What Should Athletes Eat for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner?
You’ve probably heard the mantra that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” so it goes without saying that as an athlete, you’ll want to make sure you’re eating the breakfast of champions. Sorry to say that if you love boxed cereal, this is not a healthy way to start your day.
The first thing you should consume each morning is two large glasses of freshwater (16-32 ounces total). You want to revive your cells with water before you drink anything else, even coffee. Give yourself at least 15 minutes before consuming anything else, so as not to interfere with digestion.
If you’re an early riser, morning hours are the best time to detox your body. You can help facilitate this with a glass of fresh-pressed juice (after you drink your water), or by adding a splash of lemon or apple cider vinegar to your water. Again, you’ll want to drink this at least 15 minutes before you eat breakfast.
After your body has been hydrated, then you can move on to nutrition.
What Do Athletes Eat for Breakfast?
Now onto the food choices… Although we’re not big on counting calories and carbs, it’s a good idea to consume 500-750 of your daily calories at breakfast time, with approximately half of that coming from carbohydrates and the other half split down the middle between protein and fat. Carbohydrates include fruits and vegetables, so we’re not recommending that you eat 300 calories worth of grains.
Good sources of breakfast protein include eggs, nuts, yogurt, and meat.
Good sources of breakfast fats include avocados, grass-fed butter, coconut oil, high-quality yogurt/whole milk/cream, and animal fats from high-quality sausages. If you’re a coffee drinker, you can try drinking your coffee “bulletproof” style, blended with a tablespoon of salt-free grass-fed butter and another tablespoon of coconut oil. It not only generates a nice froth, but it will deliver the caffeine straight to your brain, giving you a healthy burst of energy. Leave out the sugar, or try sweetening with monkfruit instead. The high-fat content is pretty filling, as well, so you’ll feel satiated longer.
Good sources of breakfast carbohydrates include fruit, vegetables, and properly prepared grains, such as oatmeal or corn grits that have been soaked overnight, or a traditional sourdough or rye toast.
Quick Breakfast Ideas for Athletes
If you don’t have time for a full-on breakfast, here are some excellent shortcuts that can be prepped ahead or whipped up in under 10 minutes:
- Green smoothie and hard-boiled eggs. Boil the eggs and prep the fruit and veggies for your smoothie the night before. In the morning, be sure to add some coconut oil to your smoothie to ensure you’re getting enough fat to help your body absorb the nutrients.
- Fried egg with avocado on toasted sourdough + bulletproof coffee. It only takes a couple of minutes to fry an egg and toast the bread. Enough time to prep your bulletproof coffee and hit the road.
- Pre-soaked oatmeal with butter & sliced bananas + a cup of green tea. If you soak some old fashioned oats (steel cut take longer to cook), all you have to do in the morning is turn on the stove and cook it for 5 minutes. Add your toppings and head out the door.
- Plain whole yogurt topped with raw honey and/or fruit + a slice of rye toast and a cup of tea or coffee. If you’re into homemade granola, that could also be a tasty topping, but try to avoid store-bought granola, as it is often full of sugar and vegetable oils.
How Many Meals Should an Athlete Eat Per Day?
It’s a good idea in general for most people to eat four smaller meals each day, as opposed to the traditional three large meals. If you’re eating the right things, you should be nourishing your body, which will help you eliminate snacking on junk foods or empty carbohydrates.
To figure out what works best for you, however, you should become more aware of how you are currently eating and how well you feel each day. Do you eat a lot at breakfast and then fall into a slump in the afternoon? Do you skip breakfast and later overeat at lunch? Do you find yourself snacking all day long, never quite full?
The best route to take is to eat a healthy breakfast within 2 hours of waking up. Follow that up 2-3 hours later with a healthy lunch or a substantial healthy snack. After another 2-3 hours, you can have a similar size lunch/snack. Then after another 2-3 hours, you should be ready for dinner.
Is It Healthy to Snack Between Meals?
There is some debate about whether or not snacking is healthy. I don’t believe in one size fits all when it comes to food, but instead, advise that you find what works best for you and then try to always reach for the healthiest options available.
