The Everyday Athlete Cookbook: 165 Recipes to Boost Energy, Performance, and Recovery

Finally—a cookbook for people who love food as much as they love fitness. ATK helps you eat delicious pre-workout, post-workout, and maintenance meals to reach your goals, improve your health, and feel your best.

Whether you play tennis for fun, hit the weights after work, are a regular runner or yogi, or are aspiring to be more active, you are an everyday athlete, and eating right to fuel that fitness will up your performance and enjoyment.

In conjunction with clinical dietician and nutritionist Alicia Romano, we developed recipes to give you energy and endurance for the activities you love using science-backed levels of carbohydrates, protein, and healthful fats, plus tons of flavor. You’ll learn what to eat when (and in what portions), pre-workout, post-workout, for snacks, and on every day in between.

1. Pre-workout meals that fuel your exercise; fill up on Pumpkin Spice Waffles with Yogurt and Blueberries to get pumped for your exercise of choice.
2. Post-workout meals that promote recovery; enjoy Lamb Meatballs with Lemony Wild Rice and Artichokes once you’re done for the day to help repair your muscles and replenish your body.
3. Energizing snacks/drinks to optimize your performance; try our homemade Powerade to energize your workout while cutting out excessive sugar.

If you think food tailored to workouts requires sacrificing enjoyment, these meals will be a refreshingly delicious upgrade. You’ll look forward to simple-to-make yet tasty dishes such as One-Pan Coffee-Rubbed Steak with Sweet Potatoes and Apples or, even favorite snacks like Raspberry Fruit Leather and Brown Rice Balls with Spinach and Edamame.

This isn’t just a recipe book. Everyone’s health requirements and routines are a little different. To help customize your meals to your eating and exercising needs, we’ve packed our recipes with make-ahead and storage information so you can make your favorite foods in advance. Plus, we’ve included menus for dietary specifications like “plant-based” or “dairy-free.”

Every recipe is flavorful and quick to make. What won’t you find in this book? Demonizing definitions of bad food or restrictive diets. Let America’s Test Kitchen help you reach fitness goals while eating right—and good.