Victoria Sinitsina: In America I learned to stand up for myself. Marina, Diet, Tough-girl.

[Tinami Amori]

It leaves you utterly confused you can't tell whether she's genuine, utterly clueless or a heartless byatch.

I think she chose to adopt a personality, an image and behavior, which is offered and commonly promoted for women in patriarchal societies, of a "soft, gentle, feminine" girl. "it" became "her". Now she realized that at a certain point "it" is not working too well. Now she wants to be a "tigress". Instead of "roaring in front of a mirror" i think she should start by not making "bedroom eyes" faces 24/7, and letting her hair be its natural color... she is not blond.

... ah, what a shame for Russia to loose another romantic damsel in distress "Netochka Nezvanova".... we don't have enough....
https://scontent-amt2-1.cdninstagra...71_2077617509173039_6328564002041364480_n.jpg

https://78.media.tumblr.com/49acd44e473ca637a7314cbbff6781ac/tumblr_n2tjijMiJ51qjptd6o2_250.gif
You have to understand the way I am, mein herr
A tiger is a tiger, not a lamb, mein herr
You'll never turn the vinegar to jam, mein herr
https://media.gettyimages.com/photo...=SP64W6AXPXgORQVV_vDz2kcSV3wTpyPnU_7pp5a_pko=

 

[allezfred]

What is the food available in Russia like?

When I was in Moscow this year I ate really well. A lot better than I do at most skating competitions.

I almost threw up the first time I had American bread.

Fake bread.

And Americans destroy their meat.

When I spent my first summer in San Francisco, I destroyed some American meat.

 

[Erin]

Only the Australia-USA comparison here, but seriously USA, lay off the fcuking sugar and corn syrup. My god. I almost threw up the first time I had American bread. And Americans destroy their meat.

Given your attitude towards the US, I find it a little curious that you are still willing to spend your money and vacation time to come here. Maybe you should stay home if that’s how you feel.

 

[PDilemma]

To be fair to misskarne, Americans generally are fed heavily processed food and what we do to our meat for the most part is pretty bad. We don't have the same regulations that they have in the EU regarding how food is sold to their consumers (I'm assuming Australia would be closer to the EU in that regard given misskarne's opinion). That said, if you're one of the lucky people who has the time and resources to seek out alternatives, the food in the U.S. is quite wonderful. I've become a bit spoiled in that regard. I had to eat at a chain restaurant recently, and I was actually looking forward to it because it had been so long, and I bought something I thought was pretty classic (a steak) and gosh it was awful. I think my tastes has changed since I've become much more selective about what I eat. Again, it's because I could afford to and have the time to be selective. Most people can't do that.

Regarding what Vika said about eating the same thing she ate in Russia but gaining weight, I can definitely see that. I really do think the obesity problem in the U.S. really is some what linked to the quality of food in the ingredients themselves that is being sold to people as normal, not just portion size and the rate in which people eat, among other things.

To the bolded, what does that mean, "are fed"? Do you think that the majority of American adults are blindly fed by others like infants? Not true. If you are a fully functioning adult, you are choosing your food. If you are eating in restaurants all the time, you are making that choice. If you are going through the McDonald's drive through all the time, you are making that choice. If you are eating frozen crap every day, you are making that choice. You are not being "fed"; you are choosing to eat.

Frankly, I'm sick as hell of the internet nannies making proclamations about what we all eat. As someone else noted in this thread, there are 325 million of us. Everyone does not make the same food choices. Additionally, we have systemic poverty. We have food deserts. Not everyone has the resources to make the same choices as all the self righteous foodies on the internet.

And the rest of the world needs to stop pretending they don't eat nasty crap sometimes, too. McDonald's is in 119 countries for your processed nasty meat eating pleasure. Starbucks is in 62 countries for your sugar indulgences. Need some fried crap? KFC is in 119 countries. Americans might be eating some nasty crap. But you all are buying it, too.

