Athletes training for endurance competitions tend to eat a lot, especially carbohydrates, which produce glucose to fuel the muscles. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps took in 12,000 calories a day during the 2008 Summer Olympics, for example. Regimented nutrition diets are also popular among athletes. The top Mixed Martial Arts fighters employ full-time nutritionists who prepare each meal for them.
But fasting?
More bodybuilders, professional cyclists and other athletes are turning up their nose at food. Some of them fast two days a week by eating about 600 calories a day (not a fast proper, but enough to achieve its metabolic effects) and then eating regularly the other five days. In shoptalk, this is called the 5:2 diet. Meanwhile, these athletes are doing aerobics and strengthening exercises – in other words, full training.
At first this sounds odd. Exercise uses energy that needs to be replenished by food. How could fasting ...
