Diet of Kenyan Athletes (Pasted Scientific Study Inside)

no...

body composition is 50% genetics and 50% nutrition.

the genetics of kenyans allow them to be lighter because of their ancestors (as previously stated) living among abundances of food.

the genetics of westerners allows for storage of food... again due to our ancestors.

on top of having great genes, kenyans eat generally healthy for their body types. americans eat horribly, our culture makes sure of that.

athletes at the professional level generally are very strict with nutrition and consume almost exactly what they need to. so if a kenyan and an american go up against each other, both maximizing the nutritional aspect of their body type as well as their training, the kenyan has the advantage with the supreme genes.

if americans ate like kenyans they would no doubt underconsume because kenyans are used to eating less calories, and this would hurt athletic performance. americans should eat different than kenyans because thats they way they are genetically designed.

dont start eating ugali thinking it will magically make you fast. it wont.

I thought they did the raw foods diet...?

alright, but no one can accurateley determine everyone of their ancestors the past 500 or more years. The Africans have been relatively unmixed with other races which means their genes remain pure.

The opposite is true for many. I am Mexican American, I have lineage from the ancient Native Aztecs/Mexica and the Spanish Conquistadors.

I do not look like an Indian, nor am do I have blond hair. I am mestizo, which means mixed race. So is my body more suitable to eat foods like squash, beans, corn, and other foods like the Natives or am I better off eating more meat and bread like the Spanish prior to the discovery of the nEw world.

In the end, plain, unprocessed foods best bet.

^^^^ Yeah, and I'm Italian/Irish... Corn beef and mandicotti?

I did notice that although the Kenyans are pretty skinny, they're not absurdly so. The BMI's all hover around 19, which is pretty normal for American runners it seems to me. I really don't think body weight is the decided factor here.

yeah everyone wants to say their italian

anybody hang out with Kenyans???

Elite Athlete staples.

white bread with honey

tea--with anywhere from two to ten packets of sugar, and a some milk

not sure how that works into the "healthy" eating program, but have witnessed a few elites eat this way for an entire weekend, and then go out and win a major marathon.

I have heard that bread thing a few times now

'If your ancestors spent thousands of years in the grassland under a very steady sun guess what your body will be able to do very well? Burn fat.'

So nobody starves in Ethiopia.Think they need to store fat as well

After glancing at the ops post, I'm off to read War & Peace for a bit of lighter entertainment!

All I know is that I lived with several and trained closely with world class Kenyan, Ethiopian and Morrocan runners. I dont know about in Kenya but they eat like crap here in the States. Nothing special, almost anything they are given. Diet is not a factor in thier immediate success. Maybe after thousands of years of eating a certian way, it has some advantage.

the430miler wrote:

it is. Paul Tergat eats pieces of sh!t like us for breakfast

Huh, y'all eat pieces of sh!t? What's the basis?

Odd bump, but very apropos given the recent thread. Any argument about running diet that says you will have a hard time succeeding if you eat like the Kenyans has the mother of all uphill battles to fight. 1 pound of meat per week

I like to observe the diets of various farm animals, not Kenyans and base my meal plans off that. Did you know turkeys will eat mosquitoes. Now I eat mosquitoes - lots of protein.

Kvothe wrote:

I like to observe the diets of various farm animals, not Kenyans and base my meal plans off that. Did you know turkeys will eat mosquitoes. Now I eat mosquitoes - lots of protein.

Guinea fowl will hoover up ticks, good to have as pets.

kanye west wrote:

the430miler wrote:

it is. Paul Tergat eats pieces of sh!t like us for breakfast

Huh, y'all eat pieces of sh!t? What's the basis?

yum

It is without debate that Kenyans success has nothing to do with diet or genetic make-up, but their desperation to make a living and provide for their families. Their advantage is onset of lack of monounsaturated fat and sweets consumed by westerners as their not cheaply available. The other factor is lack of modern transportation and hence is the only to get from place to place allowing thus increased energy expenditure. Additionally, icons like Kipkeino's, Tergat's, Kiptanui's lucrative earning from running and their investments in their region inspires everyone. Everyone has confidence and say if the above three successful individuals made then I can. This attitude lights even and provides that fire within all Kenyans.

Boaz K. Cheboiywo

Clinical Exercise Physiologist, MS

Total nonsense!!!! Kenyans runners are the first ones to say that in hard training regime (180-200km a week) you need to eat a lot of food , two times than a normal person.Otherwise the body will break. With that amount of weekly mileage TO CUT OFF CALORIES IS SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY NONSENSE AND YOU JUST DONT NEED IT!!!! BMI is something genetic. You will never have a sprinter with a distance runners Bmi and viceversa ( maybe with hormon YES but is non natural).

NO DIET CAN MAKE YOU GO FASTER....... BUT A BAD DIET CAN MAKE YOU SLOWER

Poor things. Writing and reading entire thesises on why Kenyan runners are more successful when 12 years later the answer was obvious.

EPO.

Peas and Carrots wrote:

Poor things. Writing and reading entire thesises on why Kenyan runners are more successful when 12 years later the answer was obvious.

EPO.

lol "thesises"?