Runners and Anyone Who is looking for Foods/Snacks that will Fuel their Engines to help them get ready for some intense exercise whether it's at a gym, hitting the track for a run, doing some intense laps in the pool, we all need to have the fuel to stoke up our bodies furnaces, right?? Here are some simple ways to turn around the caloric intake and make a healthier snack that won't have you spending extra time burning off what you just ingested.
Runners confront food choices several times each day, at every meal and it all starts at the supermarket. But choosing a Low-Cal option doesn't always have to mean sacrificing flavor or satiety. Here are 13 easy ways to save nearly 100 calories or more.
Choices Are Everywhere
Breakfast Protein
Instead of two sausage patties with your eggs, have two slices of Canadian-style bacon.
2 sausage patties: 270 calories
2 slices Canadian bacon: 87 calories
Save: 183 calories
Tweak Your Taco
Try tacos with corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas.
2 flour tortillas (taco size): 280 calories
2 corn tortillas: 100 calories
Save: 180 calories
Veggie Noodles
A Little Less Bread
A serving of veggie noodles, like spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles made with a spiralizer, saves a load of calories from the regular version and packs extra nutrients, too.
2 ounces egg noodles: 218 calories
1 cup cooked spaghetti squash: 42 calories
Save: 176 calories
A Little Less Bread
Instead of a bagel, eat an English muffin. Do better and make it a whole wheat muffin.
1 medium bagel: 289 calories
1 whole-wheat English muffin: 135 calories
Save: 154 calories
Nibbles Before Dinner
Forgo the cheese, and you'll already be ahead of the game.
4 wheat crackers (100 calories) and 2 ounces of cheddar cheese (226 calories): 326 calories
1 ounce of tortilla chips (137 calories) and ½ cup of salsa (35 calories): 172 calories
Save: 154 calories
Hold the Mayo
Replacing mayo with mustard on your sandwich or in your egg salad adds extra zing at a fraction of the caloric cost.
2 tablespoons mayonnaise: 180 calories
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard: 30 calories
Save: 150 calories
Crunch Time
Instead of a serving of potato chips, try a serving of air-popped popcorn.
1 ounce of potato chips: 160 calories
1 cup popcorn: 31 calories
Save: 129 calories
Skip the grape juice in favor of 1 cup fresh grapes.
12 ounces 100 percent grape juice: 210 calories
1 cup fresh grapes: 104 calories
Save: 106 calories
Hydration Strategy
On runs lasting one hour or less, try Nuun Sugar-Free Electrolyte Drink Tablets for calorie savings.
16 ounces Gatorade: 110 calories
1 Nuun Active Tab (dissolved in 16 ounces of water): 7 calories
Save: 103 calories
Go Nuts
Instead of granola, try almonds.
½ cup granola: 260 calories
1 ounce almonds: 162 calories
Save: 98 calories
White Veggie Switch
Instead of mashed potatoes, Use Fresh Cauliflower when available, frozen when not. Steam the cauliflower, then mash it. Flavor it with a little low fat milk, and add some low-fat Greek Yogurt to help aid in the texture with a ¼ teaspoon of sea-salt
¾ cup mashed potatoes (with whole milk and butter): 178 calories
¾ cup (steamed or boiled, then mashed) cauliflower (with buttermilk): 107 calories
Save: 71 calories
Indulge a Sweet Tooth
Instead of ½ cup premium ice cream, eat 1 four-ounce pudding cup.
½ cup Haagen Dazs Chocolate Ice Cream: 260 calories
Jello four-ounce pudding cup: 110 calories
Save: 150 calories
Cold Drink Decision
A daily Starbucks's icy constructed sweet drink can be deceiving. White Chocolate Mocha (tall) - Just by its name you know that the White Chocolate Mocha is definitely a fatty borderline-dessert drink. Though it is undoubtedly delicious (you can't go wrong with espresso and white chocolate), 310 calories is too high for any drink, especially when all your drinking is fat and sugar.
INSTEAD DRINK: Luckily, there is a lower calorie Frappuccino option: the Coffee Frappuccino Blended Coffee (tall). It's just as cold, creamy, and satisfying as the White Chocolate Mocha, except it has about half the amount of calories, at only 160.
So you can see, just by making a few substitutes without sacrificing flavor, you can trim quite a few calories that would of other wise helped to add a few more ounces or even pounds to your frame. And isn't the point of your exercising to get healthier, so why not eat good tasting things that won't have you adding more time to your workouts.