Jami, a college freshman on the swimming and diving team, is interested in optim

Question

Jami, a college freshman on the swimming and diving team, is interested in optimizing her nutrition before and after competitive events. Typically, Jami's pre-swimming meal is eaten 2 hours prior to the event and consists of a quarter pounder from McDonald's, small order of french fries and a diet coke. She notices that during swimming events she is feeling extremely sluggish and often complains of gastrointestinal (GI) distress. Jami is also wondering what to do post-exercise to refuel her body. Please use this information to answer the following questions.

1. What is the cause of Jami's GI distress and what type of meal would you recommend prior to a major athletic event? Please provide an example of a meal you would recommend and the main nutrient in the meal for full credit.

2. After her swimming and diving event, Jami goes to the U of M dining hall and starts to consider what foods she should eat for recovery. What main nutrient would you recommend and why?

3. Jami has recently learned of the glycemic index and wonders if her post-event meal should be high in glycemic index. Please describe what the glycemic index is and provide 2 examples of foods that are high in glycemic index.

Explanation / Answer

1. The main fuel for exercise is carbohydrate, which is then stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen. The diet that she is consuming before swimming has a low glycemic index which means it take more time to get digested inside the body and thus causes gastrointestinal distress due to slanting position of swimming. A food's GI measures how fast it gets digested in the body. Lower GI foods, give a slower release of energy and should be the focus of main meals during training. High GI foods are quickly broken down to glucose and thus are more readily available for energy. These make great options for quick snacks, before, during, or after training

She should consume a meal rich in carbohydrates. Consuming simple sugars is also helpful. Instead of cold drinks, she should opt for some sports drink. She should also increase her protein intake.

Diet: Good options include:

2. Snacks: Recovery drinks help replenish, also a mix of carbohydrates, meanwhile protein bars and fruits are handy snacks to have to hand before a substantial meal.

Main meals: Incorporating protein into your meal will help muscle repair and replenishment. For example: fish, lean chicken, turkey and beef, eggs and low-fat cheese.

3. Glycemic index: It is a relative ranking of carbohydrates in food according to how they affect the blood glucose levels. High GI foods are quickly broken down to glucose and thus are more readily available for energy. These make great options for quick snacks, before, during, or after training. So, she should consume high GI foods. Example: Fruits (like watermelon, Grapes), Vegetables (Like potatoes, sweet potatoes).

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