Robert Lewandowski proves that a healthy diet is part of his success plan! It could be yours…

Top-ranked athletes, like my husband Robert, lead an extraordinarily intense life. Therefore, it is no secret that a healthy diet is essential for them. A well-balanced diet has a positive effect on keeping fit, not only on the football pitch. It applies to any form of physical activity.

Knowledge gained over the years, opinions of experts and my own sport experience have let me create diets for athletes – both for beginners, for whom sport is a way to improve well-being, looks and health, and for professionals, including my husband, Robert.

Tried and tested ideas have been used in my Diet & Training by Ann application which has been promoting healthy lifestyle successfully for a few years now ➜ Diet & Training by Ann

What should you consider while training?

Everyone who likes an active life – be it running, working out at the gym or at home, or doing any other sport – should know that while exercising, our body loses its supplies of glycogen (a carbohydrate found in muscles and liver, which serves as a form of energy storage for the body).

Replenishing glycogen helps:

• reduce tiredness
• achieve much better results
• increase your body’s physical efficiency during workout!

On the other hand, a low level of glycogen might result in lower intensity of your workout – we should not let this happen.

How can you achieve this? A good way is to supply your body with carbohydrates on a regular basis, especially in the form of pre- or intra-workout snacks. It is advisable to consume products with a low GI level in order to maintain an optimum blood sugar level. Products with a high GI level are recommended AFTER a workout.

How to plan your meals around a workout

Three moments matter here, and each one has a different job to do. About two to three hours before training I reach for a proper meal, so the porridge or the red rice you will find below. Between sessions, or during a long one, something small and easy to carry works best, and that is where the bars and balls come in. After training I usually go for a cocktail, simply because it takes a minute and I rarely feel like cooking at that point.

A few practical notes from my own kitchen:

• Match the size of your pre-workout meal to the length of the session. A short morning run asks for far less than two hours on the pitch.
• Prepare the snacks in advance. The bars keep well in the fridge and the balls hold up overnight, so you are not improvising on a busy day.
• Drink throughout your session, not only once you have finished. The natural isotonic at the end of this article is what I make for Robert on the longest days.
• Test anything new on an easy session first, never on a match day or a race.

Who am I?

Anna Lewandowska, I am a nutrition specialist and a personal trainer (also a certified TRX and Insanity trainer). But it all started with KARATE – the medals I won in World, Europe and Poland Championships assured me that I do exactly what I love!

I want to enthuse people with positive emotions that can be found in sport and healthy nutrition. That is why I have created my Diet & Training by Ann application. It was spot on! Thousands of people achieve their dream results every day thanks to the app.

And I, as a professional athlete, have seen again that making the effort is worth it.

Sample meals for a full training day

Below I present sample meals before, during and after a workout as well as a recipe for a NATURAL ISOTONIC DRINK which works wonders with my husband Robert. Let it be a kind of basis, a starting point to prepare your own meals.

You will find a personalised diet and individually planned workouts in my Diet & Training by Ann application – loads of inspiration for healthy and delicious meals.

PRE-WORKOUT MEALS (about 2-3hrs before)

Porridge with dates

Ingredients:

• about 70-100g oat flakes
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa
• 4 dates
• 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
• 1 pear or apple
• handful of walnuts
• 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
• 2 glasses plant milk (e.g. almond or rice)

Preparation:

Boil oat flakes in plant milk, soak dates for 15 minutes in hot water. Add diced pear/ apple, coconut sugar, seeded dates, nuts and cocoa. Stir all ingredients and add one tablespoon of honey at the end.

Red rice

Red rice has a lower GI than white rice. Low-GI products have a beneficial effect on the improvement of our body’s efficiency. They also keep us feel full longer and keep the right level of glucose in our blood.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup red rice
• salt, turmeric, thyme
• anise (optional)
• nigella
• a handful of pine nuts
• 2 teaspoons of clarified butter
• mint, coriander, garlic (optional)

Preparation:

I melted butter on a pan, added rice and heated it up. I placed it into a pot, added anise, poured in 1.5 cups of water, added some salt and boiled it with the lid on. I melted some butter on a pan, added the spices and heated it up a bit while stirring. Then I transferred it to the pot with rice. I roasted the nuts, mixed them with the rice. You can also add some finely chopped mint or coriander and a bit of garlic.

