March 28, 2024

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



Published June 6, 2023, 11:20 p.m. by Violet Harris


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.

Subscribe to gtn: http://gtn.io/SubscribetoGTN

Check out the gtn Shop: http://gtn.io/fP

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!

If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends. 👍

Submit your content here:

https://upload.globaltrinetwork.com/

If you'd like to contribute captions and video info in your language, here's the link - http://gtn.io/fO

Watch more on gtn...

📹 5 Supplements For Triathletes | An Introduction To Nutritional Supplements In triathlon - http://gtn.io/Supplements

📹 Should You Workout When You're Sick? | The Effects Of Training When You're Ill - http://gtn.io/WorkoutIll

Music: Epidemic Sound

Smooth Sailing - Dylan Sitts

Coast To Coast - Dylan Sitts

Cheap Flights - Dylan Sitts

Backlash (Instrumental Version)

Photos: © triathlon / Getty Images

The Global triathlon Network (gtn) is the best triathlon YouTube channel, with videos for anyone who loves triathlon: from seasoned ironman racers to first-timers – and everyone in between.

With the help of our pro and Olympic medal winning team, we’re here to inform, entertain and inspire you to become a better triathlete; including videos on:

How to swim, bike, and run faster with expert knowledge

Beat your PB with record-breaking expertise

Get the best from your bike and gear with pro-know-how

In-depth, entertaining features from the heart of the sport

Chat, opinion and interact with us across the channel and on social media every week

Join us on YouTube’s best triathlon channel to get closer to the sport and to become a better, faster and fitter triathlete.

Welcome to the Global triathlon Network.

Thanks to our sponsors:

Assos of Switzerland clothing: http://gtn.io/Assos

BMC Switzerland: http://gtn.io/bmc-bikes

Canyon bikes: http://gtn.io/canyon-bikes

Cervelo bikes: http://gtn.io/cervelo

Continental: http://gtn.io/continental

ENVE wheels: http://gtn.io/ENVE-wheels

KASK helmets: http://gtn.io/kask

ON Running: http://gtn.io/On-Running

Orca: http://gtn.io/Orca

Park Tool: http://gtn.io/parktool

Polar: http://gtn.io/polar

Profile Design: http://gtn.io/profiledesign

Quarq power meters: http://gtn.io/quarq

Roka: http://gtn.io/roka

Team Bath: http://gtn.io/TeamBath

Vision wheels: http://gtn.io/vision

Zipp wheels: http://gtn.io/zipp

Zwift: http://gtn.io/zwift

YouTube Channel - http://gtn.io/YouTube

Facebook - http://gtn.io/Facebook

Instagram - http://gtn.io/Instagram

Twitter - http://gtn.io/Twitter

Google+ - http://gtn.io/GooglePlus

Strava Club - http://gtn.io/stravaclub

GMBN Tech - http://gmbn.tech/subscribe

GCN Tech - http://gcntech.co/subscribe

EMBN - http://embn.me/subscribe

You may also like to read about:



supporting your triathlon training with

a good balanced diet is essential for

your performance today i'm going to be

looking at which superfoods can give you

that natural boost

let's start by addressing the term or

word superfood now many nutritionists

actually shudder at the thought of that

word because there is no one singular

food that can give you that amazing

boost that can make you a better faster

stronger athlete overnight it is about

combination of various nutritious foods

combined with a training plan that will

make you a better athlete that said some

foods pack more of a punch when it comes

to nutrient values than others it is

these nutrient-rich foods that are

thought to actually be more beneficial

to our overall health but before we go

into the foods that i've chosen i had to

obviously cap it somewhere and i

couldn't include every food that's good

for you and i did some research spoke to

some experts and i have chosen my 11

favorite superfoods

[Music]

