Adrian Turner is the first to admit that his eating habits soundas kooky as a Hollywood diet. For the double Common-wealth Gamesswimming medallist - in the 200m and 400m individual medley -additives, colourings and pesticides are out and, bizarrely, foodswith an alkaline pH balance are in. He avoids red meat and whitebread, but swears by a daily cocktail of different powdered drinks.So wholesome is his shopping list that even the beer he bought tocelebrate his medals in Manchester was organic.
In Turner's case, though, this strict regime is about more thanboosting his performance in the pool; without it he doubts whetherhe would be swimming at all. Two-and-a-half years ago, he wasdiagnosed with haemolytic anaemia, a rare auto-immune illness thatcauses excessive loss of red blood-cells and wrecks the body'simmune system. Doctors told him to forget swimming; he was luckyjust to be alive, they said.
'I went on holiday at Christmas in 1999, just after swimmingpersonal- best times, when I began to feel as if I was getting flu,'Turner says. 'Within 24 hours I was passing blood, and my girlfriendhad to call for an ambulance. I was given an anti-sicknessinjection, but that didn't help.
'My skin turned yellow and my eyes went dark brown. We called foran ambulance again and I was taken to three different hospitals,including one cancer unit, because nobody knew what was wrong withme at first.'
During his three weeks in hospital, Turner was given six bloodtransfusions and, despite a raging temperature, was wrapped in aheated blanket. 'I was told that this type of anaemia made the anti-bodies that usually kill viruses attack my blood instead,' he says.'It seemed to be worse at low temperatures, so they were trying tokeep me as hot as possible, which was hell.'
By the time he was discharged, he had lost almost two stones inweight and suffered severe muscle wastage. His career, along withhis plans to compete in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, was putindefinitely on hold.
'I looked like a skeleton,' he says. 'I remember reaching down toscratch my leg in bed and being shocked that all I could feel wasskin and bone.' It was while he was recovering at home that Turner'smother heard how a French cyclist, Marion Clignet, had consulted aPeterborough-based biochemist, Brian Welsby, in a last-ditch attemptto get over a similarly debilitating illness. Clignet, a 1996Olympic silver medallist, was suffering from the progressivearthritic condition ankylosing spondylitis, for which there appearedto be no treatment until she tried Welsby's drinks and diet.
'My mum rang Brian and explained what kind of state I was in,'Turner says. 'We went to see him and he said he could help. First ofall he told me to become a grazer and eat small meals often, becauseit would prevent me from having huge energy swings. I started to eatmore alka-line foods like beans, pulses and potatoes instead ofbread and red meat. Brian also put me on a range of his drinks toboost my immune system, and I switched to organic food. It allsounded odd, but it worked.'
Within a month, Turner's weight was back to almost 12 stone, halfa stone below his ideal racing weight, and his pulse rate and bloodhaemoglobin levels both returned to where they were when he was atpeak fitness. Six months after being told he might never swim again,he resumed training.
Admittedly, Turner's case is extreme, but Welsby says that thebasic concepts of his diet can be applied to anyone who trains forsport. He explains that modern farming methods and the use oforganophosphate fertilisers leach trace elements from the soil tosuch an extent that we simply can't get all of the necessarynutrients from food. 'For anyone that is bad news, but for anathlete, it can spell disaster,' Welsby says.
'Various enzymes in the body need trace elements like selenium,chromium and zinc to be effective, but because the body isn'tgetting them from food, these essential enzyme functions getswitched off.' Buying organic foods helps, but it isn't enough.Welsby's flagship drink, Breakthrough, taken by all of his sportsclients, is, he claims, a 'missing link' for today's food chain,essential for keeping the immune system primed.
'Vitamins and minerals must have the right bonding to be taken upby the body otherwise they won't work,' he says. 'With mostsynthetic vitamins and minerals, you have to hope you have eaten theright food so that the bond can be formed.In many cases, that justdoesn't happen.'
His theory is that an alkaline diet is much more helpful inpromoting muscle growth and repair; he also advises athletes to eattheir vegetables raw, which prevents enzyme losses, and to drink atleast three litres of mineral water a day to flush out theirsystems.
His approach is certainly unconventional. Many sports dietitiansare cynical about his practices, but they can't argue with hisresults. His squad of elite athletes now numbers 15 - eight of whomare ranked in the top three in the world in their event - rangingfrom javelin throwers and modern pentathletes to the explorer SirRanulph Fiennes. Among those who swear by his programme are theOlympic heptathlon champion, Denise Lewis, and Britain's distance-running star Paula Radcliffe, who takes Breakthrough twice a dayalong with one of Welsby's other products, Feminine Balance, thathelps to regulate the menstrual cycle, which is easily disruptedthrough heavy training.
Like Turner, most of the athletes also take a protein drinkwithin 15 minutes of finishing every workout, a carbohydrate drinkhalf an hour later and a rehydration drink to replace the fluid andbody salts lost in sweat.
'My training partners constantly take the mickey out of my dietand call me the Organic Kid,' Turner says. 'I don't know how or whyit works, but it does.'
Adrian Turner is competing in the British Short CourseChampionships from 12-15 September in Cambridge. Brian Welsby'sproducts are available from Be Well Nutrition, 01778 560 868, www.be-well.co.uk
