ANCIENT ATHLETES DIET

The diet that the ancient Greek doctors proposed to the athletes was balanced and brought all the essential nutrients and the energy they needed for all their activities.

At breakfast:

The diet made of bread and honey, goat's milk and a small amount of wheat flour mixed with oil gave the athlete the simple carbohydrates from the honey to get the day started and brought with it magnesium that is needed for the absorption of food substances from the intestine, calcium and potassium salts for the movement of muscles and for the osmotic equilibrium which is important for the normal function of the nervous and muscular systems.

The bread and the flour gave the athlete complex carbohydrates that would give them energy during the first part of the day until noon time. The bread also introduced vitamins such as vitamin E also found in the oil mixed with the flour and the B complex vitamins. Vitamin E is important for the function of all the membranes of the body and of the mucosa of the body, therefore it helps maintain intact the cells and the organelles that are found in them.

The goat's milk brings proteins that help build up the muscles and build enzymes that are involved in all chemical reactions in the cells. The milk also brings water important for all reactions and for the cytoplasm which is made of about 80% of it; vitamin A, also found in the oil, that is important for sight and to maintain intact the epithelial structures such as the skin; vitamin D, phosphorus and calcium that are important for the hardness of teeth and bones; the mineral zinc, important for the metabolism of nucleic acids; and sodium and chloride, two minerals important for the conduction of nervous impulses and for the osmotic equilibrium, chloride is also involved in the formation of hydrochloric acid that is secreted in the stomach for the digestion of food substances.

The oil also brings lipids some that contain essential fatty acids important for the integrity of the membranes of the cell.

At noon:

The meal contained dried fruits, figs, nuts, spelt bread crusts with vegetables, black olives, eggs, goat cheese and honeyed wine.

The fruits bring to the athlete simple carbohydrates such as fructose and sucrose to permit energy to be used right away and many minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper which helps the absorption of iron from the food, they also bring roughage (fibres), especially if they are dried, to maintain the alimentary canal healthy and permit peristalsis to remove the wastes from the digestive system.

Figs contain also vitamin C which is very important for the blood vessels and the formation of collagen which is found in the skin and allows its repair and prevents scurvy.

The nuts also contain copper as a mineral but it also contains iron which is needed for haemoglobin, which transports oxygen gas to all the cells for cellular respiration to produce energy, as well as for myoglobin which permits the muscles to use the oxygen gas for respiration inside them. They also contain proteins, and other minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and some vitamins.

The bread crusts contain complex carbohydrates, and the substances explained above as well as vitamin B1 (thiamine) that is important for enzymatic reactions in the muscles and in the nervous system.

The goat cheese contains simple sugars such as lactose and the minerals and vitamins expressed above.

The black olives contain vitamin E which is an anti-oxidant preventing the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and therefore helps maintain the integrity of the membranes and of the epithelium. They also contain vitamin A, lipids and carbohydrates

The eggs contain high quality proteins which are made of the essential amino acids that prevent protein-deficiency diseases such as Kwashiorkor, they also contain vitamin D, for teeth and bones, vitamin A, for sight and epithelial structures, vitamin E, the anti-oxidant for membranes, iron for the production of energy, riboflavin (vitamin B2) that is important for the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids and favours the production of energy in the body, cyanocobalamine (vitamin B12) that is involved in the formation of red blood cells and for the synthesis of nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA, and they contain chloride for the osmotic equilibrium and the correct transportation of the nervous impulses.

The vegetables contain complex carbohydrates for the roughage, simple carbohydrates such as sucrose and other sugars for energy, they hold a lot of different minerals such as calcium, potassium, chloride, sodium, zinc, copper, phosphorus, magnesium and some iron, they also contain vitamins such as vitamin C, vitamin E, riboflavin (vitaminB2) and vitamin K which is important for blood clotting and for the electron transport in nervous impulses, and folic acid (vitamin B9) important in amino acid metabolism and in the formation of nucleic acids.

The honeyed wine brings to the athlete the simple carbohydrates such as sucrose and fructose as well as glucose, it also brings some ethanol that can be used in the body to produce energy and with the honey in the wine it also brings minerals such as magnesium, calcium and potassium.

At dinner:

The last meal consisted in meat on the spit or grilled meat with aromatic herbs, dark soup with meat, cheese cooked or raw vegetables, marinated fish and fruits.

The meat consisting mostly in pork, beef or deer bring to the athletes the proteins and the iron necessary for the growth and the correct function of the muscles and the nervous system. The fact that the meats are cooked either on the spit or on the grill removes the excess unsaturated fats that could cause problems to the arteries and blood vessels in general and therefore this would avoid circulatory problems that could decrease the performance of the athlete and it keeps him in a better health.

The aromatic herbs were mostly used to avoid bacteria from growing on the meats or on fish therefore preventing them from decaying and to give flavour. They also brought to the person eating them some minerals for example such as calcium which is found in great amounts in parsley an aromatic herb used extensively in cooking.

The dark soup with meat was probably made of legumes and other vegetables which gave the athlete many minerals some carbohydrates and proteins and vitamins even though if cooked for too long a time these vitamins would be destroyed.

The raw vegetables and fruits gave the athlete mostly minerals and vitamins necessary for all the enzymatic reactions of the body and especially vitamin C which is destroyed by heat and by light that is why the raw vegetables and the fruits were important in their diets. Cooking the vegetables gave some vitamins that were not denatured by heat and minerals, as well as roughage and other carbohydrates, proteins and some lipids.

The marinated fish brought proteins, lipids, vitamins such as vitamin D, vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin B12, niacin (vitamin B3) important for the metabolism of proteins and for the production of energy, and minerals such as chlorine, sodium, phosphorus, calcium, potassium and if it was sea fish would bring also the mineral iodine which is very important for the function of the thyroid a gland involved in growth and in the production of energy, as well as copper and zinc.

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