Sourcing Calories, Even For Athletes

I’ve seen and heard it for years.  The old adage often applied to athletes that ‘since you’re expending all those calories through training, it doesn’t matter what you eat.  Just get those calories in.’ is so inaccurate it makes me cringe.

Sadly, it’s not just happening in the US.

Recently, a client based in Belgium, who was in Spain for a cycling training camp shared an experience he had at a local market.  He was out buying his Paleo produce and proteins and came across a very well known athlete.  In reference to what my client saw in this female athlete’s cart, he wrote: “I was surprised: bottle of industrial made dressing, rise cake, bread, butter and milk. Hum…I was thinking…no veggies or fruits but very industrial carbohydrates. Let’s assume she not Paleo in any kind I would aspect some healthy choices. Nothing really healthy in fact. Even when I wasn’t Paleo I never made the dressing choice. She’s a professional cyclist as in “she gets paid to do this”.  Overall I’m not that extroverted kind of person but now I couldn’t hold it in and I spoke to her about her goals and life as a professional cyclist. When we talked about food she was telling me she has a diet coach and that food was strictly guided and advised by the team. When I began about Paleo she never heard of that, no problem, not many here, but what surprises me was she thought she needed those things in her bag, after all she’s on a training camp, trains a lot and need lot’s of carbs…like rise cake. Ok, let’s assume the food she bought was not for her husband she makes the wrong choices if you ask me. It illustrates a lot to me about woman cycling in our country.” 

Same old thing.   “We need these carbohydrates to fuel our training and racing: bagels, cakes, bread and butter and certainly dairy to help build our bones”.

So, so untrue.

Yet some athletes seem to perform at the top of their game despite repeatedly inflicting themselves with gluten, dairy and white sugar, all with the goal of ‘getting in the calories’.   So…can you imagine what their bodies could do if they were fueled with real food?

Worth considering!

I went from being a very average endurance athlete to being a very competitive one after transitioning to Paleo.

Pure food=pure fuel= optimal performance.  No pollution.  Not too tricky!