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Many runners are familiar with common electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. These minerals, namely sodium and potassium, play a role in helping to maintain fluid balance while exercising. Essentially, they allow your muscles and nerves to continue contracting optimally. Since we lose electrolytes along with water in our sweat, we need to make sure we are consuming an adequate amount to stay properly hydrated.

Having sufficient electrolytes on board can help prevent dehydration and muscle cramps, as well as aid in cognitive function and performance. Staying properly hydrated is even more important in the summer months, when we tend to lose more water and electrolytes in sweat.

Most runners are more concerned with low sodium levels than with higher ones. It is the electrolyte most lost in sweat, says registered dietitian Kylee Van Horn. “It plays a key role in both muscle contraction, fluid balance, and the bodies’ ability to utilize glucose (sugars) in the small intestine,” she says. “It works alongside chloride and potassium to maintain fluid balance.”

Hyponatremia, a dangerously low concentration of sodium in the blood, usually occurs when there is an excess of water (fluid) in relation to sodium in the body. Exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH) can develop during or after physical activity (usually in regards to intense or endurance-type activities) and can lead to serious consequences.

Potassium works with sodium and is specifically recognized for its help in aiding muscle contractions, maintaining blood pressure, and preventing muscle cramping. The daily recommendation for potassium intake is about 4700 milligrams.

“Magnesium and calcium play roles in muscle contraction and energy production but are lost in smaller amounts in sweat,” says Van Horn.

While many of us rush to consume electrolytes through sports beverages, gels, tabs, and other supplements, we often forget that many delicious foods contain electrolytes, as well. Furthermore, many of the standard sports drinks and energy bars may contain sodium but lack other important electrolytes, and may also contain unwanted ingredients or added sugars.

��published in��Nutrients, hydrating foods can contribute about 20 percent of our water intake. Generally speaking, raw fruits and vegetables have the highest water content among all foods, and many offer small electrolyte content, as well. As a further bonus, these foods also offer carbohydrates, which are essential for recovery and replenishing lost muscle glycogen stores—providing even more reason to get your five servings each day.

5 Fruits That Pack an Electrolyte Punch

While there’s no one magic food, adding a variety of electrolyte-rich foods to your diet throughout the day can help with hydration, recovery, and performance. Here are some of our favorite in-season summer foods that you may find at your local farmer’s market and can add to your meals and snacks to help improve your electrolyte levels.

1. Strawberries

Strawberries are known for their antioxidant vitamin C content, but they also contain potassium. One serving of strawberries (serving size is a cup) offers about five percent of your daily potassium needs. Throw them in a smoothie, add them to your oatmeal, or just eat them as-is.

Another benefit of strawberries that runners can love: Research shows that the anti-inflammatory properties of this berry may also extend to the colon, alleviating imbalances and reducing GI distress.

2. Cherries

Tart cherries are beneficial to runners for many reasons. While there is emerging research about their role in��, inflammation, and improving recovery, tart cherries are also a source of many essential nutrients and electrolytes. One cup of cherries offers between 270 and 300mg of potassium, as well as small amounts of calcium, magnesium, and sodium.

3. Bananas

Runners’ beloved bananas are a great source of potassium, offering 422mg per medium-sized banana in addition to small amounts of magnesium. Add some salted peanut butter or salted nuts to your post-workout banana snack to increase your sodium content, boost your hydration, and hasten your recovery.

4. Mangoes

Tropical fruits like mangoes, pineapples, and apricots are also very high in vitamin C, antioxidants and electrolytes. One cup of diced mango offers nearly seven percent of your daily potassium needs, as well as small amounts of magnesium. Try throwing it in a smoothie with some calcium-rich milk or yogurt to add extra electrolytes to your post-workout fuel.

5. Watermelons

While watermelon may be 92 percent water, this fruit also offers some potassium to fight muscle cramps, as well as antioxidants like vitamins A and C. Add some salt to simultaneously enhance the juiciness and increase your sodium levels.

