Diet Question - edited version

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

How many of those on team have a nutritionist come and speak to the team girls? Also does your gym encourage a particular diet for your girls. I was listening to parents the other day talking about a meeting we will have this summer about what the girls are eating and this person will meet with them too and weigh them and check their BMI and give recommendations. Is this a common practice?

Mind you I watch very close what DD eats and instill eating fruits and not junk so to speak. she gets no juice and only drinks Milk or water. I just was caught off guard when they were telling me about the team diet.

[flippymonkeysmom]

The nutrition part wouldn't bother me - I figure the more kids hear about good nutrition the better. And of course we all know that when it comes from someone else other than parents they listen better, lol. The part that would concern me would be the weigh ins and the BMI checks. Pretty much the only time my kids get weighed is when they go to the doctor. I think, especially for girls, that if they focus too much on a number on the scale they are setting themselves up for problems. My dd definitely weighs more than she looks like she should b/c of muscle - as is the case for most gymnasts. What are they trying to accomplish with this whole thing? Educating them about what their bodies need for this very demanding sport is great. Having them start obsessing about numbers and weight at a young age - not so much, IMHO.

[Aussie_coach]

Our elite gyms do weigh the gymnasts and give skin fold tests and have them meet with a nutritionist. But these are the girls who are hand picked to be trained to represent the country at an international level. They do need to fit a certain build but that should not be the case for the vast majority of gymnasts. Gymnastics should be a sport for all body types and once gymnasts start being told what they should and shouldn't weigh they start to see themselves as fitting the right body type or the wrong one. Which eventually damges their success in the gym.

Yes talk about good health and drinking plenty of water and avoiding foods that raise the insulin levels too much and eating enough to survivie training. But if it about weight it should not be addressed.

[gymnomore]

I've never heard of gyms that do this but I think it's a good idea. The weighing in part might be kind of iffy, because you don't want to cause any emotional distress to these girls about being overweight, or even suggesting that they are. This, of course may cause eating disorders among adolescents at a very sensitive time in their lives. Other than that, the point of stressing healthy eating habits for competitive purposes as well as overall health benefits can't be emphasized enough.

[Monkeygirlsmom]

I think the talk of eating healthy and all is good!! I do agree about the weighing tho! I def do not want my kids weighed!! they get weighed at the dr and thats it!! once in a while we do weigh the kids at home but its just for seeing if they are growing etc!!! and to see if they were ready for new car seats and all!!!

[Gym mum UK]

I absolutely agree with flippymonkeysmom.

I think you have to be very careful with teenage girls and weighing scales. It is such a sensitive age and their thinking can be tipped either way by a perception or a wrong word on this subject. There is also so much media attention with regard to size 0, catwalk models etc.

I would be extremely reluctant to allow my daughters to be weighed by a stranger. I would like to find out exactly what are the qualifications of the nutritionist, how are the consultations going to be handled (privately, openly discussing weights etc) and exactly what information is going to be given to the girls before I would even consider allowing them to attend.

I am all in favour of sports nutritional advice (eg what should one eat before, during and after training sessions etc) and would obviously wholly support anybody endorsing healthy eating options but if calorie controlling and a preoccupation with numbers on a scale is in the offing, I would not be happy with it.

[rbw]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gymnasticsgirl521 How many of those on team have a nutritionist come and speak to the team girls? Also does your gym encourage a particular diet for your girls.

I think that tracking my daughter's weight is as reasonable as measuring her height. I understand that some parents may be uncomfortable with weigh-ins, but the real issue isn't related to collecting the data, it's in how that information is interpreted and treated within and outside the gym.

One of the reasons that I support my daughter's participation in gymnastics is to help to foster a healthy body image that's based on competence and fitness and not on how nearly she approximates the appearance of advertising images of 17 year-old heroin addicts. I believe that the more she knows about nutrition and how a healthy diet supports her growth and fuels her athletic performance, the less likely she is to fall into the trap of unhealthy eating habits.

Frankly, many--even most--reasonable, intelligent, and extremely competent people really don't know much about nutrition. In addition, if gym parents are much like the general population in the US, the majority of gymnasts may be growing up in an environment where their role models (and the people who shop for and prepare their food) themselves have some or considerable difficulty with maintaining a healthy weight. Many kids would benefit from some nutritional guidance from an outside expert, because it can be surprisingly difficult to obtain appropriate guidance at home.

I'd welcome support from a nutrtionist to help my child to understand how to stay on track for a healthy life. If your team's "particular diet" is appropriate for healthy young athletes, your child should be well served by the inclusion of another expert in her training program.

[bogwoppit]

The weighing think makes me go . My girls are weighed when we go to the Doctors office and very rarely otherwise. I talk about strong healthy bodies needed good foods to grow on, it's okay to have some junk as long as the body has all the other right foods to be strong. Hubby is a dentist, so that adds another layer to the nutrition puzzle.

Our gym encourages healthy food in the gym, that's it. We have all different shapes and sizes. Medals seem to be won by all different body types, just the way it should be.

I would really not want weight to become any part of my DD's gym, there is already so much pressure on girls today to be "perfect', they already are their own perfect.

I do not know what I'd do if this was presented at our gym, and I know the OP's daughter is very young to be assessed this way. If you say she can't be weighed it will make her feel left out, but being a part of a weigh in of any kind smacks of Weight Watchers and is the last thing I would wish on any child who has to wear a leo and be judged in front of crowds.

Let us know what you do, I am surious what the point of the whole weigh in is....

[Gym mum UK]

One point to ponder upon is that, by nature, these groups of girls are already very competitive. The extension of that competitiveness to body weight or body fat % should be avoided at all costs. For this reason, I do not agree with group "weigh-ins".

[bogwoppit]

I copied the OP's question into the coaches forum. I"d love to get their opinion on this prickly issue.