Olympic Eating

From the Wall Street Journal, on 1 August 2012, "Olympic Alchemy: Turning Junk Food Into Gold," by By Rachel Bachman -- U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte ate McDonald's food for nearly every meal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and won four medals, including gold in the 200-meter backstroke.

He's since turned over a new leaf, cutting out fast food and winning gold last weekend in 400-meter individual relay. But, really, why bother?

Among the oddities that distinguish Olympic athletes is their ability to massively consume the very foods everyone else is nagged to avoid.

The Olympic workouts of elite swimmers burn up thousands of calories and trigger training table menus that sound like the wish list for a kid's birthday party: Big Macs, Mountain Dew, Skittles, chocolate milk.

"I love fatty desserts," said Nathan Adrian, who swam on the silver-medal-winning 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay. He can't resist milk with warm "Funfetti," a home-baked white cake stuffed and topped with rainbow sprinkles.

"I live with two girls, my housemates, and for the longest time I was like, 'Dude, I'm training for the Olympics and the Olympic trials. You can't make me these stupid Funfetti cakes,' " he said. "But if they're just sitting there, I can't not eat them."

Adrian's ripped 6-foot-6, 220-pound physique hasn't suffered.

Olympic butterfly swimmer Kathleen Hersey's name echoes her indulgence. "Dark, white, milk—I can't find a chocolate I don't get along with," she said.

American breaststroker Scott Weltz isn't big on dessert—he's lactose-intolerant so ice cream is out. But he is a "greasy cheeseburger kind of guy," he said, "cheeseburgers, grease, anything like that, I'm a big fan of."

Few doctors would recommend a fast-food or high-sugar diet, but Olympians don't play by normal rules.

Breaststroker Breeja Larson eats about 7,000 to 9,000 calories a day during peak training, said Diana Harbourt, assistant director of performance nutrition at Texas A&M. The 6-foot Larson doesn't show it. She has 11% body fat. "It's not recommended for women to go below 12%," Harbourt said. "But each individual is different, and she's just exceptional."

Distance swimmer Conor Dwyer likes brownie sundaes. Gold medalist Missy Franklin prefers regular sundaes topped with Gummi bears.

"I cringe when I see these reports about refined sugars being bad for people," said Joel Stager, a physiologist and the director of the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming at Indiana University. "That may be true. But athletes, that's about the only way they can get the stuff in. You certainly wouldn't recommend that to the general population, but when you're training five, 5½ hours a day in the water, it's tough to make that up with bagels and cornflakes."

Stager and his associates discovered several years ago that the sugar and nutrients in chocolate milk made it the optimal after-swim food. Allison Schmitt was swigging some after her 200-meter freestyle semifinal Monday.

Michael Phelps told Details magazine he eats what he wants, including "Sour Patch Kids, Reese's or a bag of chips." His coach, Bob Bowman said, "I don't think he eats a lot of garbage."

Lochte, Phelps's teammate, cut out most fast food in the years leading up to the London Games. He blistered Phelps and the field in the 400-meter individual medley on Saturday to win his second-ever individual gold.

"We sat down the other night, he had a salmon salad," said U.S. team coach Gregg Troy during the Olympic trials last month. "That's a whole different deal."

Lochte still has a sweet tooth. Each night of the trials, Lochte's father handed him a favorite childhood treat—Skittles, the rainbow-colored candy.

Garrett Weber-Gale, who won two golds during swim relays in Beijing, has since apprenticed at restaurants in Italy and New York and started AthleticFoodie.com. He has railed against refined sugars and connected his Olympic prowess at the last Games to his hand-prepared meals.

He won't get another chance in London. At the trials last month, he finished eighth in 100-meter freestyle. (source: The Wall Street Journal)