3) Easy-to-digest Carbohydrates
White potato, sweet potato, yam, taro and white rice are the top five carbohydrate sources that seem to be best tolerated by athletes prior to hard workouts. But if you're adhering to the carbohydrate/fat/protein ratios I recommend in this article, then you know you don't even need ample amounts of these. So how many carbs do you actually need?
More: Carbohydrates Facts: Get the Right Info Once and For All
Let's say you wake up on race morning. You've primarily burnt through your liver's glycogen stores while sleeping. The average human needs (at most) about 400 calories of carbohydrate to completely top off those stores (assuming you haven't been starving yourself, your muscles are already full of glycogen and ready to rumble).
So if you eat 100 grams from any of the starch sources mentioned above, that's all you need. To put that number into context, that's about 2 cups of cooked white rice, or a couple large, boiled sweet potatoes or yams. Liberally add sea salt to either of the foods above, throw in a few tablespoons of the healthy fats and proteins you'll learn about momentarily, and you have a perfect pre-race or pre-marathon meal!
I'm also a big fan of including some source of pinitol (which you can also get from X2Performance) in the morning after your carbohydrates, which has an effect similar to insulin in terms of its ability to help drive glucose from carbohydrate energy sources into cells for rapid creation of ATP.
4) Easy-to-digest Fats
In contrast to fats that take a long time to digest, such as eggs, bacon, cheese or yogurt, medium chain triglycerides from sources such as MCT oil, coconut oil or the solid form of coconut manna actually bypass the normal process of digestion and instead get absorbed directly into your liver, where they can then be metabolized to provide a quick source of energy.
This makes MCT's a valuable addition to your "before" meal. For joint and heart health, you can also include small amounts of a concentrated source of anti-inflammatory omega-3 essential fatty acids from a cold-press plant-based oil such as Udo's Oil or Panaseeda Five Oil Blend (you can simply include these in your smoothie or poured over the top of your carbohydrate source).
