8 Great Workout Foods

Food choices are an integral part of your workout routine.  In fact, the right pre-workout foods can boost your performance, fuel your fitness and help maintain your weight loss.  So it’s important to choose the proper foods as you continue to schedule your exercise routines. Here to give us eight great workout foods is Lauren Antonucci, Registered Dietitian and director of NYC’s Nutrition Energy.  Simply choose your faves from this list, and you are more likely to feel better while working out and have faster recovery.

Banana with almond nut butter.  Great for early morning or evening workouts. Easy, tasty and simple to digest, this combo of fast acting carbs and potassium – from the banana – and slow burning good fats – the almond nut butter – will energize you quickly and stabilize your blood sugar throughout your toughest workout.

Baked potato or sweet potato. Strange snack, maybe. But tasty – absolutely. Many people who work from home or just do not like sweet snacks tend to love this option. Top the baked potato with salsa, hot sauce, or ketchup, for extra ore workout sodium. Top the sweet potato with cinnamon, which helps stabilize blood glucose.

Whole grain pita with hummus. This delectable snack will provide you with combo of carbs, protein and good fat sure to leave you motivate to workout, rather than as high sugar snacks tend to do.

Instant oatmeal with chopped nuts. Is another great mid-afternoon snack I tell my clients to leave at work. This way, whenever the chance to workout arises, you can make this tasty snack in under two minutes and never miss another workout again.

Whole grain waffle with berries.  Snacks like this will motivate you to exercise simply because you’ll be craving this pre-workout snack. (Cotton Candy editors swoon over this one.) The carbs, vitamins, potassium and antioxidants in this snack will fuel your workout and help muscle recovery.

Chicken noodle soup. Endurance athlete clients swear by this one for its balance of carbs (the noodles), protein (the chicken) and sodium.  It’s a kitchen staple as well, so many of us already have this one in our cabinets.

Edemame.  A fun to eat snack can be eaten fresh, microwaved from the freezer, or even ordered in if need be.  Edemame delivers complex carbs, and protein ideal for keeping you energized and strong.

Fig bars. This is one cookie you can feel good about eating. With 23 grams of carbs in two bars and a chewy texture, fig bars go digest easily – perfect for those days you are rushing out the door.

Written by: Lauren Antonucci, MS, RD, CSSD, CDE, CDN

Lauren Antonucci is a Registered Dietitian, Board Certified Specialist in sports nutrition, Certified Diabetes Educator, and owner of Nutrition Energy in New York City.  Antonucci serves as a private practice dietitian, weight loss expert, nutrition lecturer and frequent health and nutrition contributor. She has been featured on Good Day New York and NY1 News.