Do You Eat Like an Olympic Athlete?

That’s a loaded question, because depending on how you look at it, it could mean you’re in the best shape of your life. It might also mean that you’re an Olympic couch potato.

Most Olympic athletes follow a balanced diet that’s not much different from what would be recommended for you or me, although their food plan is most likely custom-designed for them by a professional nutritionist, based on their chosen sport and caloric needs.

Extreme Carbs for Michael Phelps

Some athletes are notorious for consuming an astonishing number of calories. Olympian swimmer and gold medalist Michael Phelps told The New York Post that he takes in an average 12,000 calories a day. (Compare that to the average caloric needs of an adult man at about 2,000 calories a day.)

Here’s what a typical entry in Phelps’ food diary might look like.

Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise, followed by two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch: A pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise, washed down by about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

Dinner: A pound of pasta and a whole pizza.

Phelps’ diet may be extreme, but it’s no secret that elite athletes like him have to stay in prime physical shape if their years of intense training is going to pay off in gold, silver or bronze.

Interestingly, ancient Greek and Roman Olympians reportedly followed a meat-centric diet with similarities to today’s Atkins diet.

A Healthy Menu for an Olympic Speed Skater

Modern-day athletes don’t necessarily take the high protein route. Here’s what U.S. News & World Report says was on the menu for 24-year-old speed skater Maria Lamb one day during off-season training leading up to the Vancouver competition:

Breakfast: 1 cup of oatmeal with ¼ cup of raisins, cinnamon, sea salt, and 1 teaspoon of honey, a banana smoothie with ½ cup skim milk, ½ cup low-fat plain yogurt, 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal, and ice.

Workout nutrition (during 2½-hour roller ski session): 2 Clif Shots (energy gels)

Lunch: 2 slices whole-grain rye bread and 2 tablespoons hummus, 2 cups of carrot cilantro soup, a smoothie made with 1 banana, ½ cup nonfat plain yogurt, 1 scoop soy protein powder, 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil, cinnamon, water, and for dessert, an apricot and a handful of cherries.

Mid-day snacks: Medium apple, Clif Nectar bar.

Workout nutrition (during 2½-hour strength training session): ½ Clif Bar.

Recovery nutrition (after workout): Other half of Clif Bar, medium banana

Dinner: Whole-wheat pasta tossed with sautéed zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, onion, garlic, oregano, fresh basil, and olive oil; one egg. glass of milk, handful of almonds.

Snack: ¾ cup homemade granola (includes rolled oats, rye, whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, buckwheat groats, flaxseed meal, soy protein powder, walnuts, cinnamon, salt, honey, vanilla, and applesauce)

Maria consumed a total of 4,067 calories which included about 141 grams of protein, 685 grams of carbohydrates, and 102 grams of fat.

In some extremely strenuous sports, women have a hard time eating the calories needed to replace calories burned. Cross-country skiers, for instance, need to consume 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day, said one U.S. Olympic Committee sports dietitian quoted by U.S. News & World Report.

Fruits and Veggies, Watch the Sugar for Olympic Cyclist

Cyclist Kristin Armstrong says that like anyone else, she has to watch what she eats or she’ll gain weight. So she eats a lot of fruits, vegetables and whole grains while avoiding high fructose corn syrup or too much added sugar.

According to Health.com, athletes like Armstrong match what they eat to how much they exercise rather than eating the same size meals every day. They’re more in touch with whether they feel hungry or full, and eat accordingly. When they’re not training, they cut back on portions to match their energy output; this allows them to maintain roughly the same body weight all year long, whether they’re training for the Olympics or not.

Olympic athletes look at food the way an auto mechanic looks at oil; both are necessary to keep the engine running well. Most, said Health.com, eat a diet that’s rich in carbs, with smaller amounts of protein and fat. Alcohol is not a regular part of the diet. Fresh fruits, salads and whole grains are, and protein is always combined with carbs to help them feel full.

Content, Not Calories

In 10 Tips for an Olympic Body, swimmer and three-time Olympic gold medalist Brooke Bennett says that content is more important than counting calories.

