Best foods to fuel a fight

Fight day runs on carbohydrate. Once the weight is made, the job is to refill your energy tank without sitting heavy. This ranking favours carb-dense, easy-to-eat foods that digest quickly: cereals, grains, pasta, rice, oats and dense breads lead it. Use it to fuel the days before a bout and on the day itself, not to make weight.Fight Fuel = carb share of calories x carbohydrate density (capped at a normal-food level) x ease of eating (lower satiety) x a food-quality factor, so refined sugar and condiments do not dominate. Favours carb-dense, easy-to-eat whole-food carbohydrate for fuelling around competition.

#	Food	Group	Fight Fuel score	% Protein/kcal	Nutrients	Fullness	Carbs	Calories
1	Breakfast cerealcornflakes, frosted, fortified	Cereals and cereal products	82.6	6%	46	28	91g	367
2	MushroomsChinese, dried, raw	Vegetables	67.8	14%	49	38	71g	332
3	Flourchapati, brown	Cereals and cereal products	67.4	13%	44	42	76g	345
4	Breadnut seedsdried	Nuts and seeds	64.6	11%	37	33	81g	360
5	Pastawholewheat, spaghetti, dried, raw	Cereals and cereal products	59.6	15%	40	44	74g	354
6	Ricebrown, easy cook, raw	Cereals and cereal products	58.3	8%	33	35	79g	353
7	Potato powderinstant, raw	Vegetables	58.1	11%	31	38	82g	351
8	Treacleblack	Sugars, preserves and snacks	58.0	2%	26	38	69g	265
9	Porridge oatsunfortified	Cereals and cereal products	57.4	11%	44	40	71g	386
10	Buckwheatgroats	Cereals and cereal products	56.6	9%	30	37	79g	339
11	Beanspinto, dried, raw	Vegetables	55.9	27%	54	46	63g	346
12	Wheatbulgur, raw	Cereals and cereal products	54.5	12%	31	40	77g	350
13	MuesliSwiss style, unfortified	Cereals and cereal products	54.5	10%	36	38	76g	382
14	Molasses	Sugars, preserves and snacks	51.0	0%	19	36	73g	273
15	Biscuitswholemeal, homemade	Cereals and cereal products	49.3	14%	37	42	71g	391
16	Stuffing mixdried	Cereals and cereal products	48.6	12%	30	37	76g	384
17	Barleypearl, raw	Cereals and cereal products	48.6	9%	22	34	81g	347
18	Lentilsred, split, dried, raw	Vegetables	48.5	33%	50	54	58g	351
19	Twiglets	Sugars, preserves and snacks	47.9	13%	42	41	70g	433
20	Couscousplain, raw	Cereals and cereal products	46.7	13%	25	40	77g	353
21	Crispbreadrye	Cereals and cereal products	46.5	12%	25	46	78g	351
22	Bannocksmade with beremeal, homemade	Cereals and cereal products	46.4	14%	27	50	61g	283
23	Peassplit, dried, raw	Vegetables	46.0	27%	37	52	61g	346
24	Chestnutsdried	Nuts and seeds	45.9	5%	23	36	79g	368
25	Pasta and sauce mixesdried, raw	Cereals and cereal products	45.1	14%	28	40	74g	380
26	Pasta shapescoloured, flavoured, dried, raw	Cereals and cereal products	44.7	13%	22	39	77g	349
27	Breadwholemeal, toasted	Cereals and cereal products	44.6	17%	31	52	52g	270
28	Onionsdried, raw	Vegetables	44.3	12%	21	41	83g	366
29	Milkskimmed, dried, fortified	Milk and milk products	44.2	42%	68	56	57g	376
30	Noodlesegg, dried, raw	Cereals and cereal products	43.9	14%	23	40	77g	357
31	Quinoaraw	Nuts and seeds	42.7	18%	29	40	65g	359
32	Bread rollsbrown, crusty	Cereals and cereal products	42.6	16%	27	49	54g	272
33	Longansflesh only, dried	Fruit	42.0	7%	15	36	76g	310
34	Pineappledried	Fruit	42.0	4%	15	37	85g	341
35	Black gramurad gram, whole, dried, raw	Vegetables	41.8	38%	39	51	52g	338
36	Courgettedried	Vegetables	41.7	33%	64	61	52g	357
37	Oatcakeshomemade	Cereals and cereal products	41.5	9%	37	38	62g	417
38	Semolinaraw	Cereals and cereal products	40.1	12%	17	39	75g	338
39	Muffinsbran, homemade	Cereals and cereal products	39.7	12%	31	50	49g	291
40	Apricotsdried	Fruit	39.5	10%	16	43	68g	296

Top 40 distinct foods of 2,591. Carbs and calories are per 100 g. Open the full interactive explorer to search, filter by food group and switch goals. Satiety is an estimate. It is modelled from the known drivers of fullness (protein, fibre, water, low energy density, low fat), not measured directly.

Common questions

Best foods to fuel a fight?

Breakfast cereal, Mushrooms, Flour lead this ranking. Fight day runs on carbohydrate. Once the weight is made, the job is to refill your energy tank without sitting heavy. This ranking favours carb-dense, easy-to-eat foods that digest quickly: cereals, grains, pasta, rice, oats and dense breads lead it. Use it to fuel the days before a bout and on the day itself, not to make weight.

How are these foods scored?

Every food is scored from the UK Government CoFID 2021 dataset on protein per calorie, nutrient density and estimated satiety, then ranked for this goal. Satiety is modelled from the drivers of fullness, not measured directly.

General information for boxers, not medical or dietary advice. For a plan built around you, speak to a registered dietitian or your GP. Food data from the UK Government CoFID 2021 dataset, used under the Open Government Licence.

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