 

[StasiyaGalustyanLove]

How vulgar. Not to mention disrespectful to our hardworking cattlemen.



I almost threw up the first time I had Australian licorice.

With-out hard cattle men where would we be as a nation, the same place as scary countries like East India and the Korea are today.

If there's two thing's I cant stand they are licorice and liquor, I have heard there is a drink combining both not even Satan could choke that down. And the bible tells all about how large and hungry his mouth was in great detail, book of Axe I believe.

When I was in Australia with my navy men we found a tasty item, Golden Gay Times. There motto is "its so hard to have a gaytime on your own," not sure how true that is.

http://www.streetsicecream.com.au/Brand/Golden_Gaytime.aspx

 

[analia]

I myself gained 10 pounds the first year I was in America. And because everyone around was so much bigger than me I didn't even realize it until I went back home. It was a nightmare.

 

[VGThuy]

To the bolded, what does that mean, "are fed"? Do you think that the majority of American adults are blindly fed by others like infants? Not true. If you are a fully functioning adult, you are choosing your food. If you are eating in restaurants all the time, you are making that choice. If you are going through the McDonald's drive through all the time, you are making that choice. If you are eating frozen crap every day, you are making that choice. You are not being "fed"; you are choosing to eat.

Frankly, I'm sick as hell of the internet nannies making proclamations about what we all eat. As someone else noted in this thread, there are 325 million of us. Everyone does not make the same food choices. Additionally, we have systemic poverty. We have food deserts. Not everyone has the resources to make the same choices as all the self righteous foodies on the internet.

And the rest of the world needs to stop pretending they don't eat nasty crap sometimes, too. McDonald's is in 119 countries for your processed nasty meat eating pleasure. Starbucks is in 62 countries for your sugar indulgences. Need some fried crap? KFC is in 119 countries. Americans might be eating some nasty crap. But you all are buying it, too.

I meant the quality of our ingredients. We don't have the same rigorous regulations and things are allowed to happen to our food that has affected American health and diet...and taste. There's been a ton of literature on it. This is beyond judging people by their choices. No where did I mention people eating at McDonald's or making unhealthy choices. I don't even think that's a major problem as fried food and buttery dishes exists everywhere in the world. I'm saying the quality of the basic food itself is different and can explain why many foreigners who stay in the U.S. for an extended time find themselves gaining weight even if they think they're not eating more than they did before and/or aren't eating food that is much different than they ate at home. That's why there's such a push for farm-to-table in many places in the U.S. and a huge push to get better quality food free from all the crap that's been allowed to happen to it. However, they are not available everywhere, and they can be very expensive. However, there is a push for better ingredients in this country because it is a response to the type of processed food that has been allowed to be normalized in this country and people are starting to look at the effects it has on people's health. Plus, people are craving tastier food these days as sales for many chain restaurants have decreased.

As you mentioned, many people live in food deserts and many can't afford "better" quality, and we have all been conditioned and brought up to eat certain things (like so many corn products and high fructose corn syrup that is in almost everything in American grocery stores). You are dreaming if you don't think society isn't shaped by all this. There is no such thing as absolute free choice since people are conditioned and cannot always make better choices. I won't even go into the industrial complex that creates this food and the hold it has in this country.

Now that I said all of that, there are certainly many places in America where you can get high quality ingredients, excellent beef, excellent produce, beautiful seafood, etc. It's a huge and diverse place and if you are lucky enough to vacation in the U.S., then you are most likely traveling and can afford to seek out better places to eat. No reason for you to have to eat something disgusting unless you are going to a place not known to have good food...which I doubt because many places have excellent food in this country and American cuisine can be seriously excellent...and again...diverse. American cuisine isn't this one thing. Japanese-American fusion cuisine is still American as is creole/cajun food in New Orleans as is Maine lobster, as is California Mexican food, as is Korean-American cuisine, as is grade A prime American beef, etc.