Snacks for athletes between workouts

Savoury power bar

Ingredients:

• 8 pieces of dried tomatoes in oil
• ⅓ cup flaxseed
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup oat flakes
• 1 tablespoon curry paste
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• pinch of sea salt
• pinch of chili

Preparation:

I mixed and then blended all the ingredients thoroughly. Next I transferred the paste onto a baking tray and formed it into a thin layer. I chilled it for about three hours in the fridge and then cut it into bars.

Power balls

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons carob or cocoa
• 1 tablespoon date syrup
• 1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup dried and finely chopped apricots or cranberries
• 1/2 cup dates with stones
• desiccated coconut for tossing (optional)

Preparation:

I blanched the dried fruit in boiling water. Then I removed the stones from dates, soaked the fruit in hot water and set aside for a couple of hours. I ground the pumpkin seeds thoroughly. After that I mixed all ingredients until smooth. I formed the balls and tossed them in desiccated coconut, then refrigerated the balls overnight.

What Diet & Training by Ann can do for you today

I put this article together a few years ago, and the app has grown a great deal since then. If you came here for the meals, it is worth knowing what else is waiting inside.

Diet built around your own goal

You get a menu for every day, in a three or five meal mode, set to one of four goals: losing weight, keeping it steady, gaining weight or building muscle. Low GI, gluten free, dairy free and plant based versions are all there, so a dietary restriction does not mean cooking separately from the plan.

Nothing is fixed. You can swap a single meal, swap one ingredient inside it, or change a whole day, and the shopping list rebuilds itself around whatever you picked. Every recipe comes with its nutritional values, so you always know what is on the plate.

Training for the body you actually have

There are over 200 plans, sorted by level and by what you want to work on, whether that is your core, your legs and glutes, or simply burning more energy. Every exercise comes with video instruction, so nothing has to be guessed from a written description.

Separate plans cover pregnancy, the months after giving birth and women over fifty. If cardio is not your idea of a good time, there is yoga, and there is Bachata, where the workout comes wrapped in dance. On days when your schedule falls apart, single sessions work perfectly well on their own.

Balance, for the recovery that happens off the pitch

Training is only half of the story, and the other half is how well you rest. The app has conscious breathing exercises, relaxation sessions, nature sounds and Sleep Stories, all built to help you wind down and sleep properly.

Staying with it, day after day

This is the part that decides everything, and it is also the part most plans ignore. The app keeps your streak, so a good week stays visible instead of disappearing, and the daily view brings your progress and your water intake together in one place.

Closing the day, over and over, does more for your results than any single perfect meal ever will.

AI Calorie Calculator

Point your phone at your plate and the app works out the calories and the macros, with nothing to weigh and nothing to look up. On a busy day it is the quickest way to keep an eye on portions, and it answers a question about your food in seconds rather than minutes.

More than 3.8 million people have used Diet & Training by Ann so far.

Meals after workout

To tell you the truth, all kinds of cocktails, smoothies and fresh juice are one of my (and Robert’s) favourite parts of the diet. They take little time to prepare and you can take them anywhere in a bottle! My head is full of new ideas for tasty cocktails and you will find more recipes for these treats in my Diet & Training by Ann application.

Post-workout cocktail

Ingredients:

• ½ cup cooked millet groats
• 1 cup coconut milk (beverage)
• 3 dates
• 30 g plant protein

Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients.

Raspberry-watermelon cocktail:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup watermelon
• 200 ml coconut water
• lime juice
• 2 dates

Preparation:

Mix or blend all the ingredients.

Natural isotonic

Isotonic drinks are used to make up for the vitamins, electrolytes and water lost during a workout. This helps to protect players from health risks and also improves effort parameters and the effects of training, regardless of the character and type of sport discipline practised. Shop shelves are full of all kinds of drinks dedicated for athletes. When there is too much to choose from it may become a problem as are vague answers which is the best. Luckily, I can help you prepare your own isotonic, which ensures the drink has no artificial additives. Below you will find a recipe for a natural isotonic. The drink should be sipped before, during and after a workout, especially if it lasts more than two hours.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons honey
• 300 ml coconut water
• 600 ml water
• juice from one lemon or lime
• 1 teaspoon himalayan salt or sea salt

Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients.

Frequently asked questions

I am sure that my suggestions of meals in Diet & Training by Ann app (available on the App Store and Google Play) will inspire You to prepare your own dishes!