Fitness fruits and vegetables in the summer
It’s still a little summer and still time to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. Your fitness regime surely includes them, but do you know why?
Fruits are often unfairly banned from bodybuilder menus, like Fitness fruits and vegetables yet rich in vitamins and minerals. Some have properties that will be particularly useful to you before or after the sports session because fibers are often forgotten.
1- Red Fruits
Fruit fructose is beneficial, unlike added fructose. It replenishes glycogen stores, especially if you skip carbohydrates on a cutting diet. You will avoid muscle fatigue and strengthen your resistance.
Whether we are talking about strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries, these fruits contain antioxidants (flavonoids), like all red or purple fruits and vegetables, which would protect against cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
But these berries also limit inflammatory reactions and slow down cell oxidation. They are also excellent sources of manganese, vitamin C, copper, and iron.
2- Watermelon or watermelon
Refreshing with zero calories or almost, it is the must of summer fruits. Ultra antioxidant thanks to the carotenoids and lycopene it contains, would protect against heart disease and certain male cancers.
It is rich in citrulline, an important amino acid that converts to arginine and would dilate blood vessels, well known to bodybuilders as NO. As such, it is an essential fruit.
3- Peppers
It is a light vegetable, low in calories and tasty, and consumed in different forms, almost at will. Green at the beginning of its maturation, then yellow and red at the last stage, peppers are eaten at all stages with slightly different properties.
Red is rich in carotenoids and anthocyanins. Antioxidants are the best source of Vitamin C and Vitamin A, the redder they are, the more they contain.
Depending on whether it is eaten raw or cooked, its content varies, and it protects against inflammation and promotes bone growth, also thanks to vitamin K. The B6 (pyridoxine) participates in the synthesis of proteins and fat, neurotransmitters, the production of red blood cells, and many other functions.
They contain B2, B3, and B5, which respectively play a role in the production of hormones, the mechanisms of energy, and the synthesis of hormones and neurotransmitters.
It is also a source of manganese which limits free radicals and participates in several metabolic functions. The copper contained is used for collagen (which forms and repairs tissues). They boost immunity and tissue repair with folate.
4- Zucchini
Low in calories, zucchini is easy to cook and accommodate without fat or sauces. Their phenolic compounds and their carotenoids are antioxidants, just like rutin, a flavonoid that also protects against bad cholesterol.
They contain many minerals. Phosphorus maintains bone health and tissue growth. Magnesium also plays a required role in muscle contraction and the transmission of nerve impulses, just like potassium.
Iron is essential for the transport of oxygen in the blood and the manufacture of cells. Copper helps in the formation of collagen and is an antioxidant.
Group B vitamins: B1, B2, B6, and B9 participate in many metabolic functions, involving growth, nerve impulses, protein synthesis, and the production of red blood cells… Not to mention vitamins C and A contribute to bone growth.
4- Artichokes( Dragon Fruit)
Ultra rich in fiber, soluble, and insoluble, they are likely to limit the appetite (and not only because there are so many left on the plate after eating them)… It is a summer vegetable that is eaten raw but excellent when cooked.
It is the champion of detox and transit because it is rich in fiber and inulin, a natural prebiotic that protects the digestive system and promotes the absorption of certain nutrients.
Antioxidant, thanks in particular to silymarin, anthocyanins, and phenolics, it would even be an anti-cholesterol food and an excellent source of vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, and vitamin K, vitamin C but also, minerals: copper, iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and manganese.
As a starter on menus raw for lunch with olive oil and mustard, or cooked as proteins in the evening.