starting with eggs the standout reason

for eating eggs is for their protein

content because they contain all of the

essential amino acids and they're easy

to digest now on top of this

macronutrient they've also got vitamins

minerals omega-3 and antioxidants well

all of this combined makes them great

for muscle synthesis and recovery well

one of the important parts for me about

the egg is that it's convenient and it's

cheap now admittedly much to my

colleagues disapproval i do quite often

have a hard-boiled egg in my bag which

comes out for a mid-morning snack but if

you don't want to upset your colleagues

there's so many other ways in which you

can include eggs into your nutrition a

great way is to make a spanish omelet so

you can have it hot in the evening and

maybe make a large one and then use the

other half for breakfast if you're on

the go the next day it's also a great

way for using up all the contents in

your fridge

next we have kale now this one does get

some mixed reviews but it's certainly

become pretty fashionable in the last

few years and i remember as a child

actually hating eating kale and my

parents now laughing at me because i

include this and quite a lot of my meals

well this comes from the cabbage family

and it's really high in vitamins a k b6

iron and calcium this super green food

is full of antioxidants carotenoids and

flavonoids which are great for the

anti-inflammatory process something

really important for athletes because we

put so much stress on our bodies i'm

talking putting stress on our bodies we

also need a higher amount of calcium and

iron so it comes in really handy for

that especially for female athletes and

those who maybe don't eat meat or dairy

so you might be wondering how to make

this vegetable exciting or tasty well

recently i actually experimented with

probably in the roasting oven with a bit

of coconut oil and some almonds which

toasted nicely and it came out really

crispy another option is obviously

steaming veg or boiling it but if you do

cook it this way just try to keep it to

a minimum because you don't want to lose

those vital micronutrients

next up we've got the humble root

vegetable the beetroot well this has

increased in popularity recently partly

because of its high antioxidant level in

the form of anthocyanin but more

recently and more significantly for

sport it is because of its high levels

of nitrate now studies have actually

suggested that consuming high levels of

nitrate can help with athletic

performance especially when it comes to

endurance athletes

this veg has become so popular that you

even see it popping up in cakes although

i would not recommend trying to get your

nitrate quantities out of a red velvet

cake for example because the amount of

cake you'd have to eat to get enough

nitrate would certainly cancel out the

benefit there but there are so many

other ways in which you can use this veg

you can pop it into other bits of baking

but probably best kept as a savory dish

either roasting it you can grate it in

salads or add it into smoothies and

juices

another root vegetable the sweet potato

now this one has a lot more health

benefits over the bog standard white

potato one of which being the fact that

it has plenty of fiber and slow

releasing carbohydrates but on top of

that it also contains beta-carotene

giving you vitamin a it also has plenty

of vitamin c so it's packed full of

antioxidants they also help to lower

blood pressure and they're a great food

for athletes because they are so packed

with vitamins and minerals they include

the likes of potassium iron manganese

and copper or vitamins that athletes are

quite often susceptible to lacking and

the latter two copper and manganese are

great for healthy muscle function well

again how to use this root vegetable

there are so many simple options roast

it mash it slice it and have it fried

with breakfast or you could even put it

in brownies although i'd suggest keeping

that one to a minimum

one of the most convenient foods from

this superfood list is the humble banana

not only comes in its own

environmentally friendly packaging it

also packs a punch nutritionally well

it's full of potassium and vitamin b6

they'll keep your blood sugar levels

more stable as well as replenishing your

carbohydrates as well as actually aiding

digestion so it's no wonder that we

often see cyclists with bananas in their

back pockets and at races or other

events you have bananas chopped up as

part of a snack and these are one of the

easiest things to incorporate in your

food you can pop them into smoothies

chop them up in your cereal you can even

experiment a little bit and i've been

making some ice cream with them freezing

them adding a bit of milk and then

blitzing that and it's pretty yummy but

healthy dessert

the perfect recovery drink

milk you cannot get away from the health

benefits of cow's milk now sports

recovery drinks have a ratio of three to

one three parts carbohydrate to one part

protein which is designed for optimal

