Feed a Lifestyle
Food provides athletes with the nutrition they need to sustain their daily activity both in practices and during competitions to fuel their physical activity. Feeding our bodies and creating a healthy lifestyle to assist our daily-activity matters both to athletes and students in need of a boost for school. By instilling daily habits that practice proper nutrition, our body, and our mind benefit from the routine. The Axemen and Axewomen 2020-2021 swim team supports food routines to not only build healthy habits but to treat themselves to the care they deserve. Working hard in sports and school requires a balance in schedule, and without the right care, people burn-out.
Community
Often, food circulates on various occasions. Attending a cocktail party? Chances are the host has set-up a charcuterie board or a table of finger food to nibble on throughout the night. Any Superbowl watch party involves loads of food, which creates a tradition within group settings that surrounds food. Enjoying the Bachelor? May as well pop some popcorn and pop-open the wine. As for students, we tend to forget to enjoy events to the extent we deserve due to budgets, time crunches, and lack of energy. Sports teams learn that regardless of their schedule, food remains valuable. As students, we can adopt these habits and treat our bodies with care.
In your own Setting
Everybody has food routines, whether that be their favourite Meal Hall hack, a guilty-pleasure snack, your favourite dish your parents make, or your go-to meal when you are running late to a class. Routines surround us everywhere, regardless of how we incorporate them into our lives. Sometimes, a change in routine elevates our mood and motivates us by introducing a new theme to lighten our lives. The Axewomen and Axemen swim team has plenty of food rituals to share from their experience with keeping up with school, swim team, and finding time to re-fuel in-between. Below, see the ways both teams prepare for a competition and how they treat themselves afterwards:
“we have huge pasta dinners with teammates before competitions . . . lots of energy, and who knows if that is the best meal to have but having it together gets everyone excited, so who cares if it’s a placebo effect!” -Lia Lancaster
“after meets, we absolutely muck at McDonald’s, because we deserve it! Training 20+ hours a week and eating well all the time to do our best is great, but getting four burgers is pretty great too” -Axewomen swim team
“normally after morning workouts, I’ll visit the boys in my year and make waffles, which helps us eat before class or wind down and chat about pool politics or school affairs so we aren’t always on the go” -Jessica Pelletier
“we all go to McDonald’s or Harvey’s after a swim meet! During the swim meet, usually, a group of parents will make dinner for the entire team, and it will probably be lasagna or pasta. Sushi at the Wasabi House is usually a pretty big staple after the friday night sessions” -Elyott Chang
“I always try to eat lots of protein the few days leading up to racing, although I will only eat white protein and fish compared to red meat as it takes the body 48-72 hours to process red meat” -Guy Harrison-Murray
“I go to Daryll’s and get the peanut butter burger for lunch every year at invites” -Owen Landry
“for breakfast, it’s always eggs, toast, and whatever meat being served (with water). Lunch includes a light pasta & a ham sandwich, and the same always applies to dinner, with non-stop water. If my pee isn’t clear [for a competition] it’s not go-time” -Andre Walcott
You Try
If there is anything that these two teams can teach us as a collective, it’s that food routines bring us closer to others and create a sense of community. Whether that includes drinking a bucket load of water the week before a test to avoid dehydration (maybe not right before not all of us live in a pool), munching some McDonald’s with friends after achieving a goal you worked hard for, or building rituals that to others seem like a placebo, but prepare you for a competition, or the day. Each team believes in food traditions in their unique way and demonstrates the power in building routines that people, as a team, rely on. Let their habits inspire you to try a new food routine to amp up your schedule or to facilitate your efforts. You deserve it.
