Fitness Myth

Violent activity after a meal will cause nausea. But you can certainly paddle around a warm pool.

Don’t eat before swimming

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Cramps have rarely caused drowning. People who have supposedly drowned from cramps probably had heart attacks. The theory against eating before swimming is that it draws the blood into your intestine; when you start exercising, the circulation to the intestine shuts down and the blood goes to the muscles.

The most you might get if you exercise after eating is a stitch in the side. But cramps do not seem to be related to food at all. For example, a young American swimmer ate a hamburger with onions and mustard, and four candy bars, and drank a coke, just before a 1968 Olympic race, and broke her own world record.

This isn’t to suggest that you should eat, a big meal before swimming in a race. Any violent activity after a meal will cause nausea. But you can certainly paddle around a warm pool to your heart’s content.

(Source: Webhealthcenter.com)