To eat or not to eat before swimming

Written by Pablo Ferrero

Tuesday, 16 December 2008 16:37

Of all the old wives’ tales that have survived and filtered down through the ages, there is none more prevailing than the one probably uttered by someone’s grandmother, maybe even going back as far as the caveman days. “Don’t eat before you go in the water or you’ll get cramps!”

The millions of people who still abide by this cross between a superstition and a curse-- is just astonishing. And it’s not just the regular “joe six-pack”. Scholars with plenty of initials after their names, including medical doctors, nutritionists, dieticians, sports trainers, professional athletes, swimming instructors, and yes, even the swimmers themselves, including, believe it or not, Olympic Gold Medalists-- still subscribe to this piece of pseudo-wisdom without ever questioning where this advice came from or the validity of it.

So maybe, one day, millions of years ago, someone did go swimming and very co-incidentally got an upset stomach from something he ate earlier that day. Aha, that was it. That’s all that it took. The grandmother was there observing it all and came up with the conclusion, “...if you go swimming too soon after eating, you’ll get cramps.”

This has withstood the test of time, until maybe one day a medicine man or the village idiot heard it and thought it should sound more scientific, so they added the phrase “one hour.” Ah, so now it has become, “Don’t eat an hour before you go in the water or you’ll get cramps!” Now with the “one hour” added— it has the credibility of being tested by a pharmaceutical company.

So is there truth to this myth or not? You guessed it. There’s no truth to this whatsoever! However, watch out for this one, because it could be tricky. Especially if you’re a believer in mind over matter, and that what the mind thinks has some control over what the body becomes. Where am I going with this? Well, if you really think that you’ll get cramps if you eat before going swimming, and this belief is as strong as, let’s say, your belief that gravity exists, then, guess what? Right, you’re going to get cramps!

But back to the reality of this, let’s look at it from a more practical side. If you know you’re going to go swimming, would you stuff yourself with four cheeseburgers, fries and a shake? No, of course not, if for no other reason than the extra weight of all that food you’d have to take around those laps with you.

In fact, any kind of heavy eating just before swimming or even before any other kind of strenuous work out or exercise, isn’t such a great idea to begin with. Though, it may not cause cramps, it sure can result in a bout of mild indigestion with a case of the burpies.
If you must eat something, eat light carbs-- muffin, pasta, bread, bagel. But don't drink milk; it can cause cramps.

by Bruce Heath, DnC
Your Health and Medical Consultant

Last Updated on Thursday, 18 December 2008 21:15