Diet and Swimmers

From the SwimSci Blog

In weight class sports (wrestling and boxing) extreme measures are taken to achieve specific weight classes. Large increases or decreases in weight can be harmful to the athlete. Luckily swimming is a sport where diets are rare (no pun). With every athlete I've assessed for weight loss, caloric intake and poor eating habits are the main issue. However, I never cut the total volume of foot in an athlete's diet, instead changing the volume of certain foods and the timing of foods is essential. Here are some quick fixes to try before cutting foods in a diet:

1. 
   Eat more fiber and eat correct carbohydrates!Replace all your enriched white flour products filled with high fructose corn syrup to 100% whole wheat and confirm the fiber quantity is high. Everyone remembers the food pyramid with the largest chunk dedicated to carbohydrates, unfortunately the picture of carbohydrates is dubious. Their picture presents a loaf of white bread, but eating plenty of fruits, vegetables as well as high fiber food will provide plenty of carbohydrates and help you shed the extra pounds quickly since fiber will make you expel the food quickly, if you catch my drift.
2. Plan and increase your food frequency. Athletes should consume food often, I recommend 5-6 meals a day! This will increase the athlete's metabolism and with correct timing will optimize recovery and energy peaks. Don't over complicate this topic, eat a small meal of carbs before a practice, potentially more carbs during a workout if it is strenuous, and eat a mixture of carbs with protein after practice. For example, eat two apples prior to exercise and a peanut butter sandwich with a banana after practice.
3. Watch what you drink. This is applicable on different levels, but whether your addicted to caffeine (triple mocha chocolate lava latte) or alcohol (dark, chestnut beer) the calories you drink can be enormous. Even healthy drinks, Gatorade and vitamin water, contain more calories than water.
4. Eat Real Food. I hinted at this topic in number 1, but eating raw foods or un-refined foods will decrease your appetite and provide more nutrients. There currently are not many studies confirming this notion, but America is extremely more obese than 20 years ago. What has changed? The major shift has been in portion sizes and ingredients which I feel this are correlated. As the ingredients went from real food to synthetic food appetites went through the roof. Therefore, I and many others theorize, appetites are increasing as our consumption of processed foods increases.
5. Drink More Water. Water contains 0 calories, I don't care if it comes from the tap or a $10 bottle, drink plenty of it as it will decrease your appetite as well as improve a plethora of other functions.
6. Eat more Protein. I typically find female athletes steer away from protein as they believe this will “bulk them up”. Trust me, protein is a good thing and provides satiety which will prevent you from eating a bunch of nonsense foods which provide no nutrients.
7. Limit the Junk. If your weak spot is pumpkin pie, go ahead have a slice, just a slice not the whole pie. Thanksgiving is around the corner and I allow cheat days in all my diets, just make sure Thanksgiving leftovers don't turn into cheat weeks.

These are some simple fixes which can help a lot of problems without starving a swimmer. Often times, when people try to lose weight they limit their food intake which can slow their metabolism. I highly disagree with this notion and suggest changing a few variables in the diet before restricting calories.
GJohn