Want to know how to best nourish your body for top athletic performance? Just ask an athlete! Athletes understand that if they want to do well in training, competition, and even in daily life, proper nutrition is absolutely essential.

We asked several athletes we know to give us their top tips for sports nutrition. Here’s what they had to say. 

Favor Bioavailable Protein

Most athletes embrace a protein rich diet to support their active lifestyles, and it's no secret that protein is involved with muscle repair and growth. But, did you know that not all protein is the same? Our athletes give a huge thumbs up to plant-based proteins, since they are often  more bioavailable than proteins from animal sources. 

Bioavailability is a measure of how quickly and easily a nutrient is broken down and absorbed during digestion. And because vegetarian and vegan proteins like spirulina and nutritional yeast are so bioavailable, your body can utilize them faster than animal proteins (like whey). The added bonus is that plant based proteins also contain a wider array of additional nutrients to help replenish your body after workouts. 

Maintain Adequate Iron Levels

Another key nutrient our athletes favor is iron. Iron is vital at the gym and for your overall health  because it helps your body to make hemoglobin, the protein found in red blood cells that circulates oxygen throughout your body and gives blood its red color. Inadequate hemoglobin levels make it tough for oxygen to get from our lungs to our muscles, negatively impacting energy levels and athletic performance.

This is why so many professional athletes feel that maintaining balanced iron levels is a top priority. However, our superfoodie athletes also stressed the importance of consuming iron in its natural form, since many of the synthetically manufactured iron supplements on the market are difficult to absorb, and can often do more harm than good. They recommended spirulina as a favorite all natural iron source, and our Sari Foods Organic Spirulina contains 30% of your recommended daily iron in just one serving—that’s more than Popeye's beloved spinach!

Enjoy Vitamin C Rich Foods

Intense workouts use up lots of valuable nutrients, and sometimes replenishing them requires a little finesse. Athletes love vitamin C rich foods because they work synergistically with the iron in your diet to support its bioavailability. Vitamin C is also involved in the production of carnitine (the amino acid that helps you burn fat for energy), and is necessary for collagen production. 

It always makes sense to get your nutrients from natural whole foods rather than synthetic sources, and vitamin C is no exception. Our Sari Foods Natural Vitamin C and Sari Foods Organic Spirulina are both delicious ways to get more vitamin C in your diet. Our vitamin C powder, which is made from organic acerola cherries, contains 833% of your recommended required requirement in just one serving—and the vitamin C in one acerola cherry matches that in 65 oranges!

Tips for a Healthy Workout Recovery

To replenish the nutrients lost during intense exercise, our Sari Foodie athletes recommend bringing a homemade superfood protein smoothie to the gym to sip while you exercise, or for immediately afterwards. By making sure that your smoothie contains plant-based protein, iron, and natural vitamin C, you offer your body a burst of bioavailable nutrition it can absorb quickly. Our athletes appreciate the green goodness of spirulina for post workout smoothies, since it’s such an easily digestible protein source. 

Sari Foods Organic Spirulina delivers 65g of plant protein in every 100g, and also contains iron, magnesium, beta-carotene, vitamin B12, chlorophyll, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and essential amino acids (GLA, Omegas 3, 6, & 9). Not sure how to use spirulina in a smoothie? Try our Plant-Based Protein Powerhouse Smoothie recipe.

To further encourage your post workout recovery, try to eat a protein-rich meal about an hour after working out. Beans, pulses, and lentils are all delicious ways to enjoy plant protein, as is Sari Foods Non-Fortified Nutritional Yeast, which is made up of 50% protein containing 18 essential amino acids—as well as important  B vitamins.

Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of rest. Downtime is vital for recovery and rebuilding the energy reserves necessary for top athletic performance. So find time to relax and rest after strenuous exercise to keep your batteries charged. This will help you make the most of all the healthy foods you eat so you can enjoy your best workouts ever.