When we watch the world’s best athletes perform in the Olympic Games, we might focus on the hours of physical training they endure to rise to their level of competition. But often overlooked is an equally important component of an Olympian’s life: nutrition. Eating like an Olympian means more than just consuming the right number of calories. Understanding what, when, and how to eat for the demands of your particular sport can give your body the fuel it needs to perform at its best. The diets of the athletes at the Paris Olympics aren’t what you might expect. But unpacking why Olympians eat the way they do can help us understand: How to eat to fuel different levels of exercise/activity. Why “junk food” can improve your fitness in certain workouts. When to eat junk food and how much of it to eat based on your activity level. An key underlying cause of metabolic diseases. Why overly restrictive and finicky diets can backfire.
Macronutrient Needs of Olympic Athletes
While specific dietary requirements will depend on the type of sport you play, in general, athletes’ bodies demand more energy to power them through their training regimens and help them recover. "An athlete will usually need 50 to 70 percent of their caloric intake to come from carbohydrate food sources, (the main fuel source for our brain and muscles)," says Lucy Mower, MS, RDN, CD, an outpatient clinical dietitian at University of Utah Health. "Individuals involved in high-level athletic training also require increased protein to support their recovery as well as fluid to replace fluids and electrolytes lost during training." All athletes will need the following in some capacity, but how much they need will depend on their training and competition regimen. These are the main sources of energy for the body, so athletes need to make sure they are consuming plenty of carbohydrates to provide energy as fuel for training sessions and competitions. Protein is important for muscle repair and recovery and helps promote muscle growth. Proteins also help keep us full and sustain us between meals. Intense exercise causes the body to produce free radicals. Antioxidants neutralize these free radicals, which reduce muscle soreness and fatigue. Along with being an energy source that will keep you satiated for long periods of time, healthy fats also protect our organs and help our body absorb other nutrients like vitamins A, D, E, and K. Proper hydration for athletes is critical. As you sweat, you lose fluids and electrolytes. To perform your best, keep track of your dietary intake, training, and recovery in a journal or log to help you learn what fueling methods work best for you. "There is no one-size-fits-all approach for fueling," Mower says.
Carbohydrates: The Primary Fuel Source
The best energy for athletes comes from carbohydrates, so their diets are typically higher in carbs. Carbs are efficiently turned into energy and are the energy storage for muscles, called muscle glycogen. The trick for athletes is to replenish muscle glycogen used during training, so there is plenty for competing. For athletes, simpler (or refined) carbohydrates are quickly digested and are great prior to training and competing - while the more nutritious carbs, such as fruits, vegetables and legumes (beans, lentils and peas), are great for recovering afterwards. Professional players need food, and lots of it. And sometimes simple is best - simple carbohydrates, that is. Breads, pastas, rice, potatoes and cereals are all critical fuel for an athlete's muscles.
Protein: Repair and Growth
Protein is important for muscle repair and recovery and helps promote muscle growth. Proteins also help keep us full and sustain us between meals.
Antioxidants: Combating Free Radicals
Intense exercise causes the body to produce free radicals. Antioxidants neutralize these free radicals, which reduce muscle soreness and fatigue. The more plant foods on your plate you have, especially in the whole form, the more antioxidants you’re gonna get. We know that those antioxidants we talk about for supporting disease prevention and longevity also support exercise recovery.
Read also: Diets of the Stars
Healthy Fats: More Than Just Energy
Along with being an energy source that will keep you satiated for long periods of time, healthy fats also protect our organs and help our body absorb other nutrients like vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Hydration: Replenishing Lost Fluids
Proper hydration for athletes is critical. As you sweat, you lose fluids and electrolytes.
Individual Approaches to Olympic Nutrition
Before your favorite athlete steps on the mat, runs on the field or dives in the pool, they have to fuel themselves. To get a better idea of what keeps Olympians going strong, we heard from three athletes about what they eat in a typical day.