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Love them or hate them, hot and humid summer runs are the foundation of fall marathon training. You love going long, but the conditions can turn them into sweaty tests of endurance. Knowing how to eat for summer marathon training runs can go a long way toward making them more effective and enjoyable.����

Eating Enough as a Runner

Thinking about nutrition for summer marathon training runs, it can be hard to know where to start, because thinking about diet as a whole can feel quite overwhelming. One of the first things I tell my clients is that marathon training is absolutely not the time to cut calories or manipulate weight, as being in a constant calorie deficit can impact injury risk, recovery, glycogen stores and more. The core principles of marathon training are predicated on an adequately fueled body.��

If we think about sports nutrition as a pyramid, eating enough is at the base. Making sure you’re getting enough calories and energy is paramount. From there, we can start to tweak macronutrient distribution, making sure you’re getting adequate micronutrients and adding in supplements, when and if necessary. But, the foundation is cemented by our daily diet and in eating enough to support the large amounts of energy required.��

Let’s talk about each part of the run and your nutritional needs during each stage.

What to Eat Before a Run

Your run begins before you take your first step. It starts with what you’re eating and drinking in the period leading up to your run. The purpose of a pre-run snack or meal is to top off your glycogen (stored carbohydrate) stores to power through your run. Carbohydrates are the most readily available source of fuel for our muscles so keeping them continually stocked will only benefit you.��

If you’re eating an hour before a run, aim for . So, for example, a 150 lb. (68 kg) athlete would aim to eat between 60–70 grams of carbohydrates before exercise. Two hours before exercise, eat up to 2 grams of carbohydrate per kg of body weight, upping that a gram for every hour: 3 grams per kg of body weight 3 hours before exercise, and 4 grams per kg of body weight 4 hours pre-run.��

For reference, a medium to large banana is about 25-30 grams of carbohydrates, a cup of juice is 30 grams, and one piece of toast is about 15 grams.�� If you have a sensitive stomach, limiting fat and fiber hours before a run may be helpful.

And, for summer runs, staying adequately hydrated is extra important! Before exercise, drink 5-10 mL/kg at least 2–4 hours before exercise (thus a 175-pound (80kg) man needs 400-800 mL or 14-28 ounces). You can also top off with 8–10 oz 10–20 minutes before.

What to Eat While Running

Assuming you’ve eaten an adequate pre-run snack or meal and your diet is nutritionally sound, most people can run anything under an hour without requiring additional fuel.��

However, once your runs get to 60-70 minutes and above, provides several benefits for your performance. Aim for 30-60 grams of carbohydrates per hour, which can come from liquid nutrition, gels, chews, real food, or a mixture.��

Allow yourself ample time before race day to test what works for you. You’re probably going to need to drink water with most products you use, so plan accordingly.��

Speaking of water, it’s something you need to prioritize during exercise as well. Aim to replace sweat losses, but do not exceed them. A good starting point is 0.4-0.8L/hour, but will depend on your sweat rate. The goal during exercise is to prevent excessive dehydration of over a 2% loss in body weight.��

Longer runs will also require sodium, which fortunately is found in many sports nutrition products, some more heavily concentrated than others. A good starting point is 200-500 mg of sodium per hour, but that may need to be increased depending on your personal needs. Those who are heavy or salty sweaters, or runners who eat very few processed foods or added salt in their diets, may need higher amounts of salt. We all have different individual sweat rates, so having a done is a great way to estimate the amount of salt in your sweat.��

What to Eat After a Run

While you may feel the need to dash right into the shower after a run (especially in this summer heat and humidity), do not skip the refueling part. Consider your post-run snack a necessary part of your cool down. While the window of opportunity for refueling is longer than we once thought (30 minutes), the sooner you can start the refueling process, the sooner you can switch your body from a state of catabolism to anabolism and start the recovery process. Therefore, getting a meal or snack in sooner rather than later (within two hours, ideally) can help your recovery. If you have a second workout planned, it requires faster post-workout fueling, within 30 minutes to an hour, to help muscles recover and prepare them for future activity.

Ideally, aim for a carbohydrate- and protein-rich snack. Any sort of workout puts us in a catabolic state—breaking down fat and muscle for energy—so a snack first and foremost further prevents the body from breaking down, and instead, starts the anabolic muscle-building, process. Carbohydrates can also help to refuel glycogen stores for future runs and workouts, while helping to increase and balance blood sugar. Carbohydrates also aid in (re)hydration.��

Aim for a 3:1 to 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. In simpler terms, make half of your plate carbohydrates (about 50-60 grams) and aim for 20-30 grams of protein, including essential amino acids, such as leucine. Some easy ideas include a (with a carbohydrate source on the side if necessary), Greek yogurt with fruit, cereal or granola, a sandwich, pasta with protein and vegetables, or eggs and toast.��

Don’t forget to rehydrate and include sodium-rich foods or products to help with rehydration, especially when large sweat losses have occurred.