recovery straight after a workout well

that's exactly the same ratio that you

find in milk on top of this it's also

got high levels of calcium and vitamin d

essential for healthy bones and

especially we're doing triathlon running

we're putting a lot of stresses and

doing micro damage to our bones so

calcium and vitamin d are needed in

abundance

milk is the obvious food for calcium and

vitamin d but it also aids hydration but

if you don't want to drink it then you

look at other dairy products to get

those micronutrients such as yogurt

creme fresh cheese cottage cheese the

list goes on

not the sexiest of superfoods next we

have whole grains now these have been

raved about the last 10 years or so

mainly because of their low glycemic

index or gi which means they've

basically got very slow releasing

carbohydrates but there is so much more

to this group of grains foods such as

brown rice whole wheat pasta barley and

quinoa like i have here are also high in

fiber and protein which makes them great

for sustained energy release as well as

slowing down your digestion and the

fibre is also thought to help maintain

good gut bacteria

[Music]

today i have specifically chosen walnuts

because this is the nut that actually

has the largest percentage of omega-3s

as well as having vitamin b's and

vitamin e on top of this it's got

selenium zinc calcium and iron all

packed into this little nut and

something we haven't really mentioned so

far are fats now all nuts contain good

fat so the monounsaturated and

polyunsaturated fats so all in all it

makes this little walnut great for brain

health as well as helping for physical

recovery from training

this next one is kakoa and before you

get too excited no i'm afraid i'm not

talking about the chocolate

confectionery that you might find at

your local supermarket check out kakoa

is actually full of antioxidants which

is great for your cardiovascular health

as well as defending against free

radicals it also contains high levels of

magnesium and i found a study recently

well actually quite a few studies

suggesting that having high levels of

cocoa can actually help protect your

skin against sun but i'm not suggesting

that you replace eating chocolate for

your sun cream right let's set the

record straight as to what i'm talking

about when i talk about cacao well it is

the purest form of cocoa so when it

comes to chocolate for example you want

to find a dark chocolate that says it

has a high percentage of cocoa or cacao

so for example this dark chocolate here

is 85

i'm going to try some of that later or

you could go for something like cacao

powder which again is full of all the

same benefits and this you can use in

baking or you could even use it in

savory dishes and sauces

right now we've got chia seeds these are

dense in nutrients they've got protein

fiber calcium and iron as well as having

high levels of antioxidants which

actually surprised me plus omega three

you can obviously get them in seed form

or as we have here the milled version

but it's worth noting as well that flax

seeds or otherwise known as linseeds

these have very similar nutritional

values but usually fine they come in a

little bit cheaper so a great

alternative

now i'm not a nutritionist but i would

say that anything that is this rich in

color is pretty likely to be packed full

of goodness and nutrients well the

cherry is no exception and one of the

selling points of the cherry is the fact

that it is full of antioxidants so works

really well as an anti-inflammatory and

athletes and sports nutritionists have

been experimenting with cherry juice

actually having higher concentrates as a

cherry shot to help aid that

anti-inflammatory process the hardest

part for this video is actually

narrowing it down to just 11 superfoods

but as i mentioned at the start

incorporating all of these foods into a

healthy balanced diet is the best way to

get the benefit from all the different

nutrients and admittedly some of them do

overlap so it is going to be a matter of

trying out what you like and also

something that you're realistic you can

include in your everyday cooking on a

regular basis but anyway enough talking

of this food i think it's time i went

and did some baking got my fingers a

little bit dirty and you might be

feeling inspired to go and do so as well

but before you do make sure you hit the

globe to subscribe hit the thumb up

button if you've liked this video and if

you are interested in how you can get

some of these vitamins or minerals from

a supplement form we've actually done a

video looking at five supplements for

triathlon you can find that just here

and mark recently made a video looking

into whether you should train when

you're ill and that's just here

Resources:

Similar videos

2CUTURL

Created in 2013, 2CUTURL has been on the forefront of entertainment and breaking news. Our editorial staff delivers high quality articles, video, documentary and live along with multi-platform content.

© 2CUTURL. All Rights Reserved.