Suni Lee: Gymnastics
During her first Olympic run at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Lee won the individual all-around champion title at 18 years old, making her the first Asian American woman to win the title. Due to her kidney disease diagnosis last year and longtime journey with eczema, Lee told CBS News she's been focused on a low-sodium diet to prevent any flare-ups. "I like to eat pretty healthy because if I feel my best I know I can go out there and compete at my best," she said of her eating philosophy. "I love my fruits and my vegetables. practice, Lee said she likes to have a smoothie or another light option. "I don't like to feel bloated at practice," she explained. "Afterwards I'll have like a salad, something light again, whether it's a smoothie or even a protein bar or protein shake. While she said she's been loving protein smoothies lately, she doesn't focus too much on numbers or specific nutrient goals - "It's more relaxed for me," she said. "I feel like if you just restrict yourself, you're not having fun with it, and I don't want to create an unhealthy relationship with food. So I just kind of do what I want and it works. It's been working," she said. "I try not to think about it too much." Another go-to for the gymnast? Adding electrolytes to her drinks. "I do get dehydrated really fast," she said.
Steph Rovetti: Rugby
The Paris Games will be the first Olympics for Reno-native Rovetti, who made her debut playing for the United States at the USA Women's Sevens tournament in 2018. On competition days, Rovetti told CBS News she sometimes wakes up without much of an appetite - but she's "learned some tricks to be able to fuel during this time," she said. "For breakfast, I try and eat two eggs, breakfast potatoes, a breakfast meat, spinach and fruit. Sometimes my 'nervous belly' doesn't let me eat that, so in this case, I typically bring a plain gluten-free protein cereal (KetoCrunch) and throw some berries on it. I know I can always get that down (and) that provides me with enough protein and carbs to start fueling. A typical lunch post-game looks like white rice, chicken and a vegetable. "I typically start with the carb and protein these days to prioritize those elements," she said. "For the second game, I repeat the process - BoBos (oat) bar, apple sauce then post-game protein and electrolytes." Dinner is similar to lunch: "Rice or potatoes, chicken or steak, and more vegetables with this meal, as it will be a big part of recovery for the following day," she said. "If I didn't get enough food that day, I will have a protein snack after dinner, like yogurt with fruit."
Read also: Unpacking weird and dangerous diets
Cullen Jones: Swimming
The former competitor won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics, becoming the first African-American to hold a world record in swimming. In 2012, he brought home even more swimming medals. practice where you're trying to go as fast as possible, you've "got to fuel your body." "It could be a shake, but most important, you want to get protein in your body. So when it comes to practice, I would always have some kind of shake. I've now been going to more of the veggie proteins, and it's been great for me. Next comes breakfast, where protein is the star of the show again. "We have as much protein as possible," he said, adding there's a longtime myth about carbo-loading, or loading up on lots of carbohydrates. "It is a myth. It has never helped any of us at the Olympic level," he said. "We do eat carbs, don't get me wrong, because we need that fast energy, but it's so, so important to make sure you're having your protein because it burns slower, and we're just churning out so many calories." Another staple in his diet then and now: Veggies. "I'm sorry, I'm gonna lose half of the listeners, especially if they're young, (but) you gotta eat vegetables," he said. "They're so good for you, and it helps you, especially when it comes to getting to that next level." Jones also takes a more relaxed approach to nutrition, not focusing too much on exact calories or protein intake - instead, aiming for whole foods over processed options. "Ideally, I'd love to get it from actual foods, rather than protein shakes. Jones also revealed the snack that went the fastest in USA's team room: peanut butter and jelly. You can never get peanut butter and jelly- everyone's always grabbing them up," he said.
