How Does Your Diet Compare to an Olympian's?
How does your diet compare to an Olympian's?
During the Olympics, weekend warriors are often motivated to step up their training habits for their favorite sport. This often includes mimicking the diets of professional athletes. However, eating the same types and amounts of foods as professional competitors won't always help amateur athletes. Here are some of the ways Olympians eat differently from the average Joe or Joanne, and what you can learn from them.
More Protein
Protein is not the body's preferred source of fuel during athletic training; however, because these athletes have such large volumes of training, they do need the nutrient. "Generally speaking, Olympians require more protein than the average adult to repair and recover muscles exhausted during training and competition,” says Kyle Kamp, RDN, LD, clinical dietitian at the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. "As they get closer to competition, the pros begin to focus more on carbohydrates in an effort to fuel their performance."
More Sodium
Athletes sweat, reducing the amount of sodium available to help with muscle contractions. For this reason, you'll see Olympic competitors salting their foods, drinking sports drinks with sodium and even ingesting salt packets. Athletes don't take whole salt tablets because that salt can sit in the stomach, making it take longer for fluids to leave the gut and get to muscles.
More Electrolytes
In addition to sodium, Olympic athletes lose other electrolytes when they sweat, such as potassium, magnesium and selenium. They often replace these using a supplement, electrolyte-rich sports drinks or foods rich in potassium. “While many weekend warriors resort to eating bananas for electrolyte replenishment, it's actually not the best source,” says Kamp, “Potatoes with skin pack twice the amount of potassium of a banana and contain a similar amount of carbohydrate to fuel activity.”
More Carbs
Sadly, many consumers haven't heard the news that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets not only don't result in long-term weight-loss, but that they can also be unhealthy, providing too few micronutrients, stressing the kidneys and leading to dehydration. Olympic athletes know that the quickest way to get energy to their muscles is to increase their glycogen stores by eating complex carbohydrates. Carbs help fuel workouts and competitive performances, while protein helps repair muscles after strenuous activity. Top athletes get 50 to 70 percent of their daily calories from carbohydrates.
Many athletes bodies are so calorically 'hungry' that they often resort to eating the quick-digesting carbs like sugar, but we certainly want the general population to focus on complex carbs
The general population often gets many of their carb calories from sugary sources, such as white bread, refined wheat pasta, cakes, pies and other baked goods and white potatoes. Athletes opt for sweet potatoes, whole-grain pasta, and vegetables of many different colors.
More Gluten
Because they need so many carbs, Olympic athletes eat more gluten than people on gluten-free diets. People who have been diagnosed with celiac disease benefit from a gluten-free diet, but for the general population who do not have medical issues with gluten, this diet is just the latest eating fad, along with Atkins, Zone, Paleo and other nutrient-restrictive diets.
More Calories
The most active people in the general population (active teen boys age 16-18) need about 3,200 calories per day, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The most active females (age 14-30) need about 2,400 calories each day. View your recommended daily calorie level based on your age, sex and activity level. Olympic athletes need many more calories each day because of the amount of strenuous activity they do. Gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps, for example, once ate a whopping 10,000 to 12,000 calories per day during his most intense training days.
More Meals and Snacks
Olympic athletes don't get all the calories they need in three meals a day – or they'd be bloated. That's why Olympians eat and snack throughout the day, eating five to seven times per day.
Specific Proteins & Fat
Athletes get their protein from lean sources, such as fish, turkey and chicken breast, nuts, seeds, eggs and legumes. Many use protein supplement drinks, such as those from whey powder, under the supervision of a trainer.
Recent studies have found that dietary cholesterol does not increase risk for heart disease and that even most fats aren't harmful if taken in moderation, so full-fat proteins in dairy forms, as well as eggs, are on many Olympic training tables. Saturated fat intake should still fall below 7% of your caloric intake per day. For folks on a 2000-calorie diet, that would be about 15g/day.
More Healthy Fats
Fats from coldwater fish (such as Omega 3 fatty acids), nuts, avocados, olives, olive oil and seeds can help improve cardiac function in the human body. This is why athletes look for sources of healthy fats, such as nut butters.
Comfort Foods
An Olympic village includes an incredible smorgasbord of cultural foods. Athletes from Africa, Europe, Asia, North, Central and South America, India and Pacific Islands can all find their native dishes, prepared by top chefs from around the world.
More Junk Food
Top athletes eat more burgers, fries and pizza than the average healthy person should; however, as a proportion of their daily calories, junk food isn't a problem for athletes because of the amount of training their bodies endure on a day-to-day basis.“ As their training load lightens, many athletes begin to move away from such calorically dense meals and more towards a balanced diet,” explains Kamp. “Athletes eat enough to fuel their bodies whether at rest or putting out high amounts of energy. Their approach to 'eating for activity' is wise for even the weekend warrior to follow.”
Because they eat so many calories each day and burn them so quickly, many athletes must resort to eating foods that are heavy on calories and light on nutrition
Written by Steve Milano, August 10, 2016
More About Kyle Kamp, RDN, LD
Kyle Kamp, RDN, LD is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a passion for the overweight/obese population and those with advanced age.
Kamp works through the Saint Alphonsus Outpatient Nutrition Program. The program focuses on the nutritional management of disease and conditions that can be better managed with improved body weight, food choices, eating habits, and physical activity. Services include dietary intevention, nutrition assessment of children and adults, counseling and intervention for underweight and obese pediatric populations, pre-surgical nutrition and weight assessment, and general nutrition and wellness education.
To schedule an appointment with Kyle Kamp, RDN, LD call 208-367-7162.