sports performance nutrition

Disclosure: I was compensated for my time as part of the @CocoaVia Supplement #HeartMonth campaign through the Healthy Aperture Blogger Network.

Does it sound strange to say the favorite part of my day is working out? Some people hate exercising, but I love it. It’s a time to forget about everything that stresses me, focus on achieving personal goals, and cater to my competitive side while still having fun with friends. But, more often than not, it’s hard for me to get my rear in gear for a run or workout. However, I’ve found that the right nutrition about 30 minutes before I head out to the gym, trail or track helps me win the day.

Since I’m typically in a rush tying up work and family obligations, I need an easy pre-workout snack that I can stash in my gym bag. Personally, I prefer a drink over food because it’s easier for me to stomach before a workout — unfortunately, many beverages need refrigeration. However, I came up with a delicious recipe for Dark Chocolate Espresso Pre-Workout Shake that can be prepared right on the spot with no blender, fridge or heating appliances.

The workout friendly ingredients include canned espresso for a caffeine boost, honey crystals for some quality, quick-energy carbs, chocolate whey powder for sustained energy and CocoaVia® Daily Cocoa Extract Supplement for a dose of cocoa flavanols, which are scientifically proven to promote a healthy heart by supporting healthy blood flow†.

I didn’t have any trouble finding taste-testers at my CrossFit gym!

Seriously easy, all you do to make the “recipe” is bring along a mason jar filled with a bit of dry honey crystals and a half-scoop of your favorite chocolate protein powder. Before drinking, just add your 8-ounce can of espresso, 4 ounces of water and a packet CocoaVia® Daily Cocoa Flavanols Extract Supplement (Unsweetened Dark Chocolate). If you don’t want to use the canned espresso (or can’t find it), you can just add black coffee to the Mason jar brought from home – however, I do recommend the 8-ounce can of High Brew Double Espresso because it’s convenient and is made with just a light touch of cane sugar. Whole Foods usually carries it.

Shake, shake, shake up everything in the Mason jar and enjoy – this pre-workout shake isn’t too filling, so it stays down even if burpees are on the whiteboard. Another thing, and GENIUS, if I might add – if you are in a situation where there might be multiple “mason jars” hanging around or if you want to differentiate concoctions in your own fridge, those cheapie rubber bracelets fit perfectly around the rim – everyone gets a different color! Scroll back up and look at the photo for my orange bracelet!

I think you’ll love this pre-workout beverage – it provides heat-healthy cocoa flavanols, sustaining energy thanks to the protein powder, and tastes great at any temperature. You’ll also really appreciate the CocoaVia® Daily Cocoa Extract Supplement that delivers the highest concentration of cocoa flavanols you can find. The use of cocoa flavanols, like those found in CocoaVia®, are supported by two decades of scientific research that suggest these powerful plant-derived nutrients may play a valuable role in cardiovascular health. It’s pretty much impossible to get enough of these cocoa flavanols through chocolate treats (you’d surely get sick!), the traditional cocoa processing, which includes drying, fermenting and roasting of beans, destroys many of the naturally-occurring flavanols. However, CocoaVia®supplement isolates the “good stuff” and packages it up for use in a convenient, versatile form, without all the calories and fat – my heart and I love them for that! For more information, visit www.CocoaVia.com

†This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

YUM! Dark Chocolate Espresso PreWorkout Shake #Recipe #HeartMonth @CocoaVia #Ad

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Are you a chocolholic? What do you eat before a workout? Did you run a race or have a competition this weekend? I’d love to know, please share in the comments below – XOXO, Jennifer

Dark Chocolate Espresso Pre-Workout Shake

Prep Time

1 min

Cook Time

1 min

Total Time

2 mins

Win your day and your workout with this easy-to-make pre-workout shake featuring the benefits of cocoa flavinols, caffeine, quality carbohydrates and sustaining protein. No blender or refrigerator needed.

Course: Beverage, Smoothies, Worout

Cuisine: American

Servings: 1 serving

Ingredients

1 packet CocoaVia® Daily Cocoa Extract Supplement (Unsweetened Dark Chocolate).
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried honey crystals (like Nektar Naturals) or palm (coconut) sugar
3 tablespoons chocolate protein powder about 1/2 scoop
8 ounce can lightly sweetened espresso beverage or unsweetened strong black coffee
4 ounces water

Instructions

Add CocoaVia®, honey crystals, and protein powder to mason jar or shaker bottle. Add lid and lightly shake to combine.
Add espresso and and water to powdered mixture. Shake vigorously until well combined.
Enjoy as-prepared or serve over ice.

Wondering what to eat to easily get through a marathon or ultra race?

Before you binge out on pasta dinners and bagel breakfasts, you might want to take a serious look at what researchers are reporting about “carbo-loading” before a marathon or long endurance event. The days of high-carb diets may be over – well, make that modified — for athletes who want to perform their best on race day, or so says the March 2013 issue of Competitor magazine. New research is suggesting that a low-carb diet may actually have benefits because it trains an athlete’s muscles to be better fat burners.

When muscles can access fat as fuel during a race, glycogen stores are spared and saved for use later down the road – this means “hitting the wall” or “bonking” can be delayed and perhaps even avoided completely. But don’t swear off pancakes just yet. Training day after day on a low-carb diet can leave a runner feeling sluggish and slow because glycogen stores never get topped off. Plus, there hasn’t been any irrefutable, one hundred percent conclusive proof that removing carbs from the diet improves endurance performance. In fact, one study at the University of Birmingham in England found that low-carb runners (41% carbs) reported more fatigue and showed reductions in performance than their high-carb counterparts (65% carbs) during intensive training runs.

Good fat-loading choices on left. Good carb-loading choices on right.

A new pre-race nutrition paradigm that combines the two ‘loading’ approaches is being recommended by experts in the sports performance field. Here’s the plan in a nutshell. About two weeks out from an endurance event, aim to get about 65 percent of calories from fats and continue this high-fat intake for 10 days. This “hall pass” to eat fats doesn’t mean you can pig out on pizza and ding-dongs all day, or really any day. Quality fats from healthy oils, nuts, meats, avocados, whole milk, cheese, eggs, and fatty fish are what should be on the table. During this phase, your body will learn how to tap into fat stores for fuel; and, your training won’t suffer much because you’ll be tapering down anyway.

After 10 days of eating low-carb, high-fat foods, switch to a traditional “carbo-load” diet that incorporates 70 percent of calories from carbohydrates for the next three days. This ensures that your glycogen levels are as high as they can be and are raring to go on race day. Stay away from processed carbs and too much sugar. Instead, top off your tank with high-quality, healthy carbs including whole-grain pastas, breads, and rice along with plenty of fruits and veggies (but, of course, cut the fiber intake 24 hours before event).

A study conducted by the University of Cape Town in South Africa implemented this 10-day ‘fat-load’ followed by 3-day ‘carbo-load’ plan on a group of experienced cyclists. After a moderate two-hour warm-up, the athletes were able to complete a 20k time trial 4.5 percent faster following the new diet protocol. What do you think? Is it worth a try?

To recap:

Day 14 through Day 5 before event: High-Fat, Low-Carb
Day 4 through Day 2 before event: High-Carb, Low-Fat
Day 1: Race!

To give you an idea of what a “High Fat, Low Carb” and a “High Carb, Low Fat” days look like, I’ve come up with a sample menu based on an approximate 2,500 calorie diet.

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Tag Archives: sports performance nutrition

Dark Chocolate Espresso Pre-Workout Shake #HeartMonth

Fat and then Carbs! Latest in Pre-Race Nutrition for Marathons and Ultras