What do most skaters eat?

[macy]

^^^
I don't buy it. If the program is a good fit personality wise for the skater, it won't be rote or stale. It should be muscle-memorized, though, so the skater can concentrate on nuances.

definitely agree. i think one of the big things with doing run-throughs is for the muscle memory and being able to build confidence with the jumps, and once that is in place you can concentrate on everything else in the program, such as expression and interpretation of the choreography. kind of an example- rachael flatt, even though she isn't super artistic, she's so automatic and trained that she doesn't have to think about the jumps. she knows she's going to do them and she does.

[skatinginbc]

some of the Chinese skaters (and even more so the girl gymnasts) look as if they might mature by the time they're thirty. They look underfed and barely grown.

"Orientals are clearly the most neotenized human race....Homo Sapiens are more neotenized than Homo Erectus, Homo Erectus was more neotenized than Australopithicus...Mongoloid races are explained in terms of being the most extreme pedomorphic humans....the phenomenon of neoteny, whereby an infantile or childlike body form is preserved in adult life." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny

"Neoteny is seen as crucial for the development of species-typical capacities that depend upon a long period of attachment to caregivers for the opportunities to engage in and develop their capacity for emotional communication." It might have something to do with evolution or "natural selection": Selection by culture (e.g., pedomorphic features might have a survival advantage in an extended-family society) or selection by sexual appeal ("In a cross-cultural study, more neotenized female faces were the most attractive to men while less neotenized female faces were the least attractive to men, regardless of the females' actual age....A difference in the preferences of Asian and White judges with Asian judges preferring women with "less mature faces" and smaller mouths than the White judges.)

[SkateFiguring]

An article from International Adult Figure Skating about Perseverance and Muscular Endurance in Figure Skating

This type of endurance is muscular endurance. In figure skating, you need to be able to continue at a moderate to intense level of activity for 2, 3, or 4 minutes, interspersed by several bouts of explosive movements such as jumps spins, or lifts.

This type of muscular endurance is called power endurance. In order to maintain the same amount of power with each effort (not dying in the last 30 seconds of your program), a certain level of power endurance is required. That’s why at the elite Senior and Junior levels, bonus marks are given for jumps done in the last half of the program.

Athletes like baseball pitchers, wrestlers, hurdlers and fencers must also produce these kinds of powerful movements and repeat them several times with little or no rest. Muscular endurance training helps athletes to cope with fatigue and to tolerate high levels of lactic acid. This is unlike the kind of muscular endurance required by middle distance runners, who maintain the same steady pace throughout the race.

[Olympia]

Thanks, SF and BC! Both pieces of information are wonderfully intriguing and new to me. Neoteny is a totally new word to me, but the concept is immediately understandable. I actually have a neotenized friend (not Asian), who was once mistaken for my daughter. (Besides being very young-looking, she's also very petite.) If you could see her skin! I don't think she has any pores anywhere.

SF, isn't it amazing what various branches of science have learned to optimize sports performance? Stuff that people just did hit or miss for years is now quantifiable. I remember when Martina Navratilova started a special training program including a diet. She steamrolled through most of the world's non-Y chromosome tennis players. She still seems pretty strong; we'll get to see for ourselves on Dancing with the Stars this upcoming season.

[SkateFiguring]

Olympia, Chinese teens may look underfed and underdeveloped as a contrast to the overfed and physically precocious youngsters of the West, especially in the US. Western teens look old to the Asians whose children are more mature mentally while in the West there is an epidemic of precocious puberty, which, coupled with mental and psychological immaturity, causes many social and behavioral problems, aside from a host of serious illnesses later in life. Much of this is caused by over consumption of meat, especially the hormones and chemicals inbued kinds. Parents should really pay attention because precocious puberty is an extremely high risk factor for so many serious physical and mental health problems.

eta. Precocious puberty as a high risk factor applies to both boys and girls, including high drop out rate, criminal tendencies, and other social issues.

[Olympia]

This is probably true, but Pang still looks undernourished to me. I just worry. It's certainly true that Americans and some others (I'm told Argentinians) eat way too much meat. Like you, I don't like the way meat is produced here. In recent years I've eaten much less of it, and every year I give it up for Lent...and hope it will take. I don't really miss it, except that as Easter approaches, I get an inordinate yearning for roast duck. I have the the Monday after Easter, and then the yearning goes away. (If I were really strong, I'd give up chocolate. But I hear it's become a premium antioxidant! Just my luck.)

The other thing, SF, is that just because many Americans are by and large (pun there) gluttons, that doesn't automatically mean that athletes in some sports programs in China aren't being deprived of food in an effort to keep them small and light. Both things can be happening at once. I can't prove anything one way or another, and neither can most of us, but we've seen it happen (in the opposite physical direction) with East Germany; body manipulation does happen in some centralized sports programs. As I said about Pang, I worry.

