Top Ten Sports Nutrition Tips to Level Up Your Game TIP #8

Fiber is literally your BFF as and athlete. 👯‍♀️

💥This is one of the most important tips I can give you: **include a high fiber food at each meal and snack.

High fiber foods include:

🍎🥦ALL FRUITS AND ALL VEGGIES! Fruits and veggies contain a combination of solute and insoluble fiber. Both have substantial health benefits when it comes to overall health and sports performance.

🌾ALL GRAIN. Every grain you can think of has fiber. Most have a combination of soluble and insoluble fiber such as oats, brown rice, wild rice, farro, barley, quinoa, buckwheat, whole wheat pasta, chick pea pasts, popcorn, bulgar, millet, rye, corn, wheat and many more...

🥜NUTS and SEEDS such as sesame seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and many more...

⾖ BEANS and LENTILS including black beans, pinto beans, green lentils, white lentils, split peas, chick peas, lima beans and many more...

🏃‍♀️Fiber is crucial in order to regulate blood sugar levels. The fiber in food slows down the absorption of glucose into your blood and helps to regulate it. Blood sugar regulation is the foundation of maximizing energy levels, endurance, speed, power and body composition!

🩺Fiber is also responsible for optimizing gut health which is responsible for a strong immune system and optimal nutrient absorption!

🫀Fiber is also plays an important role in decreasing risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

TIP: Make sure you drink enough water along with fiber. without adequate hydration, a high fiber diet can cause constipation. Water is a necessary "teammate" of fiber to enhance absorption and metabolism of fiber.

Since athletes need more of every nutrient...we also need more fiber than non-athletes. 25-35 grams per day is the amount to aim for. But as I said above..if you grab a high fiber food with every meal and snack you'll achieve that and hence don't need to count. Planning meal sand snacks around fruits, veggies and grains is another easy way to assist with meal planning. Below is a sample day in order to illustrate how to achieve the goal of consuming an adequate amount of fiber to boost your performance and your health!

Sample High Fiber Day!!

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with sliced banana, blueberries and sliced almonds

Morning Snack:

apple and peanut butter

Lunch:

Grilled Chicken sandwich with hummus, spinach leaves, and sliced tomato

Afternoon Snack:

Greek Yoghurt topped w Homemade granola (made w oats, dried fruits and nuts)

Dinner:

Grilled salmon with sautéed broccoli and brown rice

Dessert

Cut up Pineapple