Why Athletes Should Include Winter Vegetables in Their Diet

by Melinda Burris

Though we often tend to equate vegetables with the spring and summer, winter offers its own bounty of a specific type of vegetable: root vegetables. This article explores which vegetables fall into this classification and why they are an important source of the nutrients an athlete needs to compete at their best. Read on to learn more about root vegetables, all they add to a healthy, well-balanced diet, and ways you can continue to get the necessary servings of vegetables you need through the winter season.

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Vegetables are an important source of nutrition for us all, but for athletes, consuming the appropriate amount and combinations of vegetables is key because these foods contain vitamins and minerals that enable the body to function at peak exercise performance and facilitate proper and rapid recovery after vigorous workouts and competition. Eating a balanced diet that consists of plenty of fruits and vegetables is important because the body is unable to synthesize the nutrients derived from these foods.¹

What Are Root Vegetables?

Root vegetables are derived from the base of plants that grow underground. There are a wide variety of these types of vegetables including sweet potatoes, winter squash (acorn, butternut, and spaghetti are just a few examples), onions, celery, and turnips. These foods are excellent sources of potassium, which is an essential mineral that helps the body maintain proper hydration, something every athlete must always remember to prioritize.¹

Sweet Potatoes (Yams)

Personal Trainer Ben Ilaria ranks sweet potatoes as one of “three vegetables that athletes swear by” noting this nutrient-rich food is simple to add into any diet. Ilaria remarks that sweet potatoes “have seemed to grow in popularity among athletes over the past few years, and for good reason.”² Actually, there are multiple reasons sweet potatoes are an excellent choice for meeting the dietary needs of athletes:

1. Sweet potatoes are high in fiber which is essential for a healthy digestive system.²
2. Sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene which increases the level of vitamin A in the blood. Vitamin A is beneficial for numerous reasons including boosting immune function, protecting the cornea and therefore eyesight and promoting healthy skin.²
3. Vitamin A is also important because it promotes cell growth and proper organ function.³
4. Sweet potatoes are a healthy carbohydrate (approximately 27g/cup) that satiate hunger while providing the fuel your body needs to maintain a high energy level.³
5. To put it into perspective, consider this: “One cup of sweet potato cubes has four times the [Recommended Daily Allowance] RDA of vitamin A, which helps your body synthesize protein.” So, not only are sweet potatoes a great source of carbohydrates to provide the energy necessary for your workout, but they also contain vitamin A that helps your body process the protein it needs to recover afterward.³

Registered oncology dietician Jennifer Fitzgibbon, recommends eating the entire sweet potato, cautioning that research suggests many of the beneficial nutrients the vegetable contains are actually in the skin. In addition, Fitzgibbon recommends eating sweet potatoes (or regular potatoes) prior to or following strenuous workouts. She explains this is because the starch in potatoes is quickly digested and when not eaten in conjunction with vigorous exercise, this can cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels.³

Winter Squash and Its Benefits for Runners

An article featured in Runners World, asserts, “For runners, winter squash may be the perfect recovery meal.”⁴ In making this statement, the author relies on scientific studies that suggest “that in the hour after exercise, the body is more susceptible to viruses due to a weakened immune system.”⁴ The benefits of beta-carotene have been discussed at length in this article and the fact that vitamin C boosts the immune system is well known. Winter squash assists in keeping runners well because it is so high in these components: “One cup of winter squash provides 145 percent of your [Recommended] Daily Value of beta-carotene and a third of your daily need of vitamin C.”⁴

Another plus for adding winter squash to your diet is that like other root vegetables, it is mostly water-based with the majority of types consisting of “89 percent water”, which means consuming it helps keep the body hydrated.⁴ Winter squash is also rich in potassium: for example, one cup of acorn squash contains 896mg of potassium. This is important because the body loses its potassium stores as we sweat. (Although it’s winter, it’s important to remember we actually sweat more than we realize when running or doing any type of exercise in the cold.) Winter squash rehydrates the body while simultaneously restoring lost potassium.⁴

Keep Your Immune System Bolstered

Winter is known as cold and flu season and now, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking precautions to ensure you have and maintain a strong immune system is even more important. Registered sports nutritionist Anita Bean recommends making sure your winter diet includes foods that have high levels of vitamins A, C, E, B6 and essential minerals iron, magnesium, and zinc.⁵

Training for high endurance sports in winter is demanding on the body and requires increased energy sources. Bean notes, “I still see a lot of athletes fuel up on sugary snacks and drinks instead of a well-balanced meal. When this happens, your body doesn’t get the proper energy, nutrients and fiber that it needs to perform at its best.” Bean further notes that without the proper diet to fuel your workouts you will become frustrated by the lack of results. According to Bean, you also leave yourself “more susceptible to illness and injury” as your body does not have the resources it needs to recover from exercise properly.⁵

Frozen Vegetables

Eating better doesn’t necessarily mean more time in the kitchen. Winter vegetables can be easily roasted or steamed or even microwaved. Frozen vegetables also make it easy for you to prepare a variety of vegetables so you can combine winter vegetables with leafy vegetables like broccoli and spinach so you have a balanced variety of vegetables to choose from to eat a diet of well-balanced meals that will give you the nutrients you need to perform at optimal level.

References:

1. G4 Athlete. (2012). Athletes: Vegies for the Win.

2. Ilaria, B. (n.d.). The Vegetables That Elite Athletes Swear By.

3. MuscleandFitness.com. (2020). 6 Root Vegetables to Eat This Year.

4. Lee, Y. (27 November 2007). Get Your Winter Vegetables.

5. Bean, A. (27 December 2017). Good Winter Nutrition for Athletes.

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