[SkateFiguring]

Argentinians eat beef three meals a day. I knew a young man from there with a horrible diet and clinical depression though he was fit and strong. (In fact, every depressed person I know has a very poor diet.) I also knew an Argentinian woman in her thirties who had headaches every day of her life as far back as she could remember, until she woke up one morning headache free. She and her husband tried to figure out what made the difference and decided it was the restaurant meatless dinner the night before. She cut out beef and the headache was gone from her daily life. It really is hard to tell if one is allergic to the most common food in one's diet.

[Olympia]

I'd love to go meatless, and every year I get closer. I look at Bill Clinton and the changes he's made to his health, and it's a great inspiration. He's practically a vegan. The big obstacle...giving up milk chocolate for dark chocolate! (I am probably a bad person.) Skaters like Alissa are also a great motivation. But I must admit that except for brussels sprouts and cauliflower, I'm not really a fan of leaves. I have recently, however, discovered roasted peppers. Reform might not be as hard as I thought.

[SkateFiguring]

Olympia, if you come from a culture that does not like vegetables, they are usually very poorly prepared for taste or nutrition. You may have to look to a different cuisine with emphasis on vegetables, like Asian or Mediterranean.

[Olympia]

Funny you should say that, SF. I always joke that I have the Eastern European non-green-vegetable gene. I've been trying to follow modern scientific findings and eat more colorful foods--reds and oranges as well as greens. I do a lot of backsliding!

Does anyone know, on this subject, whether there are any studies on the relative advantages for athletes of high-protein or high complex carbohydrate diets? I know that Atkins and other high-protein programs were very trendy among the general public for awhile, but I never completely trusted them. Nevertheless, I can see where they'd provide for muscle growth. Any thoughts on this?

[SkateFiguring]

Atkins was criticized and ostracized for his research and advocacy of high protein low carb diet. Later on his theory has been accepted, cited, and adapted without any credit given to him. Most attacked him based on the severe and strict initial two weeks of induction phase but that is not supposed to be the long term diet. I would have a hard time following that because, though I can easily cut out the simple carbs some of which I really like, I love fruits too much to leave them out for so long at the early stages. And I don't like so much meats, especially now I'm also philosophically and emotionally against their consumption. These days, many diets are actually modified Atkins, basically distinguishing different fats and carbs and emphasizing the "right" ones.

[Olympia]

I imagine that one wouldn't have to undergo the first two weeks if one just wanted to change lifestyles and not specifically lose weight. Like you, SF, I certainly couldn't give up fruits, and there's no reason to do so. They're too good for you. (One of the classes of virtuous food that I actually love.) I once looked into macrobiotic eating, since it's mostly plant based (especially grains, which I also like) and seems healthful, but when I got to the discussion of how fruits were too yin and not advisable in any quantity, I said, "See you around" and skipped off. I'm not going to feel guilty about eating apples and grapes.

[macy]

you shouldn't, fruits are just as nutritious as vegetables. the only difference is they have more natural sugar in them. they have fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants, all of which vegetables have too. i couldn't give it up either, i love it too much, way more so than veggies. fruit is also a healthy way to cure a sweet tooth.

[hurrah]

I believe the ideal diet differs according to a person's genetic makeup, though everyone needs some degree of carbohydrate, protein and fat replete with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, so forth. Nowadays, it is possible to get genetic screening for what body type you are. Although the problem remains that what we know about our genes is still incomplete, I would imagine that some athletes have had their genes checked out and choose what they eat accordingly.

I believe you can also try and personalize your diet by consulting Eastern herbal medicine. I'm actually thinking of going to a herbal clinic in my city to try and improve my health. I checked out the clinic's website and there are testimonies of people shedding 10~20 kg by just taking herbal medicine! Not that I personally suffer from a weight problem. But any improvement is good improvement. There's a waiting list of 2 months, though. Good health advice is sure hard to come by.

[Buttercup]

I wonder what happens to athletes who have to follow a low protein diet (e.g. people with kidney issues), and how they work around that.

I'd love to go meatless, and every year I get closer. I look at Bill Clinton and the changes he's made to his health, and it's a great inspiration. He's practically a vegan. The big obstacle...giving up milk chocolate for dark chocolate! (I am probably a bad person.) Skaters like Alissa are also a great motivation. But I must admit that except for brussels sprouts and cauliflower, I'm not really a fan of leaves. I have recently, however, discovered roasted peppers. Reform might not be as hard as I thought.

You don't have to go vegan or follow a plan; you just need to find the foods that work best for you and your lifestyle, and enjoy what you eat. I don't eat vegetables just because I'm supposed to, but because they're delicious and make me feel good; I love salads and veggie soups. But I still eat chocolates. There's nothing wring with treating yourself occasionally! Though for me, dark chocolate >>> milk.

I would also suggest getting as much produce as you can from farmers' markets or other locally grown options. It'll be fresher and taste better. I imagine there are now more places to get good quality produce than when I lived in the States, because back then, the fruit and veg from the supermarket were just disgusting. It was like everything had been dipped in wax or something.