What does the U.S. Olympic hockey team eat? This is what a high performance athlete’s diet looks like!

Nutrition plays a large part of the team’s training, said Dave Hamilton, lead strength and conditioning coach. “We spend a lot of time training, but if you look at five meals a day,” he said. “I just think, proportionately, it’s a real big part of how well your body’s going to adapt.”

Since the first day at Spooky Nook, the coaching staff brought in nutritionists to teach the players about food and even offered cooking classes to show how to do things like minimize the saturated fat in meats. These hockey players eat about every three hours to fuel their bodies during training.

The meals at Spooky Nook are usually are protein-heavy as athletes on the U.S. Olympic Women’s Hockey team fuel their bodies with protein first, lots of salad and not a lot of carbs. They are committed to a strict diet that’s based on what she needs to perform at her best. The diet varies for each player, but for the team as a whole, that means no alcohol. No desserts. No crackers and cheese.

The staff at the training facility make sure the salad bar is stocked daily and there are lean proteins available such as grilled or sauteed chicken, roasted turkey with no skin and grilled flank steak. And team members have learned to avoid high-acid foods such as tomatoes or chili before their running workouts. From the team’s nutritionist, they’ve learned tips such as the fact that chickpeas are a great source of protein. Baking them turns them into a crunchy snack. After dinner, it is suggested eating few carbs after 6 p.m. Night snacks should be protein-based, such as Greek yogurt, beef jerky or a protein shake made with whey, he said. This years-long eating plan calls for a lot of discipline.

Source: http://lancasteronline.com – ERIN NEGLEY | Staff Writer