BLAINE AND ALIANE Wilson (maiden name Baquerot) tumbled into each other’s lives during their time as Olympic gymnastic competitors.
Columbus native Blaine is a five-time U.S. national champion, a three-time Olympian and a silver medal winner in the team competition at the 2004 Olympics. Aliane competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won a silver medal in group at 1995 Pan American Games. The two met through gymnastics and reconnected in 2008. They began dating shortly after.
In 2009, the pair aquired Integrity Athletics, a Plain City-based youth gym that focuses on giving kids the space to have fun, hone athletic ability and improve overall health to become well-rounded, happy adults.
And while their competing days are in the past, the Wilsons remember one of the most important parts of training for the Olympics: nutrition. Fueling your body properly is the best way to get the results you want, Blaine says.
Aliane’s nutrition was different than Blaine’s, as her specific gymnastics style (rhythmic) used to consist mostly of small, lean athletes. During her Olympic training days, she was flown back and forth to meet with a nutritionist in Atlanta to discuss her diet.
“I never sat down and ate huge meals,” she says. “But I ate high-quality foods throughout the day. It was all balance, depending on the intensity of your workout that day. Some days were high protein, lower carb, and then other times it was higher carb, lower protein.”
Blaine, on the other hand, didn’t start truly focusing on what he ate until later in his 12-year competitive career. When he was younger, he ate everything he wanted without repercussions, he says. Later on, he began concentrating on a high protein, low carb diet.
“Once in a while, you sneak in your pizzas or whatever,” he says. “I ate carbs the night before a competition so I’d have more energy. I ate a lot of vegetables.”
For Aliane, the most difficult part of maintaining an Olympic-structured diet was travel. She says if she were competing in Egypt, for example, she didn’t have the foods she normally did and didn’t know how the local food would affect her performance. She remembers packing lots of energy bars and nut mixes.
“One of our sons is in gymnastics and they’re doing a really good job of telling kids how to be healthy, especially on a training day where you exert a lot of energy,” Aliane says. “They bring them to the kitchen and show them how to cook healthy, balanced meals.”
What They Ate
Aliane’s Training Meal Plan
• Breakfast: Oatmeal and banana or whole grain toast with peanut butter
Practice
• Snack: Greek yogurt
• Lunch: Salad with chicken breast
• Snack: Nuts, hardboiled egg or carrots
• Dinner: Lean fish with vegetables
Blaine’s Training Meal Plan
“It was about the same (as Aliane’s) but depending on the day, we’d throw in scrambled eggs. Afternoon snacks were a lot about power bars and a lot of energy shakes. Lunch also depended on what you were in the mood for. Mostly protein stuff. Dinner was a mix of protein and pasta.”
Aliane believes in balance, especially when it comes to treating yourself.
“As athletes, we were restricted a lot in what we ate,” she says. “Every time (coaches) said, ‘You’re not allowed to have that cookie!’ it made me want to have a whole box of cookies.”
If you’re craving chocolate, she says, instead of finding something that tastes similar to chocolate, just eat the real thing – in moderation.
For both Wilsons, eating healthful, whole foods has always been part of their lifestyles because it’s what their families taught them.
“Even before gymnastics, I would opt for a smoothie over a soda,” Aliane says. “Because that’s how I was raised.”
Blaine grew up the same way.
“It’s funny because I don’t eat a whole lot of sweets,” he says. “It’s just the way we grew up. I haven’t had ice cream in so long.”
“He steals the occasional Kit-Kats, though!” Aliane says, laughing.
Mallory Arnold is an editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
