What's the best pre-competition breakfast?

Breakfast is when we break our nightly fast, our longest and most necessary digestive rest. To refuel, our body needs hydration (1 glass of water upon waking to start well), the 3 macronutrients (fat, carbohydrates, and protein) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, and trace elements) which will be involved in all metabolic chemical reactions and also play a role in energy production.

Breakfast accounts for 25% of daily energy intake.

Fatty foods (better assimilated) and proteins (satiating) are particularly interesting. Savory or sweet, choose according to your craving 😊… Of course, forget all industrial and processed foods (bad fats, too salty, too sweet)!

Before a competition or a long outing (more than 3 to 4 hours), it is important to have optimized your glycogen stores (energy source from glucose transformation – see article published in June 2020), to hydrate well, and to avoid digestive problems.

• Hydration: Generally, if your urine is dark (excluding morning urine), you are not drinking enough! So drink more regularly throughout the day, at least 1.5l (excluding exercise).
• Digestive problems: Avoid whole flours and all their derivatives (bread, pasta, cakes), legumes if you have difficulty digesting them, do not overdo gluten and dairy products and raw fruits/vegetables (prefer cooked ones), and strong spices.

Okay, but concretely, before a sporting event, what should you have for breakfast?

1 hot or cold drink (infusion, chicory, light coffee, green tea) + a fruit compote or a very ripe banana + a goat, sheep or soy, rice, almond-based yogurt…, a starchy food (gluten-free bread with buckwheat/quinoa/rice… or low-gluten einkorn), rice/chestnut/oat/quinoa flakes…). If needed, you can add white ham or an egg (not hard-boiled!), a handful of oilseeds (almonds, Brazil nuts…) or 1 teaspoon of omega-3-rich oil (rapeseed, walnut, hemp) in your cereals, or for pleasure, 1 teaspoon of honey/maple syrup/rapadura/coconut sugar/raw cocoa.

Of course, always test your breakfast well before a competition, to avoid any inconvenience on the big day. This breakfast should be eaten 3 hours before the competition, or 2 hours before for the sports cake.

Here’s a little homemade sports cake recipe, tried and approved 😊!

• Ingredients: 200g honey, 100g brown sugar (unrefined), 15 cl plant-based drink (almond, oat or soy), 10g coconut oil, 250g wheat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 bananas, 30g almonds, 30g walnuts (or other oilseeds).
• Preheat oven to 150°C (gas mark 2).
• In a saucepan, melt the honey and brown sugar, the plant-based drink and oil, mix well until simmering. Sift flour + baking soda + salt into a bowl. Pour the hot mixture over it and mix. Mash the bananas and add them. Mix the batter well and pour it into a loaf pan lined with baking paper. Decorate the top with almonds and walnuts (you can also put some in the batter).
• Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.
• Unmold 5 minutes after taking it out of the oven and let it cool. For a gluten-free version: replace wheat flour with chestnut or rice flour, for example.

On your marks, get set, go!

Cynthia MEDICO, Naturopath / cynthia@cmanaturopathe.com

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