How to Properly Hydrate for a Run

It should go without saying that hydration is important to prioritize every day, not just around a run. If you go into a run in a dehydrated state, it’s almost impossible to “play catch up.” Proper hydration includes a balance of water and electrolytes, namely sodium. Sodium will help the body retain more water and reduce the risk of hyponatremia and severe muscle cramps during exercise.��

While individual hydration needs depend on body composition and size, age, physical activity and training levels, weather, and lifestyle, aiming for at least half of your weight in body ounces is a great place to start.��

Remember that water, fruit juices, sports drinks, coffee, teas, fruits, vegetables, and soups all count towards fluid intake.

Should You Be Running on a Low Carb Diet?

If you’re looking to grab a personal best or improve your marathon time and performance, carbohydrates are your friend and a low-carbohydrate diet may not meet your needs. Carbohydrates are the fastest source of fuel for exercise, and having low glycogen stores will make energy production process less efficient; increase the rate of injury and low blood sugar; and decrease the body’s ability to oxidize carbohydrates during training.

Try a Healthy Late-Night Snack

If you’re on the fence about whether to add a nighttime snack into your routine, it may be worth trialing. Snacking after dinner does not necessarily lead to weight gain and it may greatly affect your workouts and recovery for the better.��

For one, a nighttime snack allows another opportunity to get more nutrients into your diet, as marathon training greatly increases the body’s needs of nearly every nutrient. If you’re not meeting your protein needs (generally estimated to be 1.2-1.4 g/kg of body weight), taking advantage of another feeding opportunity is a prudent practice. Secondly, it can help balance blood sugar overnight and top off glycogen stores before an early workout the following morning.��

Additionally, some research has suggested that and overnight recovery.��

There is certainly a lot to consider for marathon nutrition needs, so start slow and practice, practice, practice. Trial and error is often the way you’ll find out what specific fueling tactics work for you as an individual, but these are some guidelines to follow.��

If you’re seeking more individualized advice about these topics, it’s important to see a Registered Dietitian who can craft a personalized plan for you and your needs.��

About the Author

Sarah Schlichter, MPH, RDN,��is a registered dietitian based in the Washington, DC area. She helps to fuel runners without strict dieting. Sarah is also a nutrition consultant and writes the blog,��, sharing nutrition posts, healthy family-friendly recipes and running tips. Additionally, Sarah co-hosts the , focused around evidenced-based nutrition tips for athletes. Learn more about Sarah and her work at her website, .��

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Intuitive Eating is trending right now. If you are unsure of what this way of eating is all about, it essentially encompasses getting back to how we innately learned to eat (connecting the mind and body) before there were any rules around our food and food choices. The founders, dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, define intuitive eating as “a self-care eating framework, which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought.”

What Are the Benefits of Intuitive Eating?

While Intuitive Eating may seem like a recent concept, it has been around since 1995. And it is a model that has been validated by sufficient research. In fact, over 90 studies to date (this number is steadily increasing as people want to study it more) have been published on intuitive eating and its . Much of this research links intuitive eating to positive benefits, such as greater life satisfaction, positive emotional functioning, greater body appreciation and satisfaction, and a greater motivation to exercise when focus is on enjoyment rather than guilt. Heath measures can improve, too, to improved blood pressure, blood lipids and dietary intake.����

Intuitive eating is also inversely associated with disordered eating traits and habits, something that has become relevant in the running community. A funded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association Sport Science Institute found that intuitive eating practices among retired female athletes helped them to feel liberated in their eating, and for some, alleviated disordered eating practices they previously experienced.��

In principle, intuitive eating challenges these rigid principles and all-or-nothing thinking. It is not a diet or food plan, and there is no counting calories, carbs, points or macros involved. Instead, intuitive eating takes away the rules that we see as “normal,” since we have been following them for so long. It is a journey of self-discovery, helping you learn to connect the needs of your body and mind and eat for pleasure and enjoyment (and health, too).��

All of this may sound interesting and enticing, but how does it relate to you as a runner?��

Intuitive eating and sports nutrition can absolutely work together if there is a fundamental understanding of the two. Here are some key points for understanding how the principles of intuitive eating can apply to running situations.��

Feel What Hunger Feels Like

A large framework of intuitive eating is to learn to honor and acknowledge your hunger and fullness. While this may sound fundamental in theory, if you’ve been following subjective rules for long periods of times, hunger cues may be blunted or non-existent. Hunger can manifest in ways other than a growling stomach. For example, learning to link other symptoms, such as headaches, fatigue, lack of concentration, and thinking about food to hunger can be a powerful reminder to eat.

