fat content. Many people assume that full-fat dairy products of all kinds are less healthy, but they are more natural (i.e., less processed) than their low-fat counterparts, so it’s not surprising that studies have linked them to better health outcomes.
Try this: Eat yogurt with fruit and nuts after some of your workouts. It’s a great recovery snack, not only for its nutritional composition but because it’s easy to prepare and eat when you’re fatigued from hard training.