Sylvia Thompson talks to Sonia O'Sullivan and her nutritionist Brian Welsby about what top athletes eat to maintain optimum fitness
'People say to me you must be very healthy but the thing is that the fittest people can be the most unhealthy. You are living on a razor sharp edge in which the slightest thing can knock you either way and you are more open to infection because you are pushing everything right to the line," says Sonia O'Sullivan.
The Olympic medal winner epitomises the balancing act between high level physical performance and the optimum working of the body. Like many sports people competing at international level, she is keenly aware of the need for excellent nutrition to maximise her potential.
As we sit chatting with her nutritionist, Brian Welsby, O'Sullivan (who is just back in from a run) snacks on a plate of fruit which includes bananas, apples, pears and grapes.
"The thing with athletes is that their immune systems are under more threat because of their hard training. They can go down more easily with a cold or flu or chronic fatigue syndrome can set in if they are not eating the right foods and taking adequate supplements," says Welsby.
Originally a chemist, Welsby moved into sports nutrition over 10 years ago and has since developed a range of body-building foods, including rations for mountaineering expeditions. He gave Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Michael Stroud the nutritional advice that sustained them on their world record crossing of the Antarctica in 1993.
He "nutritionally" manages top sports personalities including Olympic heptathlon gold medallist Denise Lewis, Olympic gold medallist yachtswoman Shirley Robertson and world champion sprint cyclist Marion Clignet.
"I tell all of them that they must eat five or six times a day and that the biggest meal of the day has got to be breakfast," says Welsby.
O'Sullivan says that, following Welsby's advice, she starts every day with freshly squeezed lemon juice in a glass of cold or warm water.
Then she'll have green or herbal tea and a bowl of cereal.
"I have a mix of spelt, quinoa and rye which I add hot water and dried figs to or I'll have oats. I'll have this at least an hour before I go for my morning training."
O'Sullivan says that she also takes a range of supplements after breakfast which include essential fish oils, B complex and co-enzyme Q10, a cartilage re-generation drink (the branded nutritional drink, Nutri-plex, which she was in Dublin last week to endorse) and probiotics - especially if she is travelling.
Following her morning training session, she takes two nutritional drinks - one which contains protein and carbohydrates and another which is a pure protein drink.
"When you're finished training, you don't feel like eating so by drinking [ nutritional] drinks straight after training, you help build up the cells again immediately and then you can eat more calmly a little later," she says.
O'Sullivan says that one of the biggest nutritional mistakes high performance athletes or other sports people can make is to eat whatever they get their hands on - chocolate bars or bread after training because they are so hungry.
"There is a window of about 20 minutes in which you need to get fluid and fuel into you after hard training. And your energy system and metabolism is ready for these drinks. Then you can take your time showering and getting changed and choosing the right foods to eat."
She adds that this advice is also valuable for people training to be fit and lose weight. "A lot of the energy bars in gyms are high in fat and calories. You'd do as well by eating a chocolate bar if your body is depleted and take time to eat properly later."
Her own lunch menu consists of soup and a sandwich on rye, multigrain or wholegrain bread and a salad. "I'd eat fruit just before lunch too. If you eat it after, it ferments in the stomach," she says.
For snacks throughout the afternoon, she makes up a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, raisins, sometimes adding dark chocolate chips for taste.
"I'd take a second run of about five miles at 5.30pm and go to the gym straight afterwards for 30 minutes to an hour. Dinner is grilled fish, chicken and salads.
"I've been complemented a lot on my salads which could include various salad leaves, green beans, lentils, feta cheese, avocados and tomatoes," she says with a smile.
Most athletes have plenty of time to choose good ingredients, according to O'Sullivan and opting for quality over quantity when buying food is essential.
"I'd never recommend nutritional drinks replace food but they are necessary to build back up minerals and protein in the body after hard training."
Welsby adds that nutritional drinks such as Nutri-plex (which contains glucosamine and collagen which together regenerate cartilage which protects the joints) works to prevent injury and speeds repair if it occurs.
He says that, generally speaking, the body can't overdose on minerals but that with vitamins, it is recommended not to take more than one and a half times the recommended daily allowance.
"We ask all our high performing sports people to have blood tests at least twice a year to check if there are any minerals or vitamins which are depleted."