So, for example, if you feel like eating a big breakfast weighs you down, try to at least drink some fresh-pressed juice, a smoothie, bone broth, or tea/coffee. Then see how that makes you feel or which one makes you feel the best. If you find yourself snacking all day long, try to eat five small meals instead of 3 or 4. The most important thing is that you are feeding your true body fuel: high-quality fats from pastured animals or fatty fruits like avocados and coconuts, protein from quality sources and carbohydrates from organic fruits, vegetables, and properly prepared grains.
Healthy Snack Ideas
I am a snacker. Even if I eat four tasty meals, I still want a little something in between. I believe this can still be healthy, but it requires a little bit of planning, and enough self-control so that you don’t overdo it. A healthy snack should be eaten in moderation–just a handful of nuts, one apple, a whole avocado chopped, or 2 cups of popped popcorn. Snacking becomes unhealthy when you lose control and keep on snacking; then you throw off your body’s desire to eat a true meal, and you stop yourself short of getting the right amount of nutrients each day.
Some of my favorite snacks include:
- carrot sticks & homemade ranch dressing
- sliced avocados
- nuts and cheese, apples and cheese, or a combination of both with dried fruit
- air popped popcorn with grass fed butter or coconut oil & spices
- celery & nut butter
What are the Best Foods for Recovery?
The best foods to aid athletes in post workout recovery, as well as injury recovery, are whole, anti-inflammatory foods. Don’t fall for the pre-packaged “athlete fuel” that often are high in refined sugars and vegetable oils. These will do nothing to help your body recover.
Although you can certainly get scientific with your nutrition plan, good health really doesn’t need to be a science. Just try your best to populate your daily diet with foods that are as close to their original form as possible. An avocado that came right off the tree, rather than guacamole from a store carton. Plain, whole milk greek yogurt topped with raw honey, rather than a sugary pre-flavored fruity yogurt that likely has only a very small amount of healthy bacteria–nowhere near enough to combat the amount of sugar it contains.
Is Bone Broth Good After a Workout?
But with all that said, one of the absolute best recovery foods is homemade bone broth. It’s easy to make, inexpensive, and full of electrolytes, minerals and joint supporting collagen. It is one of the most nutrient dense foods you could incorporate into your diet, let alone as a recovery food.
Bone broth is simple to make. You just take a handful of bones–the ones with the most connective tissue still attached, the better–cover them with filtered water, add some onions, garlic, carrots, celery (you can even use the scraps from these veggies), and season with sea salt. Bring it to a boil on your stove top, then immediately reduce the heat to low, cover, and let simmer for about 6 hours. Or you can throw all that in a slow cooker and let it simmer for 8-10 hours, or overnight, if you don’t have time during the day.
Once it’s done, you simply run it through a strainer, drink a cup, then bottle up the rest for later use. Or go ahead and make a soup out of it while you’re in the kitchen. All the flavor is in the broth, so the soup is really just adding what you like for consistency. Add some chicken, chopped onion, carrot and celery for a chicken soup. Or go veggie with split peas.
Bone broth is also excellent for your digestive health. If you have any symptoms of a leaky gut–skin rashes, joint aches, digestive trouble–drinking bone broth with every meal, accompanied by some high quality probiotics, can help your gut heal. As with everything, you’ll want to avoid the bad stuff to see results quicker, but if you stick with the healthy habits, you’ll begin to feel better in no time.
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What do athletes eat for breakfast?
A healthy breakfast can include a tasty carb such as fruit and cereal like oatmeal—additional proteins and fats from eggs, yogurt, nuts, or meat. And, most importantly, hydrating properly with a high-quality water source.
What an athlete should eat in a day?
Athletes should always eat whole foods that are balanced with healthy proteins and fats. Athletes should enjoy vegetables, fruits, nuts, and high-quality protein sources. And remember to drink lots of water.
What do athletes snack on?
Athletes can snack on fruit such as apples, pears, and berries. A high-quality sports bar is a great choice as well as nuts or trail mix.