America's Michael Phelps is proving to be an incredible Olympian, as he smashes record after record in the pool. But his secret weapon has been revealed. He is on a 12,000 calorie a day diet! OK, so training for five hours a day, six days a week has got to burn off a lot of calories. But that is still an enormous amount of food.

Here is a typical day:

Breakfast

Phelps kick starts his day with three fried-egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He then throws back two cups of coffee and sits down to a five egg omelette and a bowl of grits, a porridge of coarsely ground corn. But he's not finished yet. He then has three slices of French toast, with powdered sugar on top. And to finish: three chocolate chip pancakes.

Lunch

Lunch is half a kilogram - ie a whole packet - of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches. On white bread with loads of mayo on top. He washes this down with about 1,000 calories of energy drink.

Dinner

Time to load up on carbs for the next day's training. Another half kilo of enriched pasta with an entire pizza to follow. And another 1,000 calories of energy drinks. Phelps told US television channel NBC yesterday: "Eat, sleep and swim, that's all I can do."
 

I am actually quite shocked his daily intake. If it is true, then wow, this boy would have a serious problem if he gave up training. It's interesting that some athletes choose to take the carb loading route, while others love their lean protein, nuts and vegetables.

There is no denying Michael Phelps in a champion - he has proven it time and time again. But I certainly wouldn't be recommending this kind of diet for any other "would be" champions. It's got to have an impact on your health in the long term.

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