Eating Disorders: public or silent enemy?

[Diana Delafield]

Slightly different topic regarding Vitamin E … an observation: (Again) years ago I was using a lip balm that contained Vitamin E; a friend and medical student at the time was interested saying Vitamin E was the only vitamin that could be absorbed through the skin. Since then I have used body lotions, hand creams etc that contain Vitamin E. However, now, they are more difficult to find. Most lip balms containing Vitamin E have disappeared from the market. Food for thought..

Just checked my bathroom cabinet. Burt's Bees lip balm "with Vitamin E and peppermint", and Johnson's baby powder "with aloe and Vitamin E". I use those varieties for their flavour/scent and never thought to wonder why Vitamin E before.

As for Vitamin D, I guess I'm lucky. I have a multitude of allergies and sensitivities, and what with practically living in rinks, gyms, and dance studios I don't get much sunshine (to which I'm also sensitive). But I don't, thankfully, have any problem with dairy products and milk is probably the staple in my diet. I'm allergic to (and don't like anyway) coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks or anything alcoholic. I've lived on vitamin D-fortified milk my whole life. Plus cheese, yogurt, plain ice cream....it must be doing its job, because my bones, small as they are, are as strong as one could hope for at my age.

 

[elbkup]

Just checked my bathroom cabinet. Burt's Bees lip balm "with Vitamin E and peppermint", and Johnson's baby powder "with aloe and Vitamin E". I use those varieties for their flavour/scent and never thought to wonder why Vitamin E before.

As for Vitamin D, I guess I'm lucky. I have a multitude of allergies and sensitivities, and what with practically living in rinks, gyms, and dance studios I don't get much sunshine (to which I'm also sensitive). But I don't, thankfully, have any problem with dairy products and milk is probably the staple in my diet. I'm allergic to (and don't like anyway) coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks or anything alcoholic. I've lived on vitamin D-fortified milk my whole life. Plus cheese, yogurt, plain ice cream....it must be doing its job, because my bones, small as they are, are as strong as one could hope for at my age.

Sound of ME rushing to the store to stock up on Burt’s Bees Vitamin E lip balm thank you!
Allergic to most dairy.. fortunate you are able to have it I can do lactose free milk in very small amounts.. and strangely, goat cheese

 

[sisinka]

Just checked my bathroom cabinet. Burt's Bees lip balm "with Vitamin E and peppermint", and Johnson's baby powder "with aloe and Vitamin E". I use those varieties for their flavour/scent and never thought to wonder why Vitamin E before.

As for Vitamin D, I guess I'm lucky. I have a multitude of allergies and sensitivities, and what with practically living in rinks, gyms, and dance studios I don't get much sunshine (to which I'm also sensitive). But I don't, thankfully, have any problem with dairy products and milk is probably the staple in my diet. I'm allergic to (and don't like anyway) coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks or anything alcoholic. I've lived on vitamin D-fortified milk my whole life. Plus cheese, yogurt, plain ice cream....it must be doing its job, because my bones, small as they are, are as strong as one could hope for at my age.

Sound of ME rushing to the store to stock up on Burt’s Bees Vitamin E lip balm thank you!
Allergic to most dairy.. fortunate you are able to have it I can do lactose free milk in very small amounts.. and strangely, goat cheese

People with allergies and sensitivities are handling more complications looking for ideal diet for themselves.
Number of children with allergies is growing with every next generation. Feel free to write more about your own experience, if you want to share.

 

[Mathman]

In the case of products like Burt's Bees and Chapstick, I believe that the issue is possible allergies to various oils added for flavor and fragrance rather than the tiny amounts of vitamin E. You can't go wrong with Vaseline (pure petroleum jelly).

 

[sisinka]

Cha Jun-hwan reveals strict weight management routine on You Quiz

Cha Jun-hwan reveals strict weight management routine on You Quiz

biz.chosun.com

- article from March 2025 shares what Jun-hwan Cha told in "You quiz on the Block" TV episode

- "Standing at 180cm and maintaining a weight of 63kg, Cha Jun-hwan shared his systematic management methods, saying he eats a little meat and protein in the morning, a light vegetable-based diet for lunch, and a protein-focused meal in the evening..."

Jun-hwan also spoke about his ankle injury and I do believe that was the time when he mentioned eating energy bar per day only...,

- "Earlier, Cha Jun-hwan shocked viewers by revealing that he was surviving on just an energy bar each day to manage his weight..."

------

I have three notes about this article.
1) I am glad that Jun-hwan shared his meat and proteins diet. I believe it is important that great and well-known skaters share their tips for proper diet. I would only wish it to be more detailed.

