7 Natural Exercise Foods/Drinks

Have you fallen victim to reliving your meals during a sporting event, workout session at the gym, or on a long run? Your regrets can't push you through the 5 plus mile run or basketball game.  Suck it up and suffer through your bad eating habits.

Stupidly I have indulged in the idiotic Taco Bell or Wendy's run before the long bus ride to the baseball or soccer game. Even if a couple hours prior to start time, these foods do nothing for your body.


Eating right before exercising is essential for your body to perform its best. Discovering the foods that don't bother my body, but enhance its performance and shoot more energy into my muscles for a better, faster, more efficient you.

I would like to share 7 of my body tested running/exercise foods and drinks. Some of these foods/drinks derive from a Men's Health article called "Best Running Fuels."

These foods are natural alternatives to the sports drinks, energy bars, and gels. They may be essential for the marathon runner, but I believe they work well for any athlete or exercise enthusiast.

1. Apples/Oranges/Fruit
The sugar in fruit gives you the burst of energy needed for sporting events and physical activity. If I haven't eaten regularly during the day, I take a minute and eat an apple. It gives me the push and energy I need to get through the sluggish workout days.

Orange slice memories at youth soccer games still stand out in my head. They were always a refreshing, sweet, and tasty source of energy at halftime.

2. Water
Drink water! This ingredient is an absolute necessity for my body to run at full steam. Staying hydrated before, during, and after physical exercise keys a healthy fueled body that performs at top notch. I know some athletes prefer Gatorade, but I avoid the sports drink until after exercise to replenish my body.

3. Raisins
This could be lumped together with the fruit group, but this dried fruit source of a sugar rush benefits long distance/marathon runners. You can pack this light snack with you for a long run and it provides the needed sugar for the extra energy your body yearns for.

4. Tea with Honey
Tea contains caffeine, and when mixed with honey, which contains sodium and potassium (natural electrolytes), this drink refuels your body during a marathon or sporting event. According to Men's Health, this is an "effective endurance drink."

5. Marshmallows
Marshmallows, really? The s'mores ingredient is an "easily transportable chunk of sugar...[that doesn't] upset your stomach." This is interesting, but I won't be packing any marshmallows for my basketball or soccer games.

6. Diluted Orange Juice
Dilute the OJ with half water, add a little salt (an electrolyte) and the combo that is "high in potassium" (another electrolyte) will provide you with an endurance/sports drink.

7. Snack Size Pretzels
These small snacks are "refined carbohydrates...[that] are quickly digested" and they provide needed electrolytes with salt (sodium).

Will you stick with the sports drinks, energy bars and gels? Or will you try any of these natural foods/drinks?