 

[mollymgr]

Maybe someone can find it from the archives, but I think there was an article about Krylova a couple years ago about their focus on weight too. I forgot which skater was involved. After seeing this article and several others, it seems to be acceptable for some coaches from Russia to do this as a part of "training". It definitely doesn't seem like a healthy way of going about it. Having said that, it is entirely possible that everyone does it, but their skaters don't talk about it. The honesty in Russian interviews in just amazing.

 

[jeffisjeff]

American cuisine isn't this one thing. Japanese-American fusion cuisine is still American as is creole/cajun food in New Orleans as is Maine lobster, as is California Mexican food, as is Korean-American cuisine, as is grade A prime American beef, etc.

You forgot Italian! How can anyone forget Italian?!? Americans eat a lot of (Americanized) Italian food!

Your point that American cuisine is not just one thing is spot on and the same sentiment applies to most things American*. So much varies by region and state.

What is the tax on that? It depends!
How old do I need to be to legally consent to have sex? It depends!
Can I buy beer in the grocery store? It depends!
Is it legal for me to own a monkey? It depends!
Is Donald Trump popular? It depends!

Anyway, I think it is pretty silly when people who have only been to the US as tourists decide to make broad-based statements about American food and what Americans eat. When I am touristing, I never eat the same way I eat when I am at home. I was in Ireland recently and had sausage every day for breakfast! I hardly ever ate sausages when I actually lived there. When I am touristing, I tend to go to restaurants or cafes or convenience stores, and I don't spend a whole lot of time in grocery stores, so I don't really get the same food-shopping experience as the locals.

*I am sure this is true of other countries as well, but I won't speak for them.

 

[mollymgr]

Yes, it is definitely not correct to make broad statements. There are just so many factors. Since there were budget constraints, it is possible that she was relying on unhealthy food options. It could be her opinion that she was eating the same things. It is a fact that eating healthy food costs more. The other part is a lifestyle change. If you live in a semi-rural community where you drive to places, as opposed to a city where you can walk everywhere, that little bit is going to affect you over time.

 

[Willin]

Canton, though near Ann Arbor and the Detroit suburbs, is pretty spread out. I could imagine that if she wasn't able to drive she'd have limited food choices. I also noticed that Michigan doesn't have a lot of healthier groceries (Sprouts, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods) and barely has any grocery stores. Instead they have places like Meijer, Target, and Walmart, all of which have fruits and vegetables, but those fruit/vegetable selections are generally not high quality or very large. I remember when I was living there that it was extremely hard to eat healthy.

If she couldn't drive or had budget constraints I'd imagine it would be hard to get high quality healthy food.

 

[PDilemma]

I meant the quality of our ingredients. We don't have the same rigorous regulations and things are allowed to happen to our food that has affected American health and diet...and taste. There's been a ton of literature on it. This is beyond judging people by their choices. No where did I mention people eating at McDonald's or making unhealthy choices. I don't even think that's a major problem as fried food and buttery dishes exists everywhere in the world. I'm saying the quality of the basic food itself is different and can explain why many foreigners who stay in the U.S. for an extended time find themselves gaining weight even if they think they're not eating more than they did before and/or aren't eating food that is much different than they ate at home. That's why there's such a push for farm-to-table in many places in the U.S. and a huge push to get better quality food free from all the crap that's been allowed to happen to it. However, they are not available everywhere, and they can be very expensive. However, there is a push for better ingredients in this country because it is a response to the type of processed food that has been allowed to be normalized in this country and people are starting to look at the effects it has on people's health. Plus, people are craving tastier food these days as sales for many chain restaurants have decreased.

As you mentioned, many people live in food deserts and many can't afford "better" quality, and we have all been conditioned and brought up to eat certain things (like so many corn products and high fructose corn syrup that is in almost everything in American grocery stores). You are dreaming if you don't think society isn't shaped by all this. There is no such thing as absolute free choice since people are conditioned and cannot always make better choices. I won't even go into the industrial complex that creates this food and the hold it has in this country.

