Junk-food ban, TV chef put accent on athletes’ nutrition
TORONTO — Athletes who crave fries have had to forgo them at the Canada Summer Games village, which has been declared a junk foodfree zone.
Instead, the young competitors are being given a huge variety of nutritious offerings with no cap on how often they can drop by the cafeteria each day.
“The whole point was to try and get athletes off on a good start,” with adequate nutrition to help them perform better, said Christiane Azzi, a nutritionist with Sodexo, which is dishing up the food at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Que., site of the 17-day event which wraps Saturday.
TV personality and cookbook author Michael Smith, who ran the kitchen for Sodexo in Whistler, B.C., during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, chose recipes he thought were suitable for athletes.
Azzi says she and Canada Summer Games head nutritionist Martin Frechette then reviewed them to “make sure they have good carbs, they have adequate protein, they have fat but not too much fat and they’re not too heavy for competitions.”
In the Games village, athletes are tempted by made-to-order omelette, pasta and stir-fry stations. There are deli bars, where they can make their own sandwiches, salad bars, two daily soups and a cold bar with cottage cheese and freshcut fruit. Entrees include lasagna, beef stew and chicken tagine and there are also glutenfree and kosher choices.
Even the pizza has been given a healthy twist with wholewheat crust, vegetables and not too much cheese.
“There’s something for everybody,” said Michael Little, food and beverages manager for Sodexo, who is based year-round at Bishop’s. “If you have specific dietary needs you can have a meal made right in front of you.”
Little said the athletes don’t seem to mind not having junk food. “People just kind of fall into (eating junk food). Since there’s so many hot and fresh options, it’s easy to eat well.”
Members of the B.C. women’s volleyball team, which won a silver medal, appreciated the healthy choices.
“There was always lots of fruits and veggies, which was really important for us, lots of salad and stuff like wraps and sandwiches,” said power hitter Kaitlynn Given, 19, of Kelowna, B.C. “Then there was stuff for post-game. Big meals like pastas and full dinners, stuff we’d expect at home.
“My favourite food was probably just the different varieties of fruits and stuff. For us, it was really important just to get all of the food groups in. We focused on nutrition a lot before we came here so I think it was important we kept that up once we got here.”
A program called 3-2-1-Go! being premièred at the Games advises athletes what to eat three hours before, two hours before and one hour before competition.
“You don’t eat the same way three hours before as you do one hour before,” Azzi said from Laval, Que. “You can’t eat a full meal one hour before. You won’t have digested, you’ll be nauseated, you won’t have the energy. But you can eat a small snack with a bit of carbs, a bit of protein, just to say you’re not hungry any more and you can do your activities.”