The Role of "Junk Food" in an Olympian's Diet
We often think that high performing athletes eat an impeccable diet. Like it’s all perfectly portioned grilled salmon and quinoa and vegetables all the time. But the truth is much different. In fact, Olympians use an imperfect diet to their advantage. For the 2014 Winter Games, I spoke to Olympic bobsledder Chris Fogt. He was part of the famed Night Train team that won gold in 2010 and silver in 2014. But Fogt almost didn’t make the squad. He was a hell of a runner-bobsled pushmen are basically 100-meter sprinters who shove a 450-pound sled down a starting track and then ride in it afterward. The problem was that Fogt only weighed 170 pounds. “As a pushman in bobsledding, you need to weigh about 210 to 230 pounds to add weight to the sled,” Fogt told me. It’s physics: Heavier stuff moves faster downhill, and you want the combined weight of the sled and crew to be as close to the 1,390-pound maximum as possible. Fogt needed to add 40 pounds to make the team. That 40 pounds had to be mostly muscle so he could still perform. Fogt’s solution: 1 Cheesy Gordita Crunch2 Doritos Locos Tacos 1 Beefy Five-Layer Burrito2 Soft Tacos. That’s the “snack” Fogt would get from the Taco Bell drive-through after his workouts. The damage: ~1,700 calories, or roughly three-quarters of your daily caloric intake. Those calories consisted of 83 grams of fat, 166 carbohydrates, 70 grams of protein, and enough sodium to stop the heart of a mule. But for Fogt, this snack was the key to making weight and bringing home a medal. “Squats and Taco Bell, baby,” he said.
That’s not to say all Olympians are pounding thousands of calories in fast food. There are Olympians who run their nutrition as a meticulous spreadsheet. For example, the NYT recently ran a story on Olympian breakfasts, which featured a few details of the track and field athlete CJ Allen’s eating plan. He begins his day with an 11-ingredient smoothie packed with a list of obscure supplements that sounds like a podcast ad read for Onnit nutrition. But the details of many other athletes’ diets sound more like the nutritional fever dream of a seven-year-old. For example: Haley Batten, on Team USA Mountain Biking: Pancakes topped with bananas and maple syrup for breakfast. Pop-Tarts while on the bike (Two Percent take: Frosted Strawberry or GTFO). Luke Willian, the Australian triathlete: A giant bowl of cornflakes and whole milk for breakfast. Gummy bears and a 200-calorie electrolyte drink (like Gatorade) while training. Two salami-and-cheese sandwiches and a cake bite after training (he’s eaten this entire list before 10am.) Asia Hogan-Rochester, the Canadian rugby player: “Granola with almond milk, watermelon, a croissant, yogurt and a few sides of chicken dim sum sausage, brie cheese and veggie pierogies” for breakfast. Maggie Mac Neil, the American swimmer. Ice cream.
But for Olympic athletes, those type of foods can actually be helpful. To understand why, I spoke with Brian St. Pierre, a sports nutritionist who has worked with Olympians and consulted for pro teams like the Cleveland Browns and San Antonio spurs. As far as health-effects go, Fogt’s burrito benders-and the Pop-Tarts and gummy bears and Crumbl cookies of the other Olympians-are a non-issue. St. Pierre explained that Olympic athletes who train constantly have high calorie demands, so they’re able to metabolize junk food and remain healthy so long as they aren’t insufficient in calories, vitamins, and minerals. Take Fogt. “I train 20 to 30 hours a week,” he said. “So I eat about 6,000 calories a day.” Some swimmers, cyclists, and marathoners might need as many as 8,000. And Fogt wasn’t only eating Taco Bell. “I also eat the healthy stuff that our trainers and dietitians tell me to,” he told me. For many athletes, junk food isn’t just an indulgence-it can also give them an edge.