Now that I said all of that, there are certainly many places in America where you can get high quality ingredients, excellent beef, excellent produce, beautiful seafood, etc. It's a huge and diverse place and if you are lucky enough to vacation in the U.S., then you are most likely traveling and can afford to seek out better places to eat. No reason for you to have to eat something disgusting unless you are going to a place not known to have good food...which I doubt because many places have excellent food in this country and American cuisine can be seriously excellent...and again...diverse. American cuisine isn't this one thing. Japanese-American fusion cuisine is still American as is creole/cajun food in New Orleans as is Maine lobster, as is California Mexican food, as is Korean-American cuisine, as is grade A prime American beef, etc.

Tonight, we had skinless chicken breast seasoned with fresh basil and fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.

The basil, cucumbers and tomatoes were from my own garden.

So explain to me exactly what part of that meal was bad quality ingredients that I am too dumb to understand are horrible for me and have caused me to have bad taste and allegedly be obese? The hand trimmed chicken breast (one piece sliced into three thinner pieces, by the way)? Or did someone sneak into my garden and add corn syrup to my cucumbers?

Here's the thing...you don't know what every single person in this country is eating. A lot of us are eating meals like I did tonight and have been cooking and serving all summer. And the assumptions get old. I don't like American exceptionalism but the "we totally suck and are awful people with horrible habits in all things" routine is just as stupid and uncalled for.

 

[VGThuy]

You are totally not understanding what I posted at all. You think I'm saying something I'm not saying. BTW, I'm also American and I never said I know what every single person in this country is eating. I also said American cuisine can be excellent and even detailed how my eating habits changed once my lifestyle changed so I could afford better options. And of course if you grow your own produce and carefully cultivate it then it will taste better. I sort of mentioned that when I spoke about finding better places to buy food and finding better restaurants that get their food from better sources. Nothing you said contradicted anything I said unless you're going to pretend that most Americans grow their own food and don't have issues with access (whether it be geographical, financial, or both) to having really fresh and well-grown/bred food. If anything, I'm saying it's not people's habits that are main problem but the fact is that they don't have much control over the quality in which our food gets delivered to us to our regular supermarkets (which is where most Americans would buy their food).

However, there is a lot of writing and literature out there about farming practices, the hormones in our beef and other meats, how our produce is grown and how pests are killed, and the antibiotics in chickens. That is what I'm talking about. It's not about buying healthy food, it's that the food available to buy is different in the U.S. and that is why a lot of people from other countries DO find it different. Also, that is why when people from the U.S. travel elsewhere, they are amazed by even the simplest foods at some other countries (like pasta, olive oil, and tomatoes in Italy) because the ingredients do taste different.

Regarding chicken:

How the use of antibiotics in poultry farming changed the way America eats

Antibiotic brined chicken and other bad ideas from US farming

Read This and You May Never Eat Chicken Again

I discovered that the reason American chicken tastes so different from those I ate everywhere else was that in the United States, we breed for everything but flavor: for abundance, for consistency, for speed. Many things made that transformation possible.

But as I came to understand, the single biggest influence was that, consistently over decades, we have been feeding chickens, and almost every other meat animal, routine doses of antibiotics on almost every day of their lives.

About food in U.S. grocery stores in general:

How American Food Makes Us Fat and Sick

The first time I went to a grocery store after moving to the US, I literally jumped in joy at the opulence of it all…The fruits and vegetables were perfectly waxed and huge compared to the little discolored runts found in India. I marveled as my host-mother Marlene selected these enormous, beautiful tomatoes and white onions and a head of lettuce that was bigger than my own head.

We went back home, and I helped her make this wonderful looking salad, and we sat down to eat.

I bit into a slice of tomato, ready for the burst of fresh flavor to attack my tongue.

And … nothing!

I blinked. I ate another slice. Same result.

The lettuce leaf was also just a watery bite of nothing. Deflated, I followed my host mother’s suggestion and loaded up my salad with some sugary honey mustard dressing.