Runners and endurance athletes need to eat more than the regular population (including more carbohydrates and ), so learning to tune in to these hunger signals from the body can be an important part of adequate fueling for training.

However, You May Also Need to Eat When You’re Not Hungry

Learning to tune in to your hunger and fullness are big parts of intuitive eating, but they aren’t the only parts. Only eating when you are hungry and stopping when you feel full can quickly turn into the hunger-fullness diet.��

Intuitive eating acknowledges that there may be instances where we need to eat when we don’t feel hungry, such as after a hard workout or long run. It is quite normal for appetite to be blunted when adrenaline and hormones are high post workout, however, that is not an instance where “listening to our bodies” best serves us.��

The window after a run or workout is important for recovery and muscle replenishment to fuel future workouts. This is the rational part of intuitive eating that requires us to override body knowledge, sometimes. In these instances, sipping on a smoothie or protein shake, or even eating something small, is better than nothing and may jumpstart appetite. Even if your body doesn’t “feel” hungry, your mind logically knows that you need to refuel after a workout to stay adequately nourished, keep energy stable, prevent blood sugar dips and keep glycogen replenished for future activity.��

Respect Your Body

There is currently more awareness on topics of body image in athletes and how negative body image in the sport is tied to eating disorders and disordered eating. Rather than encouraging comparison or trying to fit into a “standard mold,” intuitive eating takes your genetics and body diversity into account.��

We’re not all meant to look the same, and we won’t all be the same shape, height or weight. Just as there are inherent differences in a mastiff and a chihuahua, our body size and shape will vary too. Respect your body for what it can do for you. Can your strong legs enable a push in the final leg of a 5k? Can the extra fat in your midsection help store extra energy to keep you fueled for the longer parts of a marathon?��

The important takeaway from this principle is that your worth is not tied to your size, and your size is not directly linked to performance.������

Move to Feel the Difference

There is likely something about running that has drawn us into the repetitive motion of the sport – whether it’s exploring new forms of nature on foot, clearing the mind, or the soothing sound of sneakers hitting the pavement. Whatever it is, being clear on your reasons for running can be a grounding exercise in and of itself.��

Focus on how it feels to run long or hard, rather than how many calories you’re burning or what foods you get to eat upon finishing.��

How do you feel after a run – Energized? Strong? Empowered? Being clear on the benefits outside of size and weight can make running feel more attainable and enjoyable.��

Gentle Nutrition (Self Care)

Gentle nutrition is saved for the last principle of intuitive eating because it is important to have the foundation of body-mind knowledge before applying this principle of incorporating nutrition knowledge.��

Adequately fueling your body is an act of self-care. Eating foods you like and enjoy is also an act of self-care. There can be a flexible balance between giving yourself permission to enjoy the foods you like and eating nutrient-dense foods to support your training, as well as eating the right foods in and around your training.��

For example, while you may really enjoy donuts, you know that they generally leave you feeling sluggish and hungry 30 minutes later. This is a good piece of cerebral knowledge to have. While you don’t have to give donuts up completely, you can use rational thinking drawing on previous experiences to substitute them with a higher-protein option to keep you fuller for longer or pair a donut with Greek yogurt for more satiety.

You could also choose to eat the donut after your workout, rather than before, to limit feeling sluggish or uncomfortable on your run. Neither of these instances view the donut as “bad” or feel the need to restrict it. Instead, acknowledge that the donut is just a food (food is inherently neutral, not good or bad) and can still fit into your lifestyle.��

The Bottom Line

In short, intuitive eating is absolutely possible for anyone and everyone, including runners and athletes. Since it combines and connects body and mind knowledge, understanding the can help guide some of your innate signals to lead to a non-stressful and enjoyable experience with food.��

Attempting to incorporate these principles on your own can be challenging and intimidating, but there are several Registered Dietitians who specialize in this work to help you improve your relationship with food, and performance! Another great resource for the intersection of sports nutrition and intuitive eating is .��

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Resources

Carolyn R. Plateau, Trent A. Petrie & Anthony Papathomas��(2017)��Learning to eat again: Intuitive eating practices among retired female collegiate athletes,��Eating Disorders,��25:1,��92-98,��DOI:��

Van Dyke N, Drinkwater E. Relationships between intuitive eating and health indicators: literature review. PublHealth Nutr.2014;17:1757-1766.