Trying to eat entirely healthy food all the time can backfire. As a general rule, the more we process a food, the more we concentrate its calories. I.e., An ounce of ultraprocessed/junk food usually contains far more calories than an ounce of whole/unprocessed food. Eating 1,700 calories in chicken breast, broccoli, and potatoes would take you 45 minutes. You’d have to put time into preparing it, and you’d fill up really fast because of high fiber and water content,” St. Pierre told me. “1,700 calories of Taco Bell takes about 10 minutes to eat and 2 minutes to order.” Taco Bell, gummy bears, croissants, skittles, and other hyper-processed foods pack many calories into a small, convenient, and delicious package. Athletes use that to their advantage. These foods take up less room in your stomach, so the athletes don’t feel overly full and bloated while training. Using the example of an apple versus a candy bar from the graph, to get 140 calories from apples, you’d have to eat roughly 8 to 10 ounces of apples. A candy bar packs that same punch in just 1 once. These foods are already processed, so the athletes’ stomachs have to do less work breaking down the food for energy. This can help them avoid stomach issues while exercising. These foods are convenient. Taco Bell is already prepared. A Pop-Tart sits inside a foil sleeve that can be easily shoved into a pocket. That makes it easier for the athlete to eat while on the go. The nutritionists at the Olympic training center also say that being too finicky about food often hurts athletes. It can lead to undereating, which hurts performance and recovery. For example, undereating is a big driver of training injuries and fatigue. Hyper-specific diets are also a distraction. To win gold, it’s more useful for athletes to focus on their sport rather than every ounce of food they eat.
Read also: Canine Gastroenteric Issues: A Diet Solution
Lessons for the Everyday Athlete
Again, we’re not advocating you live on Taco Bell and Pop-Tarts. But our food environment is filled with ultraprocessed foods that are hard to resist. We inevitably eat them-yet we could always eat them smarter, in a way that helps us rather than hurts us. Here are two lessons from athletes to help you do just that. The more you move, the less you have to worry about the health impacts of the less-than-perfect foods you eat. Whether any one food is “good” or “bad” for you depends on a variety of factors, but especially your activity level. For a marathon runner, added sugar is often a net positive, especially during training.
Here’s a rough guide of how much ultraprocessed food you can get away with eating based on your activity level. I’ve pulled these figures from various recommendations from dietitians. Sedentary individuals can probably get away with 10 percent of their calories from “junk” foods. Moderately active people are usually fine if 20 percent of their food is junk. Highly active individuals can get away with 25 percent. Here’s what that looks like based on a sedentary person needing 2,000 calories, a moderately active person needing 2,500, and a highly active person needing 3,000. Eating the right foods can improve your performance if you’re exercising intensely like running or cycling for more than an hour. Enter ultraprocessed/junk foods, which are uniquely beneficial for endurance exercise. When you exercise hard, your body prioritizes powering your muscles and puts processes like digestion on the back burner. That helps you run or ride fast, but it also gives your gut fewer resources to extract energy from the food inside it. As their name implies, ultraprocessed foods have been processed beforehand. This means your stomach doesn’t have to do as much work breaking them down. If a food doesn’t require much digestion, your body can immediately start to absorb and use the nutrients from it, and that’s going to improve your performance more than anything. It can also help you avoid stomach issues, the number one reason people drop out of races. This is why the Olympic mountain biker eats Pop-Tarts on the bike and why the triathlete eats gummy bears. A good rule of thumb: Eat anywhere from 120 to 180 calories an hour during efforts lasting longer than one hour.
Pre-Competition Nutrition
When it comes to competition, it can matter what you eat as far ahead as a week before the event. While training for the competition, athletes should eat a balanced diet consisting of about 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein and 20% fat, although this can vary by sport and position. Incorporating a variety of foods in one’s diet, such as whole-grain bread and cereals, green, leafy vegetables, fruits, lean meats and low-fat dairy can prove beneficial for overall performance. Drink plenty of liquids to stay properly hydrated. For most athletes, having a balanced meal the night before the competition, similar to the training diet, is the best choice. A balanced meal could consist of a 6-ounce grilled chicken breast, a bowl of pasta with a light amount of tomato sauce and a side of peas or corn. For many athletes, competition means traveling to new places, which could mean limited food options and unfamiliar foods. It’s best to stick to the foods you know sit well with you to avoid unpredictable reactions. Athletes in certain sports may need a different approach for a pre-competition meal, called carb-loading. For someone who is preparing for a marathon or half-marathon, or even soccer players whose games are extremely long, I like to recommend carb-loading before the competition day. Carb-loading refers to eating a meal high in carbohydrates 48 hours to 24 hours before the competition. Carb-loading is common in high-endurance sports that use a lot of energy, such as cross-country running, long-distance cycling and endurance swimming. It helps ensure the body has sufficient glycogen (the stored form of glucose) to use as energy reserves to last through the competition. Endurance athletes generally do not have significant fat storage, which the body uses as a secondary energy source. Your pre-competition breakfast should ideally happen three to four hours before the competition, to allow the food enough time to digest. If your competition is later in the day, this meal may be a lunch or early dinner. The meal should consist of half carbohydrates (50%) and the other half a combination of lean protein (25%) and colorful fruits and vegetables (25%). The carbohydrates should be a mix of complex carbohydrates (such as grains, breads, rice, pastas) and simple carbohydrates (such as fruits). Types of lean protein include eggs, tofu, chicken, lentils and fish. Fruits and vegetables should represent a range of colors, such as tomatoes, watermelons, carrots, mangoes, apricots, chickpeas and eggplant. If your body does not tolerate a full meal before a competition, Nairn suggests a different approach: “I recommend smoothies because a smoothie in itself could be a balanced meal.
