What do Gwen Jorgensen and Jan Frodeno have in common?
Yes, they are both successful at triathlon. Yes, they are both really fast runners. But they also eat pretty much the same!
I have had the opportunity in the last few months, when I was creating the website http://nutritionforperformance.com , to learn what some of the best athletes in the world eat.
What I have learned about the eating habits of theses World-class athletes is that they all eat a pretty normal diet composed mostly of whole food. Nothing super strict or super complicated, just REAL food.
Neither Gwen Jorgensen nor Jan Frodeno follow a restricted diet monitored y weight loss apps, such as a gluten-free diet, a paleo diet or a vegan diet. Therefore, they both eat a well balanced diet and get their calories and nutrients from many different foods. However, even though they are not gluten-free, they both prefer rice as a source of carbohydrates. Indeed, Gwen Jorgensen eats rice, veggies, cheese and a source of protein the night before her races and often bring a rice cake during long rides.
Since a couple of years, rice has become more and more popular among athletes, especially among cyclists. Indeed, the usual pre-race pasta meal the night before the race has been replaced by a meal composed of rice and a source of protein. Furthermore, cycling team’s chefs often prepare rice cakes for their riders to replace the processed energy bars. For instance, Allen Lim’s rice cake recipes from the FeedZone Cookbook, both savoury and sweet, are really popular.
Furthermore, both Jorgensen and Frodeno treat themselves whenever they feel like it. For instance, Gwen Jorgensen eats chocolate everyday after every meal and she also enjoys ice cream. Training many hours everyday and traveling around the World is really stressful, so you have to treat yourself once in a while. Furthermore, it’s always great to have something to look forward to when you’re training really hard and for many hours. Also, dark chocolate is a great source of antioxidants and minerals and has many health benefits.
Those two great triathletes both enjoy smoothies and they both include fruits, dairy, and peanut butter in their favourite recipe. Gwen puts frozen fruits, peanut butter, yogurt, almond milk and honey in her blender and Frodeno likes to put a banana, protein powder, raw milk, peanut butter and macca powder in his blender. This is a great mix of carbohydrates (from the fruits, the honey and the milk), protein (from the peanut butter, the protein powder, the milk and the yogurt) and fat (from the peanut butter). Macca powder is considered as a “superfood” because it contains antioxidants, vitamins, plants sterols, many essential minerals and amino acids, as well as healthy fats. If an Olympic champion eats Macca powder, I guess we should all go to the supermarket right now! A smoothie is a great way to consume a lot of calories, carbohydrates and proteins after a hard workout, especially when it’s really warm and you don’t feel like eating solid food. Furthermore, a cold smoothie brings the body temperature down after a hard workout in the sun.
Finally, the best athletes in the World don’t follow a magic diet that makes them stronger, faster and better. They simply eat a well balanced diet composed of whole (non-processed) foods and treat themselves once in a while. Nutrition is really important for performance but eating is also a social activity and should be enjoyable. You put enough stress on your body by training super hard every day so you should not stress even more by counting all your calories and nutrients. Make sure you have tons of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and sources of protein in your pantry and enjoy every meal!