Now, my dear American consumer friends, I have a question. How is it that the wealthiest nation on the planet produces the worst tasting vegetables and fruits?

How indeed? The short answer is that the way our food is grown is guaranteed to give us beautiful, tasteless, nutritionally deficient food with long shelf lives. Then it is processed into calorie-dense food products. The unhealthy result is that our meals are dense in calories but sparse in nutrition and flavor, so our bodies crave more nutrition and pleasure than is found on our plates. We respond to this by drowning our tasteless salad in calorie-dense dressing and reaching for that cheesecake dessert so that we get the rush of pleasure that is supposed to accompany the experience of eating.

Whatever you think I come from, I was born and raised in the U.S. I understand the type of produce most supermarkets tend to have before American consumers started demanding more. Go to a produce section and it doesn't smell like anything. The first time I went to a real farmer's market, or growing up going to an Asian supermarket, or when I went to a Whole Foods for the first time, I was so taken aback by the smell. I was not used to vegetables and fruits actually smelling like vegetables and fruits. I obviously do not know what every person in the U.S. is eating, but my original post that the idea that American ingredients are different, and my idea that it has something to do with our obesity epidemic and other health issues (which is a real concern) has to be related to the quality of our ingredients found in our grocery stores and what we cook with because it's too much of a macro problem for it to be just people's diets. I know many people from other countries who come here and comment on a lot of our ingredients and how they don't have the same flavor (until I take them to a better store) or who claim to have gained weight while they haven't really changed the way they were eating (they were not visitors but staying long-term) and had to watch what they eat in a way that did not back at home. I really do think it has a lot to do with our ingredients.

Again, a lot of literature has been written about that, and I'm no expert. It's just what I think. You don't have to agree, but I'm not attacking America or anything nor am I being unpatriotic or whatever it is you're thinking. I also hope you actually read what I wrote this time around.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Another part of the equation is restaurant food, and I don't mean just fast food chains. A lot of restaurant staples that mainly come from major distributors also have added sugar, corn syrup, soy filler, sodium etc. that a lot of canned and other prepared supermarket foods have, in addition to mass-produced meat.

Domnina and Shabalin encountered the same issue Sinitisina did a decade ago when they went to train with Linichuk, and Berezhnaia found the same when she trained in NJ with Moskvina: when they bought food off-the-shelf in US supermarkets, they assumed it was the same food they were getting in Russia. But it wasn't, and they had to adjust. I simply don't understand why every time Russian skaters come to the US, they have to learn this all over again, and that it wouldn't come through the grapevine. And, FFS, this is something that Zueva should have warned Sinitsina about from the beginning.

 

[VGThuy]

Children in schools who eat cafeteria food for the most part eat those processed, prepackaged food that gets reheated as well. I know there are great school districts with great schools that do provide fresh meals to their kids, but that is far from the majority.

 

[kwanfan1818]

College and company cafeterias as well.

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

Regarding her eating habits, I was shocked and kind of wondered if it was not the norm among Russian skaters.

As for food in the US... I am Canadian and I am always shocked to see the super-size format, the food offered to kids on Disney meal plan at WDW and the processed food for kids in the groceries just south of the border. There is a difference and one can see the processed food producers are major players. That doesn’t mean Americans are not educated about food and that they all eat that junk, it’s just that the offer is very present and promoted.

That is said, I got 15 more pounds while living one year in Europe. One of my friends lived for one year in Central America and put on more than 20 pounds on with “non-processed food”. When someone changes his/her diet, the body adapts too., for the best, for the worst.

 

[binbinwinwin]

I hosted some guests from the US for a few days here in Canada and they told me when they got here that we had to stop at McDonalds at least once. Apparently ours taste way better because "there's more actual meat" because our regulations for food is stricter. I'd imagine if Victoria wanted to treat herself to a little snack or cheat meal sometimes, it might be more difficult because you don't immediately account for the differences.

