How to hold on and follow a sports program to the end? This new study has the solution. Find out what you can do below.
New year, new resolutions! Besides, do you know which one is at the top of the list? Sport, for the fourteenth consecutive year. Indeed, according to the Sport-Health Barometer established by Ipsos (a survey company) for the French Federation of Physical Education and Voluntary Gymnastics (FFEPGV), 34% of French people want to practice regular physical or sporting activity in 2025 .
The problem ? Between aches, fatigue, or even discouragement, it’s not always easy to stay motivated over time. Fortunately, a study published in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition has the solution to increase your chances of keeping your self-promise. All you need to do is integrate a very specific food into your daily life. Before revealing it to you, our expert Raphaël Gruman, dietician-nutritionist in Paris, summarizes its benefits for us based on research carried out: it helps reduce signs of damage in the muscles, it improves muscle performance after 24 and 72 hours and finally, it slightly reduces pain after maximum contraction . Its effect on reducing fatigue and aches has already been demonstrated. Excellent snack, it is part of the oilseed family. We are talking about the almond.
More precisely, this study is supported by La Collective des almonds from California. Dr. Mark Kern, professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at San Diego State University, also says that “almonds contain many nutrients which we know promote recovery after physical exertion, including proteins, antioxidants and phytonutrients (from plants). These nutrients are provided as a whole natural food, as opposed to targeted vitamin supplementation, which may contribute to the benefits of almonds observed in this study.”
Are you interested? So you will need a serving of 57 grams (the equivalent of 2 handfuls) of almonds per day, for eight weeks, before seeing results. As for their choice, Raphaël Gruman recommends favoring the most “natural” ones. The key is to avoid salted almonds (those that you could eat as an aperitif).