Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu reveals how ‘unconventional’ change to her diet led to gold medal success
OLYMPIC champion Christine Ohuruogu has revealed how her performance soared after she embraced meat and dairy in her diet – leading to her gold medal success.
The gold-medal-winning former track and field athlete raised a glass – of milk – to her ‘unconventional’ pre-race preparation.
Speaking about the drink, the athlete incorporated it into her diet as a natural way to get more calcium.
Ohuruogu MBE said: “As an athlete, I needed healthy bones, muscles, and nerves – but also something which gives me that spark of energy.
“British milk contains essential nutrients like calcium that is important for bone health, as well as protein which supports muscle growth, making it ideal for performance.
“Milk is often overlooked – and people tend to reach for supplements, but I believe in a natural diet and keeping it clean and simple.”
The track-and-field star was speaking as part of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) campaign to highlight the link between sports excellence and British dairy and red meat.
She has been painted head-to-toe in gold to promote the relationship, along with four potential Team GB gold prospects.
It comes after research found Brits will exercise an average of three times a week.
And to help achieve their sporting goals, more are turning to milk (39 per cent) as a natural source of vitamins than using dietary supplements (36 per cent).
Vwairé Obukohwo, a rising star in the Team GB rowing squad and also been part of AHDB’s campaign, which has teamed up with the governing body for higher education sport in the UK and British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) to raise awareness of a well-balanced diet, said: “Before starting sport I restricted meat and dairy from my diet.
“As I became more competitive, I struggled not having enough energy to complete training and improve my performance.
“Talks with doctors and nutritionists uncovered that I had multiple deficiencies and lacked enough protein to keep up with the high training demands.
“This meant I had two options: I could either take supplements – which come with risks of cross contamination with banned substances, can have poor bioavailability and are more expensive – or change my diet.
“It was best to re-introduce meat and dairy into my diet which gave me the nutrition I needed to flourish and excel as a high-performance athlete.”
Lead nutritionist Kate Arthur from AHDB said: “Milk is naturally rich in high-quality protein, making it an affordable alternative to supplementary protein powders and shakes.
“Protein supports the growth and maintenance of muscles. It also contains potassium, which helps muscles to work normally.
“It’s also naturally rich in calcium, which helps the maintenance of normal bones, which is really important when playing active sports.
“Milk provides the vitamin B12, too, a nutrient which releases energy from food and helps us feel less tired.
“Better still, all these nutrients in milk are naturally packaged together in a unique way that means they work together, and our bodies are able to get the absolute best from them.
“For anyone looking to achieve a healthier more active lifestyle, my recommendation is to enjoy a varied and healthy balanced diet to give yourself the best possible chance of achieving adequate nutrient intake, and not missing out on those important vitamins and minerals that support us when staying active.”