Some may not believe it, but swimmers can snack too! Snacks are great for giving you energy throughout the day and to energize you for an awesome workout! I threw together this guide to guide people in the direction of healthy snacking.

Granola Bars:
Granola bars are a great choice after your workout, as they provide carbohydrates and satisfy your hunger and possibly your sweet tooth. Caution should be used when buying, however, because some brands have to much sugar.

Raw Nuts:
Nuts are an awesome choice for the body! They help energize you and have a lot of vitamins and minerals. Some nuts have protein, potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, zinc, vitamin E, selenium, copper, calcium, and thiamin. (Some great nuts are walnuts, pistachios, and almonds.)

Vegetables & Fruit:
These should be common sense. Fruit and vegetables help your body recover from workouts and taste great! They also have plenty of vitamins and minerals. (Some good fruits and vegetables are bananas, celery, carrots, apples, plums, strawberries, blueberries, and apples.)

Low Fat Yogurt & Cottage Cheese:
Yogurts have Live Cultures which are very good for your body and help your body stay healthy. With a healthy body, your swimming is bound to improve! Also, yogurt has probiotics that help us digest better, and help maintain a healthy immune system. Cottage Cheese also has all these benefiets.

Chocolate Milk:
I love chocolate milk, and it is great for a drink AFTER practice. It helps you recover from practice, and tastes great! The calories, protein, and carbohydrates are just what a swimmer needs after a workout! This is my favorite snack of all of them.

I just started this guide, feedback and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Nice list Just as a clarification, the Chocolate Milk is only AFTER the workout, and not before, correct? Because I know certain foods, especially dairy, can make you sick during a hard practice.

Yes, dairy is always after practice. However, you can eat yogurt or cheese about an hour before practice, and have good results.

a very nice descriptive list ..
I always prefer raw nuts and vegetables and fruits.. they are the best for the health

Great list!

Even the thought of drinking chocolate milk during a hard practice makes me nauseous. Yuggghhhh.

What brands of granola bars do you recommend as the best?

I've found the Fiber 1 peanut butter bars are great.

Do these snacks mentioned by you in the thread can be taken before your swim or only after the work out to gain energy??

Probably depends on what you know about your tendency to get ill while swimming. In general, I have trouble eating peanutbutter any time of the day before swimming, and obviously chocolate milk. For the most part, they're good for after a workout to replenish your energy, and to give your body the proteins and vitamins it needs to rebuild muscles.

Swimming isn't a sport that should be trained on short-term energy boosts, instead, try to use the above (and other low-sugar snacks) for long lasting, and legitimate energy, not short red-bull type boosts.

I also get problems when i take snacks before my swim because my stomach aches after my swim.
I also have digestive problems in my body.

You should not eat for 2 to 3 hours before swimming because much of your respiration and blood is working in your digestive system. Best just to drink sports drinks. If you are trying to lose weight don't eat for at least an hour after swimming. If you are carbo loading hit the pasta hard right away after a swim. Although Mike Phelps may hold many swimming records, I believe his ingesting 12000 calories a day has to be some kind of record in itself. When he's not swimming, he's eating. How he keeps it in his stomach and not into the pool is a big mystery to me!