2) I suppose that many skaters believe in the strategy of reducing food intake during time of injury. I believe they suppose that injury means less practise and / or smaller loads at practise and / or no practise for some time...which will lead to grown of their weight. It can be definitely true, I cannot go against this theory. But I would like to mention that for proper and fast healing of injury = FOOD IS NECESSARY. So, please, don't worry to put on weight during healing time, because your body needs enough energy to heal. Once you step back on the ice, with increase of loads at practise, you will get into your ideal weight sooner or later.

There is that idea that having higher weight will lead to injury while jumping (bad falls from underrotations and bigger overloading of lower leg joints and back). But nobody comes back from the injury and attempts triple or quad jump during first practise. And starting slowly with skating skills and spins - nobody got injured having additional 3 kilograms. So there is indeed time to get back into ideal shape and body weight once the injury is healed and practise can be done without restrictions.

Not to forget that starving leads to loss of muscle mass. But muscles are necessary, because they are protecting and stabilising joints.

Your body deserves proper conditions for healing. It pays off.

3) Please, don't compare weight of skaters. Asian people have lower BMI partially thanks to different body building. It cannot be compared to weight of European / non-Asian American skaters.
Height / weight of some retired skaters taken from Olympedia:
- Todd Eldredge - 173 cm / 66 kg
- Michael Weiss - 173 cm / 73 kg
- Michal Březina - 173 cm / 65 kg
- Alexey Urmanov - 179 cm / 72 kg
- Tomáš Verner - 180 cm / 72 kg

Ideal weight is weight when our body is capable to give the best performance. For somebody it can be 63 kilograms, for somebody else it is 75 kilograms (males from pair skating - numbers will be higher).

 

[Diana Delafield]

3) Please, don't compare weight of skaters. Asian people have lower BMI partially thanks to different body building. It cannot be compared to weight of European / non-Asian American skaters.
Height / weight of some retired skaters taken from Olympedia:
- Todd Eldredge - 173 cm / 66 kg
- Michael Weiss - 173 cm / 73 kg
- Michal Březina - 173 cm / 65 kg
- Alexey Urmanov - 179 cm / 72 kg
- Tomáš Verner - 180 cm / 72 kg

Ideal weight is weight when our body is capable to give the best performance. For somebody it can be 63 kilograms, for somebody else it is 75 kilograms (males from pair skating - numbers will be higher).

When my pairs partner and I were in competition in our teens and early twenties, we both lived at home and ate what our mothers prepared for the whole family, with little or no junk food for snacking. Any extra calories were burned off with a variety of sports and my off-ice dance classes, and my mother was a child psychologist specializing in adolescents. She would have spotted any attempt at an eating disorder (which I never contemplated doing anyway), and nipped that in the bud. According to an old CFSA communique in my scrapbook, at 21 I was 162 cm/ 48 kg. (Now, with aging, 160 cm/50 kg.) My partner was 183 cm/84 kg. Neither of us have ever been seriously injured in a lifetime of skating. We did have to avoid lifts for several weeks once when I accidentally sliced the palm of his hand with my blade in a pairs spin, but that was as close as we ever came to a career-interrupting injury.

We agree now that we were very lucky to have two sensible mothers who thought seeing us healthy was more important than watching us win a medal.

 

[Mathman]

I think that there are two separate issues here. On the one hand we can discuss the pros and cons of figure skaters adhering to a strict diet, or a boxer crash-dieting before a bout to make weight, or an American foortball player or a Japanese sumo wrestler who builds his weight up to 400 lbs to secure an advantage over his opponent.

These, however, are not what is usually meant by "eating disorders" -- a term referring to pathological mental health conditions which can be life-threatening. Jenny Kirk spoke extensively about why she suddenly stopped skating cold turkey just as she was approaching her peak -- she said she did it to save her life.

 

[Mathman]

According to an old CFSA communique in my scrapbook, at 21 I was 162 cm/ 48 kg. (Now, with aging, 160 cm/50 kg.)

You should bottle and sell your DNA (along with your mom's cookbook!).

 

[Mathman]

- article from March 2025 shares what Jun-hwan Cha told in "You quiz on the Block" TV episode

Cha is actually an interesting case study. He is quite tall for a singles skater and also quite muscular. A couple of years ago he was on the Korean version of the TV show "the Masked Singer." The judges identified him immediately by his ankles.

By the way, I note that this interview was the number one most-viewed in its time slot on Korean TV.