 

[Willin]

Regarding her eating habits, I was shocked and kind of wondered if it was not the norm among Russian skaters.

As for food in the US... I am Canadian and I am always shocked to see the super-size format, the food offered to kids on Disney meal plan at WDW and the processed food for kids in the groceries just south of the border. There is a difference and one can see the processed food producers are major players. That doesn’t mean Americans are not educated about food and that they all eat that junk, it’s just that the offer is very present and promoted.

That is said, I got 15 more pounds while living one year in Europe. One of my friends lived for one year in Central America and put on more than 20 pounds on with “non-processed food”. When someone changes his/her diet, the body adapts too., for the best, for the worst.

I was wondering this as well. Obviously US skaters have issues with anorexia as well, but it really seems like the skaters and coaches from Russia see disordered eating as a given in figure skating. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they prefer those long, lean balletic lines.

Again, while in the US some skaters and coaches obviously have issues with weight and wanting to stay long and lean, there's also a growing group of skaters (and gymnasts) succeeding without being stick thin and balletic: Meagan Duhamel, Vanessa James, Gabby Daleman, Courtney Hicks, etc. etc. They're still lean, athletic, and far from any definition of fat, but it goes against that long balletic look some judges and coaches find ideal and more towards the well-conditioned athlete end of things.
Even though they may be healthier than those stick-thin skaters, they still may feel pressured to diet or stop eating to fit the ideal look. I remember Meagan Duhamel said she got feedback from judges that her huge muscles made her lines look bad, so although she spent a lot of time and effort to attempt to decrease the bulkiness of her muscles even though that muscle bulk didn't affect her jumping ability at all.

 

[VGThuy]

I hosted some guests from the US for a few days here in Canada and they told me when they got here that we had to stop at McDonalds at least once. Apparently ours taste way better because "there's more actual meat" because our regulations for food is stricter. I'd imagine if Victoria wanted to treat herself to a little snack or cheat meal sometimes, it might be more difficult because you don't immediately account for the differences.

I've never eaten at an overseas McDonalds or KFC or anything (why would I when I'm traveling) but all I hear is how different it is in Europe and Asia and how much better the food is. Not just the type of recipes or sauces but the quality of the meat itself is different.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Coffee, coffee, coffee.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHIcmoY3_lE

 

[dramagrrl]

I've never eaten at an overseas McDonalds or KFC or anything (why would I when I'm traveling) but all I hear is how different it is in Europe and Asia and how much better the food is. Not just the type of recipes or sauces but the quality of the meat itself is different.

I've never eaten meat at a McDonald's in any country, but I am Canadian and I once ate at a McDonald's in Switzerland (because we were in a small town and it was the only place still opened at that hour) and was amazed at some of the items on the menu. Real potato wedges with crème fraiche! I'm actually glad McDonald's in Canada doesn't have those, because then I would be much more likely to frequent McDonald's more than once a year for emergency ice cream (ice milk, whatever it is, heh).

 

[Viscaro]

Do you think that the majority of American adults are blindly fed by others like infants? Not true. If you are a fully functioning adult, you are choosing your food.

Additionally, we have systemic poverty. We have food deserts. Not everyone has the resources to make the same choices as all the self righteous foodies on the internet.

These two paragraphs are contradictory to me (and I agree with the second one).

For me, they are indeed many reasons why people do not exactly "choose" their food :
- economic constraints
- other practical constraints (are they good healthy shops nearby ?)
- habits, especially developed during childhood where when are very sensitive to sugar
- and worst than habits, addictions to sugar (https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2017/08/23/bjsports-2017-097971)

It would not surprise me that people can be as hooked to bad food (that is more artificially sugared) as other people can be addicted to coffee and cigarettes. The way to counter that addiction is not by giving people choices, because we are free adults and stuff, but by regulation. That's what working for the cigarettes in the US right now.

This not a US problem btw, this is a industrial world problem.

