What Are The Best Foods For Athletes [Data Driven Guide]

If you’re an athlete, the “problem” with nutrient-dense foods like non-starchy vegetables and organ meats is that it can be hard to get enough fuel to support your activity.

The best foods for athletes are energy dense but are not nutrient dense but rather are fast burning foods that don’t contain a lot of essential nutrients. These foods may provide fuel for the short term, but they can lead to gut distress in the short term and as well as inflammation and insulin resistance in the long term.

To overcome these problems, this list of foods has been engineered to be both nutrient dense and energy dense to ensure someone who is very active can get enough fuel while maximising nutrient density as much as possible.

Energy density

The energy density of the foods listed below comes out at 367 calories per 100g compared to 231 calories per 100g for all foods in the USDA foods database. They will contain enough energy to fuel an active life without spending all day chewing or overfilling your stomach.

Macronutrients

From a macronutrient perspective these foods will provide you with:

more protein for muscle recovery,
more fat to produce energy,
more fibre due to the lower level of processing, and
less non-fibre carbohydrates which will normalise blood glucose levels while still providing some glucose for explosive power.

Micronutrients

The chart below shows that these foods are quite nutrient dense, with all of the nutrients achieving greater than the daily recommended intake.

The best foods for athletes

Listed below are the top 10% of the foods using this ranking including:

nutrient density score (ND)
energy density (calories/100g) and
their multi-criteria analysis score (MCA).

Vegetables

While the vegetables and spices in this list aren’t particularly energy dense, they will ensure that you get the vitamins and minerals you need to perform at your best. The lower energy density vegetables have been removed because they won’t be that helpful fueling for race day.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
spinach	17	23	1.6
yeast extract spread	11	185	1.4
seaweed (wakame)	13	45	1.3
portabella mushrooms	13	29	1.2
shiitake mushrooms	7	296	1.1
broccoli (sulforaphane)	11	35	1.0
shiitake mushroom	11	39	1.0
seaweed (kelp)	10	43	0.8
cauliflower	9	25	0.7

seafood

Seafood packs some nutrient density and energy density at the same time.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
cod	13	290	1.9
crab	14	83	1.4
anchovy	10	210	1.3
salmon	11	156	1.3
lobster	13	89	1.3
fish roe	11	143	1.3
caviar	8	264	1.2
halibut	11	111	1.2
trout	10	168	1.2
sturgeon	10	135	1.1
crayfish	11	82	1.1
pollock	10	111	1.0
oyster	10	102	1.0
shrimp	10	119	1.0
haddock	9	116	0.9
rockfish	9	109	0.9
sardine	7	208	0.9
octopus	8	164	0.9
flounder	9	86	0.8
white fish	9	108	0.8
perch	8	96	0.8
mackerel	4	305	0.7
whiting	7	116	0.7
herring	5	217	0.7
tuna	6	184	0.7
clam	6	142	0.6
scallop	7	111	0.6

eggs and dairy

Eggs are nutritionally excellent. Butter has plenty of energy.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
egg yolk	6	275	0.9
butter	-5	718	0.7
whole egg	5	143	0.5

Fats and oils

Fats and oils don’t contain a broad range of micronutrients, but they’re a great way to fuel without excessively raising your blood glucose or insulin too. From an inflammatory perspective, they’re going to be better than process grains and glucose for fueling as well as keeping insulin levels low to enable you to access your fat stores during endurance activities.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
grapeseed oil	-4	884	1.3
peanut oil	-5	884	1.1
olive oil	-6	884	1.1
soybean oil	-6	884	1.1
beef tallow	-6	902	1.1
duck fat	-6	882	1.1
soy oil	-6	884	1.1
lard	-6	902	1.1
coconut oil	-7	892	1.0
walnut oil	-7	884	1.0
palm kernel oil	-6	862	1.0
mayonnaise	-4	717	0.8

Grains and cereals

The more nutrient dense bran component of wheat makes the cut. However, the more processed and more popular grains don’t make the list. Many people find the “train low, race high” approach to be useful to ensure you are fat adapted through fasted or low glycogen training but have some glucose in the system for explosive bursts on race day.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
wheat bran	10	216	1.3
baker’s yeast	12	105	1.2
oat bran	5	246	0.8

legumes

Legumes are moderately nutrient dense and have a higher energy density than most vegetables. Properly prepared legumes can be a cost-effective way of getting energy and nutrients, though not everyone’s gut handles them well.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
peanut butter	1	593	1.1
soybeans	2	446	0.9
peanuts	-1	599	0.9
cowpeas	2	336	0.6
black beans	1	341	0.5
broad beans	1	341	0.5

nuts and seeds

Nuts and seeds are a great way to get some energy in, though they’re not as high in the harder to find nutrients.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
sunflower seeds	4	546	1.4
pumpkin seeds	1	559	1.1
almond butter	0	614	1.1
almonds	0	607	1.0
pine nuts	-2	673	1.0
walnuts	-1	619	1.0
brazil nuts	-2	659	1.0
flax seed	1	534	1.0
sesame seeds	-2	631	0.9
sesame butter	-1	586	0.9
hazelnuts	-2	629	0.9
macadamia nuts	-4	718	0.8
pecans	-4	691	0.8
cashews	-2	580	0.7
pistachio nuts	-2	569	0.7

animal products

Organ meats also do well in terms of nutrient density. Fattier cuts of meat will pack some more energy.

food	ND	calories/100g	MCA
lamb liver	12	168	1.4
veal liver	10	192	1.2
ham (lean only)	11	113	1.2
lamb kidney	11	112	1.2
beef liver	9	175	1.1
chicken liver	9	172	1.1
turkey liver	9	189	1.0
pork chop	8	172	0.9
chicken breast	8	148	0.9
pork liver	7	165	0.8
beef kidney	7	157	0.8
pork shoulder	7	162	0.7
veal	7	151	0.7
leg ham	6	165	0.7
ground pork	6	185	0.7
lean beef	7	149	0.7
sirloin steak	5	177	0.6

post updated October 2018