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You may have heard that snacking after dinner is unnecessary and will only lead to weight gain. But, there’s another side of the story we’re not used to hearing — there may be a performance benefit. The caveat is that you must include adequate protein in that snack.��

As an intuitive eating and sports nutrition dietitian, I’ve always seen major holes in these arguments — the most obvious being that foods don’t suddenly increase in calories after dinner, and your body does use energy while you’re sleeping. However, there is now recent research showing that eating protein before bed can actually benefit your training and physique goals. While this is true for various types of physical activity, I’ll focus on endurance athletes like runners.

for muscle and tissue growth and maintenance, but protein also has many other functions. Proteins also make up hormones and enzymes in the body, provide physical structure, help with immunity, nutrient transfer and more.��

With so many roles, you can imagine why getting enough protein is important. But, what about protein before bed, specifically?

Protein Before Bed Supports Muscle Growth

Ingesting protein through food increases muscle protein synthesis. When dietary protein is broken down through digestion, it supplies amino acids, the building blocks of protein, to muscles in the body to support cell turnover and growth.��

The best thing you can do to increase muscle protein synthesis while you’re sleeping is to minimize the window that your body is fasting overnight. The most practical way to do this? Eat protein before you go to bed.��

While you sleep, protein is effectively digested and absorbed, which and improve whole body protein balance during post-exercise overnight recovery.

Protein ingestion before sleep has also been suggested to be an effective nutritional strategy to preserve muscle mass in the elderly population, especially when combined with physical activity and muscle contraction.��

Protein Before Bed Positively Influences BMR the Next Morning

There is a false belief that your body stops burning calories during the night. On the flip side, your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is responsible for the majority of calories you burn each day, is still responsible for keeping your body functioning while you sleep, which includes keeping your heart pumping, lungs breathing and more. Furthermore, weight maintenance is much more complicated than simply calories in vs. calories out. Our hormones, stress levels, nutrient balance and more also play in to the equation.��

Pre-sleep feeding that resting metabolic rate the following morning was increased or unchanged after the consumption of low-calorie, protein-dense foods before bed. Protein-rich foods bump up our metabolism slightly more than other macronutrients, and may also aid in fat oxidation.��

Provides An Additional Feeding Window

Runners burn through calories quickly, meaning we need enough calories and energy to sufficiently and adequately power our training as well as our daily activities of life. To better support bone and muscle health, increased protein needs go along with increased calorie needs.

Most endurance athletes should be consuming 1.2–1.4 g/kg of body weight of protein per day, which falls in the range of 80–100 grams of protein daily for many athletes. With work and life commitments, on-the-go meals and an overall emphasis on carbohydrates, eating sufficient protein may not be a priority for runners and can easily fall to the wayside. By adding another feeding opportunity before bed, you are more likely to get all of the nutrients your body needs for performance and recovery.

Improved Recovery and Performance

As earlier stated, consuming protein before bed helps to increase muscle protein synthesis overnight. More efficient protein synthesis can help improve muscle strength, and thereby reduce the risk of injury. Protein can also help improve recovery, as a night-time supply of nutrients for overnight recovery to support muscle reconditioning and improve physical performance.

There’s Not Much to Lose

In short, consuming protein before bed after a typical day of eating does not translate to increased weight gain. Research has also shown that your metabolic rate may increase, or at worst, stay the same.��

If you suffer from indigestion or have a sensitive stomach, choosing protein wisely can still be a prudent choice. Eating protein before sleep also has no effect on how fast you fall asleep, your sleep quality, or your appetite the next morning.��

Most of the research supports a moderate protein-based, low-calorie snack, usually amounting to 20–30 g of protein and about 200 calories. Both whey and casein protein have shown similar benefits. This could look like a protein shake, egg white omelet, yogurt parfait, or deli meat. With the above purported benefits on the table, it is a strategy worth at least giving a try.��

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��is a registered dietitian based in the Washington, DC area. She helps to fuel runners without strict dieting. Sarah is also a nutrition consultant and writes the blog,��,��sharing nutrition posts, healthy family-friendly recipes and running tips����Sarah also co-hosts the��,��focused around evidenced-based nutrition tips for athletes.��

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