For many strength-based competitions (rowing and weightlifting) and combat sports (wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts), athletes need to pay attention to the timing of the weigh-in. If your weigh-in is in the morning, it may be difficult to have a meal within the three-to-four-hour window. Your pre-competition meal may be closer to two or sometimes one hour before the competition. In this case, you should boost the amount of carbohydrates you eat. “We want to ensure that you have your reserves set up” Nairn says. Keeping your energy levels high during the competition will help you be at the top of your game, so it is recommended to have a small snack within 30 minutes of the event. Your morning meal has been digested and placed in your energy reserve, while the snack is used as an immediate source of energy. The snack should consist mostly of simple carbohydrates, something like a granola bar, trail mix or whole-grain crackers with hummus cups. Not all competitions allow for a snack break, but some athletes have time between sets or are able to pause for a quick pit stop. Staying hydrated is a priority, especially during a hot day, which increases water loss through sweating. If you have time for a quick snack, “applesauce is a great option as it has a liquid texture, making it easy to digest, and has both simple and complex carbs,” recommends Nairn.
Foods to Avoid Before Competition
While many foods give you an energy boost, some foods could hurt your performance. Foods high in fat. These foods can make your body feel sluggish because fat takes a long time to digest. Nuts, fried foods, whole-milk dairy products and red meats are considered high in fat. Foods high in fiber. Fiber requires a lot of energy to pass through the digestive system, which could cause gas, bloating, abdominal cramping or diarrhea. Blood rushes to the gut to help move the fiber along. Caffeine. Caffeine can be dehydrating, which can lead to cramps, so it is best to avoid caffeinated beverages the day of your competition - unless you are a regular caffeine drinker, because cutting out caffeine the day of competition could lead to a withdrawal headache. Along with these groups, avoid any foods you know do not sit well with you. You know your body best; if eggs consistently cause intestinal distress, it is best to skip them, even though they offer lean protein.
Nutritional Needs Across Different Athlete Levels
Youth athletes (elementary through high school) typically do not need as much fuel at each meal as older athletes, but they may need to eat more frequently because they are still growing. Collegiate athletes who are in the beginning of their career are also still growing, so they should favor frequent meals to fuel growth. To protect the body from injuries, all college athletes should also ensure they are getting enough vitamins and minerals from the food they eat. Professional athletes tend to have faster metabolism than youth and collegiate athletes, which allows them to tolerate eating heavier meals before a competition. “The most important aspect of nutrition for professional and elite athletes is protecting the body from injury by ensuring you have adequate energy and the vitamins and minerals you need,” Nairn says. This means planning your meals ahead, always having snacks on hand and eating foods rich in vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc and calcium.
The Importance of Individuality
It’s also no secret that among and even within sports, there is no one-size-fits-all method on how to eat to become an Olympic champion. Training Center once a year to consult with a nutritionist on how to fuel their performance. When she travels internationally to compete, Mac Neil enjoys the balance of trying foods from different cultures and eating to make her body feel good ahead of races.