 

[Diana Delafield]

You should bottle and sell your DNA (along with your mom's cookbook!).

Yes, I have to admit genetics plays a big part. On my father's side everyone is small and sturdy (grandmother - 148 cm/38 kg, played women's hockey in the 1920s). Pictures of my mother's aunts and uncles looks like a row of fence pickets. Everyone thin no matter how much they ate (favourite sports - speedskating and track). My mother learned to cook helping feed farmhands at threshing time on her grandparents' farm, and I had four older brothers, all athletic, so she made a lot of casseroles and stews, and baked pies, cookies, and muffins several days a week. I think our metabolisms are frozen in time.

 

[sisinka]

When my pairs partner and I were in competition in our teens and early twenties, we both lived at home and ate what our mothers prepared for the whole family, with little or no junk food for snacking. Any extra calories were burned off with a variety of sports and my off-ice dance classes, and my mother was a child psychologist specializing in adolescents. She would have spotted any attempt at an eating disorder (which I never contemplated doing anyway), and nipped that in the bud. According to an old CFSA communique in my scrapbook, at 21 I was 162 cm/ 48 kg. (Now, with aging, 160 cm/50 kg.) My partner was 183 cm/84 kg. Neither of us have ever been seriously injured in a lifetime of skating. We did have to avoid lifts for several weeks once when I accidentally sliced the palm of his hand with my blade in a pairs spin, but that was as close as we ever came to a career-interrupting injury.

We agree now that we were very lucky to have two sensible mothers who thought seeing us healthy was more important than watching us win a medal.

The support of family and surroundings is very important in both eating habits and injury prevention. It can create big difference in skater's career.

Genetics is interesting topic to discuss. It is nice when skater's parameters reflect what skaters are "supposed to look like" - height and weight including. And it really makes skating more easy having 162cm / 48 kg in comparison with girl having 168 cm / 65 kg. But looking to the past, if you have wish, working attitude and talent, many things are possible, despite not having "ideal thinny body".

What I find important is that those "ideal parameters" should not lead to torturing those who have genetically body building far from that "ideal one".
Understanding of this and implementing this into figure skating coaching and family's approach should lead to more healthy skating community, both physically and mentally.

 

[Diana Delafield]

The support of family and surroundings is very important in both eating habits and injury prevention. It can create big difference in skater's career.

Genetics is interesting topic to discuss. It is nice when skater's parameters reflect what skaters are "supposed to look like" - height and weight including. And it really makes skating more easy having 162cm / 48 kg in comparison with girl having 168 cm / 65 kg. But looking to the past, if you have wish, working attitude and talent, many things are possible, despite not having "ideal thinny body".

What I find important is that those "ideal parameters" should not lead to torturing those who have genetically body building far from that "ideal one".
Understanding of this and implementing this into figure skating coaching and family's approach should lead to more healthy skating community, both physically and mentally.

I had a young pairs coach for a while in another city, who had reached Junior pairs nationally in Canada with his sister. He was very big and very strong. His sister was much larger than any other pairs girls -- larger than most female singles competitors, in fact. He said she was 170 cm/60 kg in her late teens. However, they managed. He said she just had to jump harder and do more of the work in lifts than other pairs girls (and he spent a lot of his time in the weight room). They were doing well in Juniors, but quit when she got married and had a baby at 19, so they never competed as seniors.

 

[Mathman]

Genetics is interesting topic to discuss. It is nice when skater's parameters reflect what skaters are "supposed to look like" - height and weight including...

Although, in Diana Delefielld's case (post #186) the remarkable thing is not what she looked like as a young and vigorous athlete, but rather that a couple of decades of "aging" contributed only 2 extra kilos, while compression of the spine amounted to a mere fraction of an inch. Let's see if Evgenia Medvedeva can match that!

 

[Mathman]

I had a young pairs coach for a while in another city, who had reached Junior pairs nationally in Canada with his sister. He was very big and very strong. His sister was much larger than any other pairs girls -- larger than most female singles competitors, in fact. He said she was 170 cm/60 kg in her late teens. However, they managed. He said she just had to jump harder and do more of the work in lifts than other pairs girls (and he spent a lot of his time in the weight room).

It is what it is. We have a Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner lookback thread going on currently. They were unusual in that Randy was only a few inches taller than his partner, which meant that adjustments had to be made on elements like the triple twist. (They turned anomaly into advantage by specializing in unison in an era of gorilla-and-flea.)

