"athlete" news and stories

Are you ready for some football? For most of us, that phrase equals sitting on the couch for a couple of hours, armed with a beer (or three) and a nice, big bowl of chips. For the football players, though, it signals the need for optimum fitness, necessitating some smart food choices.

The Washington Post reports that Clinton Portis, running back for the Washington Redskins, did as many of his compatriots do: He's hired personal chef Michael Stevenson (a.k.a. Chef Mike) to help steer him away from his beloved Chick-Fil-A and Popeyes and toward foods he'd never much cared for -- like broccoli.

Meeting the caloric needs of a professional athlete is a challenge. Jane Jakubczak, the Redskins' team nutritionist, explained to the Post that football players typically need at least double the calories of the average adult -- sometimes triple! -- and they need to come from the right balance of carbs, fats, and proteins to provide enough endurance at game time.

One of my favorite early Saturday Night Live skits was featured John Belushi as an Olympic athlete. The scene opens with clips of Belushi doing a high jump and running around a track, then cuts to a shot of him at the breakfast table. Clutching a cigarette, Belushi looks into the camera with complete gravitas and tells about his secret to staying fit: "I downed a lot of donuts. Little chocolate donuts. They taste good and they've got the sugar I need to get me going in the morning."

The commercial played off the classic "Wheaties" ads, which featured Bruce Jenner. The prevailing wisdom in those days stated that top-class athletes had to eat extremely healthy foods, like whole grain cereal and skinless, boneless chicken. However, as I recently read about Michael Phelps' daily eating regimen, I was surprised to see that his diet is much closer to John Belushi's than to Richard Simmons. To begin with, the Olympian consumes approximately 12,000 calories a day, roughly six times the RDA for a man his age. Second, it is heavily skewed towards carbohydrates and fats, which most diets eschew. Given Phelps' amazing energy expenditure (in the average week, the guy swims five hours a day, six days a week!

At any rate, Phelps' average daily menu is after the jump...

A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association indicated that teens who are involved in athletic programs have healthier eating habits than those who are not involved in sport. The findings indicated that both the athletic boys and girls were more likely to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, not skipping meals and making healthier choices than their peers, though many of the girls still did not meet their nutritional requirements for calcium and iron.

The study was conducted by the Eating Disorders institute in Minnesota and, surprisingly, concluded that students in weight-based sports, such as wresting and gymnastics, had even better eating habits than other athletes. Researchers dismissed concerns that these pressures often lead to eating disorders, saying "it may be that youth involved in sports at a less elite level of athletics, such as the junior high and high school levels, are able to maintain better nutrient profiles than athletes involved at an elite level."

 

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