How To Follow a Runner's Diet

Eat mainly complex carbohydrates, which means vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Stick with lean protein, like chicken and fish, and unsaturated fats, like those in nuts and olive oil.

Eat most of your daily carbohydrate calories an hour or two before running, to provide fuel for your run, and within two hours of finishing, to replenish your energy stores. Pick ones that are rich in fiber and have high water content, like spinach and grapefruit.

If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t eat more calories than you are burning, or you’ll gain weight no matter how much you’re running.

Drink water an hour or two before you run. If you’re planning to run for more than an hour, have a sports drink instead of water. It will help replace the electrolytes your body loses during a long run and the sodium will help you retain water.

Forget the old advice about severely limiting your carbs several days before a long-distance race and then gorging on them right before it. Recent research advises eating normally until three days before the big race, then increasing to a 70-percent carb diet up to and including the morning of a long run.