Like Armstrong, she emphasizes fruit, vegetables, lean proteins, and slow carbohydrates; she also watches her sugar intake carefully, because if it’s not burned off during exercise, it metabolizes quickly and will put on weight.

According to the CBS News story, Olympic athletes eat five to six smaller meals daily, and each meal includes protein to increase lean muscle mass.

Although most of us will never physically challenge ourselves in the way that Olympic competitors do, we can still take a lesson from them by adapting Olympians’ dietary choices to our own more sedentary lifestyles. Consider modifying your diet to include five or six smaller meals a day, combining protein with a low glycemic, carb-rich menu at each meal and limiting alcohol and added sugars.

Turn Exercise Into Child’s Play

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about some old-fashioned children’s games that are making a comeback in the fitness world. I couldn’t be more pleased, since I’m the proud owner of both a jump rope and a hula hoop.

These games can form the core of your exercise routine or can be used to change up your fitness program to prevent boredom from setting in.

Jumping rope
Jumping rope provides an excellent cardiovascular workout, builds muscular endurance and improves coordination. Now, new research indicates it may also be the ultimate brain exercise.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), jumping rope “prepares” the brain for learning in a number of ways. By raising the heart rate, more blood gets to the brain, feeding it needed oxygen and nutrients for enhanced mental focus. And the rhythmic aspects of jumping rope can mimic the basic rhythm patterns of language that are needed for basic reading skills. What’s more, aerobic exercise has been shown to grow new brain cells in rodents, and scientists hope the same may be true of humans.

Jumping rope helps improve agility, coordination and balance while also burning calories in a very big way.

Jumping rope, says the Mayo Clinic, burns more calories than most other sports except for running and rollerblading. A 160-pound person jumping rope for an hour will burn 730 calories, more than would be burned by high impact aerobics (511 calories), jogging at 5 miles per hour (584 calories), racquetball (511 calories), cross-country skiing (511 calories) or using a stair treadmill (657 calories).

What else does jumping rope have going for it? It’s inexpensive and requires very little equipment, can be done practically anywhere and can easily be packed in luggage if you’re traveling.


The hula hoop
While you can still find those lightweight hula hoops you remember from your childhood, fitness experts have improved on traditional hoops by creating weighted hula hoops that are bigger and heavier. Counter intuitively, it’s easier to keep a heavier hula hoop going, allowing you to exercise for a longer period of time. Smaller and lighter hula hoops require more energy to keep them rotating.

Regardless of the type you use, hula hooping can be an aerobic activity when done for 10 minutes or longer. An hour of intense “hooping” can burn as many calories as an hour on the treadmill, according to a recent article on the subject in Time magazine.

Can you recall other childhood games that would fit well in your exercise regimen today?

Compounds Found in Green Tea May Slow Prostate Cancer

A recent study of men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer showed that consumption of a compound found in green tea significantly lowered serum levels of HGF, VEGF and PSA, which are biomarkers indicative of cancer progression.

Results of the study, published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, described reductions in serum levels of more than 30%.  Other biomarkers were also positively affected.

The active compound in green tea, called Polyphenon E, was given to 26 men who were scheduled for radical prostatectomy. The men consumed four capsules containing Polyphenon E., or the equivalent of about 12 cups of brewed green tea, each day for a period ranging from 12 to 73 days, with a median duration of 34.5 days.

"These studies are just the beginning and a lot of work remains to be done, however, we think that the use of tea polyphenols alone or in combination with other compounds currently used for cancer therapy should be explored as an approach to prevent cancer progression and recurrence," said James A. Cardelli, Ph.D., professor and director of basic and translational research in the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport. 

Researchers may need to conduct a randomized trial to make sure that other factors, such as diet or vitamin supplements, were not responsible for the change in biomarkers. They may also look to see if different combinations of plant polyphenols are more effective than Polyphenon E alone.


They are working now with colleagues at New York’s Columbia University to conduct a similar trial among breast cancer patients.


"There is reasonably good evidence that many cancers are preventable, and our studies using plant-derived substances support the idea that plant compounds found in a healthy diet can play a role in preventing cancer development and progression," said Cardelli.