{"id":133882,"date":"2016-08-20T09:12:18","date_gmt":"2016-08-20T07:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=133882"},"modified":"2016-08-20T09:13:52","modified_gmt":"2016-08-20T07:13:52","slug":"how-to-eat-like-an-olympian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/133882\/how-to-eat-like-an-olympian\/","title":{"rendered":"How to eat like an Olympian"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Olympics are now in full swing, with more than 10,500 athletes from 205 different countries in Rio de Janeiro for the summer games. At this elite level the winning margins are increasingly narrow \u2013 and when all else is equal the difference between gold and silver may come down to something as seemingly simple as what an athlete eats. But of course, what\u2019s on the menu is far from simple, and in the athletes village in Rio a team of 2,500 will be working around the clock to serve 60,000 meals<\/a> a day.<\/p>\n

At this level, elite athletes are likely to take a personalised approach to their nutrition \u2013 with their diets meticulously planned, tested, and often underpinned by the latest research<\/a> \u2013 which has exploded over the past few years and continues to grow at a rapid rate.<\/p>\n

But the meticulous approach to food and diet taken by modern day Olympians is in stark contrast to some of the earliest ancient Greek athletes. Take Charmis, the Spartan winner of the Olympic short sprint in 668BC, who is reported<\/a> to have eaten a special diet of dried figs throughout the games. While other typical early Olympians lived sparingly on barley bread and cheese<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>

How to eat like an Olympian? HandmadePictures\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

The ancient Greek trainer Pythagoras \u2013 not to be confused with the famous Greek philosopher and mathematician \u2013 then introduced the concept of eating meat into the diets of athletes in the middle of the fifth century. And from there athletes didn\u2019t look back and one of the first to incorporate meat into his training diet was middle distance runner Dromeus of Stymhalos<\/a>. He had two victories in the dolichos (long-foot race) at both Olympia and the Pythian Games<\/a>, three at Isthmian<\/a>, and five victories at the Nemian games<\/a>\u2013 which led to meat being seriously considered as a nutritional strategy.<\/p>\n

Modern methods of eating<\/h3>\n

The first detailed recording of dietary intakes during the modern Olympic games didn\u2019t appear until the 1936 Berlin Games. Here, a study of athletes’ diets found that<\/a> many would dine on two steaks a meal, and sometimes poultry \u2013 with nearly half a kilogram of meat eaten daily \u2013 while pre-event meals consisted of three steaks, eggs and meat extract.<\/p>\n

The study also found that other athletes would stress the importance of high carbohydrate intake with the Brits consuming large quantities of porridge and the Italians pasta. This was further supported with reports that some athletes would eat diets so high in carbohydrate, that they consumed 6,700-7,300 calories a day. Perhaps this was the first indication of sport and event-specific nutrition, but sadly neither of the studies correlated food intake with sporting event or performance outcomes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A winning start to the day? Flaffy\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

It is now known of course, that one of the most significant ways to enhance endurance performance \u2013 such as marathon running \u2013 is indeed by eating carbohydrate before a race. This is because during exercise, the body\u2019s carbohydrate stores can be diminished, and carbohydrates are important to athletes because they can help to improve endurance performance for events of 60 to 90 minutes. So because of this, elite endurance athletes are now often advised<\/a> to eat carbohydrates 24 to 36 hours before competition. For a 65kg athlete this would work out at 650 grams a day, and would be spread across multiple meals from a variety of carbohydrate sources \u2013 such as bread, potatoes, rice or pasta.<\/p>\n

As well as pre-feeding, taking on carbohydrate during an event can also improve physical, cognitive and technical aspects of performance<\/a>. And in events lasting between 30 and 60 minutes swilling a carbohydrate solution around the mouth and spitting it<\/a> out may be enough to keep the body working that little bit longer.<\/p>\n

In relation to exercise training, however, it is now thought that strategic periods of reduced carbohydrate and elevated protein<\/a> intake may actually be more beneficial.<\/p>\n

Event specific diets<\/h3>\n

For modern athletes, events with higher exercise intensities and short durations \u2013 such as track sprint cycling \u2013 can also be enhanced by nutritional strategy. Athletes will often take the naturally occurring amino acid beta-alanine<\/a> \u2013 as a nutritional supplement. This is because it can enhance high-intensity exercise<\/a> by balancing the muscle pH which naturally drops during this type of exercise. Put simply, a drop in muscle pH is a major contributor to muscle fatigue. And by supplementing with beta-alanine it stops this fatigue from happening so quickly.<\/p>\n

Beetroot juice<\/a> has also received substantial recent interest due to its possible performance enhancing effects. Drinking it both before \u2013 usually up to 2.5 hours \u2013 and after (more than six days) may improve exercise capacity by decreasing the \u201coxygen cost\u201d \u2013 which is basically the amount of oxygen used in exercise. So by drinking beetroot juice an athlete can become more economical in their performance.<\/p>\n

\"Beetroot<\/a>

Beetroot juice boosts stamina by making muscles \u2018more efficient\u2019. verca\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Specific performance nutrition can also help to prevent illness by providing the correct amount of energy and macronutrients to match the energy needs of training, and to prevent fatigue. Recent research<\/a> also suggests that probiotic and prebiotics might also be beneficial to athletes because they can help to enhance the immune system \u2013 reducing the number of upper respiratory tract infections<\/a> during a winter period of training and competition \u2013 when these types of infections are more prevalent.<\/p>\n

But in the pursuit of Olympic glory ultimately nutrition is just one component in the arsenal that athletes have. Since ancient Greece, food has been seen as integral to performance, and with a growing body of evidence showing that performance nutrition can be the difference between places on the podium, it makes sense for athletes to carefully consider what they are putting into their bodies. Because after all, the saying goes, you are what you eat \u2013 and it seems this couldn\u2019t be more true for our world class medal winners.<\/p>\n