Lightweight Eats

Have you ever read an article about all the foods athletes shouldn't eat? Sure, there are the obvious reasons: nobody should be eating chemicals and food dyes, especially not in large quantities. But what about sugar? juice? fatty foods? Should athletes really be eating whole grains, lean proteins and a heaping pile of veggies at every meal?

If you think so, I challenge you to eat as much as a heavyweight male rower for a day. You will either give up at lunch or put on a pound in a day. And do you know how much fiber is in 5-6000 calories or whole grains, lean proteins and veggies? More than most Americans eat in a week. Seriously, you're talking about 150-200 grams of fiber.

Even at a mere 3500 calories a day, I'm looking at 100 grams of fiber daily—even when I'm choosing a number of lower fiber options. What's the problem with that? Well, the short turnaround between meals and workouts doesn't jive with slow digestion. And there are no bathroom breaks in the middle of a 2-hour row.

It can also be challenging to keep up with calorie intake for a lot of athletes. Depending on the training load, I can have trouble finding the appropriate time to eat enough calories—this is even more problematic if I'm still full from my previous meal when I get an opportunity to eat.

So what's my solution?

1. Eat a basis of whole grains, lean protein and veggies.
Imagine what a non-athlete would eat in a day. I try to eat about that much in whole foods. After that, I give myself some leeway to eat white rice, snack on sugary crackers and jams, sip juice, or fried potatoes.

2. Pick high-calorie, low-fiber produce for heavy training days.
Bananas, mangoes, squash, pineapple, melons, peas, and beets are all good options on days when I'm burning through fuel faster than a Hummer. I use my 'off' days to eat the fibrous options: berries, pears, apples, leafy greens, etc.

3. Use a 'bad', 'medium' and 'good' system.
Oreos? Definitely bad. Kale? Definitely good. White rice? The jury is out, so I put it in the medium category. Soda? Definitely bad. Green tea? Definitely good. Juice? Unknown—medium. I eat less than one item a week from the "definitely bad" category, and more than one item a day from the "definitely good" category. Other than that, I don't worry about it.

The best thing I ever did for my diet was to trust it. Instead of avoiding this or eating that, and wondering whether it made any difference, I decided to just eat.