Watching the Winter Olympics is entertainment at its finest. I personally prefer it over the Summer Olympics because, to me, figure skating is a sport that literally defies all the laws of gravity and physics, but of course, there are tons of sports categories that will amaze us all in 2018. Sometimes, Olympic athletes can perform feats of skill that make them seem straight-up godlike. You can totally forget that they're just regular people, which is why learning about what Olympic Athletes eat for comfort food can be low-key surprising, if not completely mind-blowing. I mean, they really are just like us, right?
The stereotype about intense athletes is that they abide by wildly strict diet regimens, fueling themselves off of quinoa and vegetables and glasses of raw eggs before a workout. But the truth is that athletes need a strong sense of mental health just as much as they need to work on their physical health, which is why it's so critical for them to continue eating the food that they love, even if it's only in moderation.
Comfort food is all about indulging for the sake of the mind, body, and soul, so it comes as no surprise that, in an exclusive interview with Elite Daily, each Olympic athlete admits to a totally specific treat unique to him or her. Here are eight different comfort foods from Olympic athletes looking to make big moves for the podium this winter.
Tucker West is on the Team USA luge team, and in 2014, he was the youngest American male luger to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games at age 18. West is gunning for a gold this winter, and since luge is a gravitationally affected sport (Cool Runnings, anyone?), it's important for him to keep weight on.
His go-to comfort food is a classic: a bacon egg and cheese bagel sandwich, with a Reese's cup on the side. He also notes that Five Guys' burgers make him "one of the happiest people in the world."
Jessie Diggins will be holding up the fort for the women's cross-country skiing team, which is an unusually quick trajectory of success for someone who only started her athletic career in high school (she's now 26 years old).
Diggins says cross-country skiing is one of the highest calorie-burning sports there is in the Olympics, so she likes to get creative in the kitchen after a "quick" five-hour workout (*gulp*). Her ultimate comfort food is homemade banana bread, plus anything that includes dark chocolate.
Ashley Wagner is a three-time U.S. figure skating champion who views nutrition as a fun part of her job. "I try to eat very clean," she explains, "and balance out protein and carbs to fuel myself with energy."
Wagner's comfort foods include burgers, chicken tenders, and apple pie with ice cream, which are basically the three tenets of American indulgence. Amen, girl.
Aja Evans is a female bobsledder with several incredible broken records and Olympic attendances under her belt. As she pushes for the podium this year with her partner Jamie Greubel Poser, she focuses on a "basic" eating schedule of carbs and protein to keep her fueled.
Evans' comfort food faves include anything that will indulge her sweet tooth, from popcorn, to Swedish fish, and the ever so classic Sour Patch Kids.
Though he's already a U.S. figure skating national champion, Rippon will be making his Olympic debut in 2018. Rippon has had an increased focus on nutrition ever since his experience with an ankle injury, using food as a means "to help me recover and perform better," he tells Elite Daily.
Rest assured, that nutrition plan still leaves room for ice cream as a main indulgence, because what heals the body faster than a bowl of the good stuff?
Nathan Chen won the bronze in his first season as a senior ice skater, and he's also the holder of the highest cumulative scores in U.S. figure skating history, having landed seven clean quadruple jumps in a competition — which is something I can barely visualize, let alone pull off.
Chen's favorite meals to decompress after training include sushi, with Hershey's chocolate for a dessert, because chocolate cures everything.
Jamie Anderson won gold at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games in 2014, and will look to expand her competition by entering the big air snowboarding category, which will make its Olympic debut this winter.
Anderson is mostly vegetarian, but her comfort foods include sushi and kettle chips. Can't say I'm feelin' her on kettle chips, but sushi is definitely bae.
Erin Hamlin is a three-time Olympian and 2014 bronze medalist for women's luge who plans to retire after this Olympic season. She notes that luge is a sport that isn't particularly strict with dietary rules, since weight can actually be an advantage in moving faster downhill.
With that said, her favorite comfort food is, hands-down, Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Girl's got some damn good taste, if you ask me.