 

[Jeanie19]

Although, in Diana Delefielld's case (post #186) the remarkable thing is not what she looked like as a young and vigorous athlete, but rather that a couple of decades of "aging" contributed only 2 extra kilos, while compression of the spine amounted to a mere fraction of an inch. Let's see if Evgenia Medvedeva can match that!

Evgenia's father is Armenian and quite slim. Her mom is a little heavy. What Evgenia does have on her side is learning the value of nutrition at a young age of 18. I think being healthy will always be important, not sure if that will translate to being slim at 40. My bet is it will.

 

[Diana Delafield]

Although, in Diana Delefielld's case (post #186) the remarkable thing is not what she looked like as a young and vigorous athlete, but rather that a couple of decades of "aging" contributed only 2 extra kilos, while compression of the spine amounted to a mere fraction of an inch. Let's see if Evgenia Medvedeva can match that!

The "use it or lose it" principle. I know quite a few older people who have kept on being very active as I have, and stayed close to their youthful size. My husband was one, my original pairs partner is another. I'm told if you slacken off for a few years and then get back into vigorous activity you can get back to your former weight but it takes harder work to keep it at that level than if there was no break. My two extra kilos were added in my twenties when I had twins, and stubbornly remain, one kilo per twin as I like to remind them . (Kidding, of course.)

 

[sisinka]

Gracie Gold became International Olympic Committee Mental Health Ambassador (@moonvine already mentioned this in a Thread - https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/gracie-gold-named-mental-health-ambassador.101345/ ).

Other athletes who became Mental Health Ambassadors are for example: Holly Bradshaw (British pole vaulter), Abhinav Bindra (Indian shooter) and Camille Cheng (swimmer representing Hong Kong).

Olympic page includes toolkit for athletes coming to mental health management:

https://www.olympics.com/athlete365/articles/mentally-fit/ioc-mental-health-in-elite-athletes-toolkit-x3908

- Eating Disorders are listed as one of the most common mental health disorders / symptoms
- it mentions the importance of athlete's entourage (family, coaching teams with all specialists included, sponsors, ...)
- it explains stressors
- there are many diagrams to image and understand the topic better

I didn't find the whole list of all Mental Health Ambassadors, but I think Gracie Gold is the only figure skater.

I would wish to have more skaters included. Not only because it can be very demanding... getting opinions from athletes, creating own ideas, meeting and talking to federations / associations / sponsors, online propaganda, probably more traveling across the world, who knows, I don't have exact idea.

I would wish to have Ambassadors in more Continents - America, Asia, Europe. In case of Asia Akiko Suzuki comes to my mind. She really took time and energy to open about her story and share it to help others. In Europe, who knows, Kiira Korpi for example? (I just started to read her book describing her skating history which was affected with mental and health troubles.)

 

[Mathman]

I found the language used in the ISU’s announcement of the Calm Zone to be inyeresting:

“Inspired by the Athlete365 Mind Zone ar Paris 2004, the ISU created a safe space in Boston (2025) where athletes could come ro unwind, have some quite time and play with service dogs.”

In general I think that we would be bearer served if we switched our language from “mental health / mental illness” to “emotional well being / emotional distress.”

Everyone, not just elite athletes in high stress situations needs quiet time ro hug a comfort dog, Gracie Gold and Jason Brown are not crazy. They are not mentally ill. They are human.

Mentally ill? The guy in todays news who shot four people to death in a Manhattan high-rise because he thought that he was at the headquarters of the National Football League and he was mad at the NFL because he blamed them for all his traumatic brain injuries that he suffered by getting hit in the head (in reality he never played in the NFL).

 

[saine]

Gracie Gold and Jason Brown are not crazy. They are not mentally ill. They are human.

You want mentally ill? The guy in todays news who shot four people to death in a Manhattan high-rise because he thought he was at the headquarters of the National Football League and he was mad at the NFL because he blamed them for all his traumatic brain injuries that he suffered by getting hit in the head (in reality he never played in the NFL).

Gracie Gold has been open about seeking treatment for depression and anxiety as well as her eating disorder (source).

Anxiety and depression are mental illnesses and they can be treated. They aren't always visible and people do their best to hide it because there is a stigma to them. Painting mentally ill people as being like the shooter harms people who are suffering from mental illnesses. It paints them as being violent when they aren't.

There hasn't been any determination on any mental illnesses that the shooter had, or if he did have CTE from playing high school football. It is too soon to decide that, just like it can't be decided that an athlete who needs to put on a performance for the crowd can't be mentally ill.

 

[Mathman]

My only point was that I wish the experts and professionals would use a tern like "emotionally distressed" instead of :mentally ill" to describe conditions like Gracie's.