If you look at this map however, you find that the obesity situation is worse in the US than in other Western countries: https://www.worldobesity.org/data/map/overview-adults). The worst EU country (obesity wise) for example, Romania, has a 29/34 F/M obesity percentage, and that's significantly less than the US 37/41 score. Sweden's score, one of the EU winners in the 2010s, is at 16/17 percent. Less than half the US score.

They are only a handful explanations for this :
- 1) Americans do not exercise enough
- 2) Social or economic constraints make it harder for Americans to eat healthy (that's the explanation you seem to reject ?)
- 3) Americans want to be obese because they find it bootylicious
- 4) Americans are freely making stupid decisions about their health
- 5) The map is wrong : it was funded by the EU and as always Europeans want to make Americans look bad.
- 6) Vikings raids keep the Swedes very active and healthy and annoyingly always first at everything.

I go with 2) btw.

 

[mollymgr]

Stress also plays a big role in weight gain. From the article, it is clear that her new training situation was a source of stress for her. She highlights quite a bit about her easy life at home in Russia with her parents. In contrast, she had to mature in many ways and deal with a lot of difficult conditions in the US.

 

[Ka3sha]

That was an interesting read. I liked her honesty and personality, even if it was sometimes hard to understand what she was trying to say.
Katsalapov might be a better partner on the ice, but mentally she is much stronger.

Re food:
I gained 5 kilos (~11 pounds) while I had been living in the States for a year (I didn’t eat any junk food or drink sweet coffee). Still I can’t say that the food itself was bad - it was just very different from what I got used to: the taste, huge portions and etc.

 

[The Accordion]

All this talk / speculating on the challenges of moving and the changes with US food but whatever was going on - it still doesn't make daily weigh ins OK or healthy or helpful. Especially when it turned into 4 times a day weigh ins.

Thanks for sharing this interview - it was very interesting.

 

[rfisher]

There's also a big difference living with one's parents who probably shop and cook and living on your own in a strange country where you eat out. Big difference. I'd venture to say, most people would gain weight if they ate out for a majority of their daily nutrition versus selective shopping and preparing meals at home. That's one of the major shifts in the US diet. People rely on processed or easy access foods rather then spending the time to prepare fresh. I did a behavioral study for a behavioral ecology class and just observed what people bought at the supermarket. Marketing specialists are quite aware of this trend and organize stores accordingly.

 

[Yehudi]

I also remember Katsalapov saying he always ate out until the ruble crashed. In between their first and second seasons, there was a period where Nikita gained a lot of weight.

 

[believed]

All this talk / speculating on the challenges of moving and the changes with US food but whatever was going on - it still doesn't make daily weigh ins OK or healthy or helpful. Especially when it turned into 4 times a day weigh ins.

Thanks for sharing this interview - it was very interesting.

Yeah, I’m not sure why it became more about eating habits of general Americans when the problem here is who is encouraging bad behavior and what is being encouraged.

 

[hanca]

Domnina and Shabalin encountered the same issue Sinitisina did a decade ago when they went to train with Linichuk, and Berezhnaia found the same when she trained in NJ with Moskvina: when they bought food off-the-shelf in US supermarkets, they assumed it was the same food they were getting in Russia. But it wasn't, and they had to adjust. I simply don't understand why every time Russian skaters come to the US, they have to learn this all over again, and that it wouldn't come through the grapevine. And, FFS, this is something that Zueva should have warned Sinitsina about from the beginning.

Warned about it? If someone told me that if I go to a different country and the same fruit and vegetables will look same or even much better but will not taste same, I would think they are mad. I would understand that products such as bread or sausages are different because obviously it depends on the recipes. But the fact that a cucumber won’t taste like cucumbers even though it looks exactly like any normal cucumber? That would be a bit hard to understand until you actually taste it.

And why Zueva didn’t warn them - it is possible that she has been there such a long time that she considers that normal, and would not even think of anyone else experiencing something different. Things I considered weird twenty years ago in this country seem to me now quite normal.