Carlos Yulo’s rise was not fueled by just, well, rice

It’s a viral photo now, Carlos Yulo having a hearty meal during the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Athletes’ Village in Saint-Denis, France.

The photo features a heaping serving of rice, a staple of Filipino meals, but one often demonized in health-conscious circles—notably in sports.

And the key quality of its viral-ness was the caption of the photo posted by Jeaneth Aro, the noted nutritionist of champions.

“Tell me now that carbohydrates is not important for ELITE level athletes,” Aro wrote in the post. “Different sports, different fueling strategies.”

To a lot of those who shared the photo, it was the go signal to attack the rice cooker.

Not to be a buzzkill, but Aro had a clarification.

“It’s not really [about having] extra rice,” Aro told the Inquirer late Monday afternoon, noting that Yulo’s meal “had the appropriate portion of rice that he must consume before the competition.”

The message of Aro’s post was in the second part of the caption; every sport requires different fueling strategies.

“Every athlete has a different approach depending on the needs of the sport, the food preference, their routines before competition. All of those factors, I consider when I give them guidance,” Aro said.

“I cannot implement [a diet program] for a boxer to a gymnast like Caloy.”

Elite-level athletes may have a high need for carbohydrates, the most maligned food group among health buffs, depending on their activities. And Aro makes adjustments, not just for separate individual athletes, but for the same athlete under different circumstances as well.

Nutritionist’s success

Take Yulo, now a two-time gold medalist after ruling the floor exercise and vault events of men’s gymnastics on back-to-back nights over the weekend, for example.

“We adjust his food intake based on his activity for the day or what we call fueling for the work required,” Aro said. “He doesn’t need to eat that much every time and I modify [his meals] as needed.”

“The meal plan is constantly updated depending on the workload for the day, the training schedule and the competition schedule—or whatever phase he is in. His meal plan is different during the training phase and he has to do high-intensity training. And of course, it’s a different amount of food for the day of competition, depending on what time he has to compete.”

As a nutritionist, Aro has seen a lot of success in the Olympics. Her feeding program was used by the likes of Tokyo gold medalist and weightlifting heroine Hidilyn Diaz and silver-medal winning boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, among others.

And now, she can add Yulo to her list of Olympic-medalists-clients.

“Caloy’s nutrition program is not that difficult because we both agreed [on a plan] based on my assessment of him. He just needs guidance on what to consume and when to consume the food items and what supplements to include in his nutrition program,” the former UAAP taekwondo athlete said.

“I just have to update him with the instructions based on the feedback that his coaches give me.”

And in case you were wondering what Yulo had before winning the gold medal: Eggs, hamburger patties and an appropriate amount of rice. INQ