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I don’t know why I love analyzing diets, but I do. With the Olympics kicking off this Friday (YAY), I had to dig around and study to learn how these amazing athletes are fueling their bodies.  Please keep in mind that most athletes have trained nutritionists working with them to make sure they are eating the best foods for their sports. What may seem like a lot or a little to us, may just be exactly what they need.

I came across one legit site stating that olympians take in anywhere from 1500 calories to as many as 6000 calories per day. Of course depending on the sport. That got me digging even deeper for specific athletes and uncovering their meal time habits.

The Michael Phelps Eat Anything & Everything Diet

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You already know that Michael Phelps is crazy when it comes to his 8,000+ calorie a day diet. The guy eats pancakes, McDonalds, candy bars, and anything else he can get his fingers flippers on so that he is able to take in that many calories.

All I have to say is that if I were to eat 8,000 calories, that would be one hell of a lot of chickpeas, cherries, arugula, sunflower butter and oatmeal (the normal stables in my life). Ahh, now I have a serious craving for a scoop of sunflower butter… must resist! In fact, since I eat an average of 5 mini meals per day, that would come out to 1,600 calories PER MEAL!

My breakfast would look like this: 

• 1.5 cup oats – 464 calories
• 3 tbsp sunflower butter (on oats of course) – 279 calories
• 2 cups fresh cherries – 180 calories
• 1 banana – 105 calories
• 2 Ezekiel english muffins (cinnamon) – 320 calories
• 1 tbsp of jelly – 45 calories
• 1 Shake: 1 tbsp almond butter, kale, almond milk, 1/2 banana, scoop of vegan protein – 270 calories

Holy cow, yea, no thanks. I wouldn’t be able to move for the entire day!

But Michael isn’t the only athlete in the games that has a crazy meal plan to follow. I recently came across an article talking about other Olympians and their out of this world way of looking at food.

Michael Arnstein’s Fruitilicious Diet

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There is another Michael making headlines for his nutritional habits: marathon runnder Michael Arnstein is a full fledged raw fruitarian, eating nothing but uncooked fruit and vegetables. I tried the whole raw diet thing for a week.. it sucked, just saying.

To be honest, it’s kind of funny I came upon Arnstein because I was just introduced to the idea of fruitarian by a fellow blogger friend, Alex. He was telling me that for lunch (that particular day I spoke with him), he enjoyed 12 peaches. Seriously? Doesn’t that take a way the enjoyment of the sweet juicy fruit? I don’ think I would ever eat another one if I had to sit and eat a dozen! Not to mention, fresh organic fruit isn’t cheap!

Would you be able to eat nothing but fruit for meals? To me fruit is a dessert, not a meal. But if eating all that fruit helps this runner get the 26.2 miles done faster, then keep on!

Eat Like A Skinny Bird Diet

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Let’s move on from the Michaels. You already know that I love gymnastics, and since it is one of the most scrutinized sports (behind ballet) for body image then it’s only natural that a gymnast would make my list of craziest diets.

Not only does a gymnast make the list, but she probably has the most strict borderline anorexic diet of all. Son Yeon-jae is a South Korean gymnast. Her coaches are so concerned with her weight that they monitor it to the gram. Yea, crazy. She is made to skip dinner and her breakfasts and lunches look more like bird food than human portions. How this girl keeps up the energy to train for hours at end is beyond me. Luckily the US team is treated a bit more loosely.

Honey, Are You Going To Eat That Diet

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Before I talk about Jonathan Horton’s diet… let’s just take a moment to appreciate his athletic commitment? Lol. Okay back to serious stuff…

US male gymnast, Jonathan Horton, has raised eye-brows for his habit of taking a swig of pure honey during workouts to help control his blood sugar. To be honest, I don’t find this strange at all. Honey contains important amino acids, fats, and yes, sugar. All important for an athlete and I don’t doubt that the honey can help keep Horton energized during long training sessions. I wish I could carry a bit of honey with me for my long runs. Smart thinking!

Sport By Sport Calorie Intake: 

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I found this break down which reveals the caloric needs for 5 sports. Let me know what you think and if you are suprised?

• Swimming: 3000 – 6000 calories
• Sailing: 5000 – 6000 calories
• Boxing: 1800 – 4000 calories
• Triathalon: 3500 – 4500 calories
• Canoe Slalom: 3000 – 5000 calories

Not all olympic athletes have strange diets, some are just looking to eat right but still get all the calories they need for 8 hours of training. This is also not to give the idea that I recommend taking in this many calories. I would never ever suggest this to be a good idea for a “normal” person. But I do find it crazy interesting!

• If you had to eat 6000 + calories each day, what would you eat the most up to get the calorie count up? 

For me, it would be lots of almond butter protein shakes and a few chocolate chip cookies!

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