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Proud of the performance of the Swedish Olympic team, chef Marcus Samuelsson is using his blog and Twitter to tell the world why he thinks his countrymen are at their peak. He began his discourse with the Twitter post pictured above.
The Twitter post contained a link to a post on Samuelsson's blog, which was written by fellow Swede Patrice Johnson. Titled ''Peak Performance: The Foods Swedes Eat,'' the post outlined familiar foods like whole grains, fruits and vegetables but also highlighted typical Swedish foods like filmjok (a sourmilk that is typically consumed at breakfast).
The post hammered on a very important detail: breakfast. That's right, Swedish athletes see breakfast as the most important meal fo the day. Their morning meal may consist of oatmeal or muesli, or whole-grain bread with ham cheese, cucumbers and tomato. Everything is designed to provide maximum energy.
To get to the heart of the matter Patrice Johnson interviewed Sofia Eriksson, an intern at the American Swedish Insitute in Minnesota who comes from Northern Sweden. Sofia, who played soccer for 12 years, explained that during her athletic years she stuck to a five-meal a day plan based on tallriksmodellen (the plate model), which tailors the amount of complex carbohydrates and protein to your activity level.
What about snacks? According to Sofia, a typical snack for a Swedish athlete may be a glass of milk and a banana instead of chips, candy bars or sugary yogurt. Ironically, those are some of the snacks American Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, loves to indulge in.
In the end, Olympic atheletes eat a variety of food and lots of it - just check out how much food the Turkish Olympic team eats in one day. Which begs the question, what does it really take to be a successful Olympic athlete?
