When you want to run strong, your diet can play an important role in reaching your goals.
Food is your fuel, and what you eat can impact everything from your energy levels to how your stomach feels while you’re running. To give yourself the best chance of success, you should pump up your meals with wholesome, fresh foods, such as fruits, vegetables, meats, whole grains, and legumes.
Here are 15 nutrients and vitamins that runners should pay attention to, along with information on how to get more of them in your diet.
One note for vegan and plant-based athletes: Monitor your Vitamin B12 intake, since it’s primarily found in animal-based foods.
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Vitamin A
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Keeps your skin strong, bolsters eyesight so you can maintain sharp vision when running in the dark.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 900 micrograms/day; for men and women
How to get it: Sweet potatoes (one baked sweet potato packs more than 150 percent Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency), spinach, carrots, kale, cantaloupe.
Vitamin B12
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Helps your body break down the fat and protein you eat into energy; assists in forming new red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the body.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? 2.4 micrograms/day Heres what you should be eating to make sure your body is in tip-top shape
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Calcium
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Supports bone and teeth health—almost all of the calcium in your body is stored in your bones and teeth.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Adults 50 years or younger need 1,000 milligrams/day. The Best Biotin-Rich Foods to Try.
How to get it: Plain yogurt, calcium-fortified orange juice, part-skim mozzarella, milk, soy milk, tofu, salmon.
Choline
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Regulates your memory, mood, muscle control, focus, and metabolism. Sufficient choline can increase your time to fatigue as well, says Lisa Dorfman, M.S., R.D., author of Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Best Running Shoes 2025.
How to get it: Hard-boiled eggs, soybeans, ground beef, chicken breast, wheat germ, cod, red potatoes.
Vitamin C
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Protects our bodies against free radicals in the environment, such as pollution, cigarette smoke, and UV rays. Also, builds collagen in your skin to keep it plump and smooth.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 90 milligrams/day; Running Shoes - Gear.
How to get it: Heres Exactly What to Eat Before a Half Marathon.
Vitamin D
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Absorbs calcium in your bones, helps your muscles move better, and fights off bacteria and viruses. Additionally, it reduces injuries in athletes; a 2020 study found that athletes with low vitamin D could have an increased risk of stress fractures, illness, and suboptimal muscle function.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? 15 mcg/day for men and women.
How to get it: Michelle Arnold / EyeEm.
Vitamin E
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Steels your immune system against bacteria and viruses, acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidant, and keeps blood vessels wide and pliable.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? 15 mg/day for men and women.
How to get it: Almonds (one ounce provides 45 percent Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency), sunflower seeds, olive oil.
Fiber
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Men and women need.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 38 grams/day; women need 25 grams/day. Though prior to a race, go easy on the fiber-rich foods, which can cause GI trouble.
How to get it: Raspberries (1 cup offers 8 grams of fiber), green peas, lentils, beans, whole grains.
Iron
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Transports oxygen in the blood to the muscles.“ If you experience a decline in performance and feel exhausted more than usual, get a blood test to check your iron levels,” sports dietitian Linda Samuels, M.S., R.D., says.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 8 milligrams/day; women need 18 milligrams/day. If your doctor finds you have low iron levels, he or she will put you on the appropriate supplement. (Translation: don't take supplements on your own.)
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Magnesium
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Regulates muscle function, nerve function, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure levels; aids in making protein, bone, and DNA. One of its most important functions: its role in energy metabolism, says Samuels. “Magnesium is particularly important during a strenuous training session.”
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 400 mg/day; How much do you need.
How to get it: Pumpkin seeds (one ounce provides 37 percent Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency), chia seeds, almonds, spinach, black beans.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Updated: Nov 19, 2021 5:00 PM EST.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 1.6 g/day; women need 1.1 g/day. If you don’t often hit that mark, consider supplementing with a fish oil supplement or algae-based supplement if you are vegetarian or vegan, Samuels advises. Remember, omega-3s are an essential fatty acid, meaning the body cannot make it naturally.
How to get it: Flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts, sardines (one can packs nearly 1,400 milligrams of omega-3s), salmon, mackerel, trout.
Potassium
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Helps maintain hydration and proper muscle function. “Along with sodium, this is the most important electrolyte. Potassium helps your muscles contract and relax, and contributes to fluid balance in your body,” Samuels says.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 3,400 mg/day; for men and women.
How to get it: Apricots, lentils, prunes, squash, raisins, baked potato (one offers 13 percent Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency), bananas.
Selenium
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: An antioxidant that may ease postexercise oxidative cell damage, maintains thyroid function (low thyroid levels can usher in fatigue), regulates metabolism.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Nutrition & Weight Loss 55 mcgs/day.
How to get it: Brazil nuts (one nut supplies 137 percent Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency), tuna, halibut, ham, shrimp, turkey, chicken, cottage cheese.
Sodium
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Helps your body maintain proper fluid and electrolyte balance. “It will also prevent muscle cramps if you are a heavy sweater or out on a hot run,” Dorfman says.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men and women should limit intake to 2,300 milligrams/day; 1,500 milligrams/day or less if you have high blood pressure.
How to get it: Typically you don’t need to seek out sodium since most of us get more than enough in our diet. But after a particularly sweaty run, it’s good to eat (or drink) foods higher in sodium to replenish losses. Bread, cheese, chicken, and sports drinks all contain sodium; three ounces of deli turkey can pack up to 1,050 milligrams.
Zinc
Legally Lean: Sports Nutrition Strategies for Optimal Health & Performance: Keep your immune system run in tip-top shape, keeps your skin resilient and healthy, enables proper wound healing, and breaks down carbs (likely your primary fuel source). Deficiency can put you at risk for overtraining syndrome, says Dorfman.
High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Men need 11 milligrams/day; women need 8 milligrams/day.
How to get it: Oysters, crab, grass-fed beef, lobster, hummus (a half-cup supplies 12 percent Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency).
