Foods All Runners Should Avoid

Food is fuel when you are undertaking any type of physical training. But it isn’t just calories you need to pump into your body to fuel your runs, the types of calories you are eating will have a major impact on your regime.

If you try and eat high calorie foods such as fast food, thinking that you will burn off the calories during your exercise, you will struggle to perform properly.

You need to right foods to promote muscle growth and repair. Eating the wrong foods can end up setting you back with injury. So, what foods should you look to avoid if you are training for an upcoming event?

Fizzy Drinks

Some think that switching to ‘diet’ or ‘sugar free’ carbonated drinks means they are drinking healthier, but these drinks actually contain artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame, cyclamate that are known to cause kidney problems, dehydration, sugar cravings and weight gain.

Sweets and Chocolate

When you’re burning a lot of calories your body is going to crave empty calorie sweets and chocolate bars. Switching to healthier snacks with more nutrient-rich carbohydrates and good amounts of protein are much better for helping you recover and fuel your next exercise.

Saturated and Trans-fats

These cholesterol high oils should be avoided at all costs, especially when exercising. They can increase the risk of heart disease and arterial blockages. Instead, choose healthy fats that raise HDL cholesterol: this is the good cholesterol from avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil and seafood.

Alcohol

You don’t have to cut it out from your life entirely – who would want to – but cutting down during training is important, as overdoing it will cause dehydration, slowed reaction times and poor performance.

Full Fat Dairy

Unless you are trying to gain weight, it is best to avoid full-fat dairy products; instead, opt for 1% versions or even try switching to a non-dairy alternative such as almond milk or soy milk when training for a long-distance running event.