TA ΛΕΝΕ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΠΙΣΤΕΥΟΥΝ ΚΙΟΛΑΣ!!!!!

One of my favorite early Saturday Night Live skits was featured John Belushi as an Olympic athlete. The scene opens with clips of Belushi doing a high jump and running around a track, then cuts to a shot of him at the breakfast table. Clutching a cigarette, Belushi looks into the camera with complete gravitas and tells about his secret to staying fit: "I downed a lot of donuts. Little chocolate donuts. They taste good and they've got the sugar I need to get me going in the morning."

The commercial played off the classic "Wheaties" ads, which featured Bruce Jenner. The prevailing wisdom in those days stated that top-class athletes had to eat extremely healthy foods, like whole grain cereal and skinless, boneless chicken. However, as I recently read about Michael Phelps' daily eating regimen, I was surprised to see that his diet is much closer to John Belushi's than to Richard Simmons. To begin with, the Olympian consumes approximately 12,000 calories a day, roughly six times the RDA for a man his age. Second, it is heavily skewed towards carbohydrates and fats, which most diets eschew. Given Phelps' amazing energy expenditure (in the average week, the guy swims five hours a day, six days a week!

At any rate, Phelps' average daily menu is after the jump...



Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions, and mayonnaise.
A five-egg omelet.
A bowl of grits.
Three slices of French toast with powdered sugar.
Three chocolate pancakes.
Two cups of coffee.

Lunch: A pound of pasta with tomato sauce.
Two large ham, cheese, and mayo sandwiches on white bread.
Energy drinks.

Dinner: A pound of pasta with tomato sauce.
Six to eight pizza slices (basically, a whole pizza!).
Energy drinks.

Looking at Phelps' diet, it makes a lot of sense. The combination of quick energy carbs and slow-burning fats probably keeps him fueled up for hours, and the huge amounts of protein help his body quickly repair muscle damage. Besides, with his amazing energy expenditure, it's not surprising that he quickly burns through the calories!