Red Bull athlete Zahra Lari shares her strict diet keeping her top of the pack

Sport360 staff 08:25 27/09/2018
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  • Zahra Lari: Figure skating star

    Emirati and Red Bull athlete Zahra Lari is the world’s first professional figure skater to compete internationally wearing a headscarf. The second article of this month’s weekly column focuses on the strict eating habits, which keep her on the top of her game.

    I have to be pretty strict with what I eat because figure skating is a very precise sport so even if you gain, like, half a kilo it’ll affect your whole jump – your timing and everything can be off, so I need to ensure I maintain my weight. As a figure skater, the lighter you are the easier it is to jump and there’s less pressure on your knees so that’s the reason we’re on strict diets. In terms of what I eat, I make sure I have three meals a day but they’re usually small, so I snack in between. Breakfast is always eggs, I used to eat only the whites but now I have the whole thing with some brown bread. I eat after training for two hours in the morning because my day starts at 4:30am, which would be too early for me to eat so I do it after practice.

    After that I’ll go to University and then have lunch around 2:30pm. I have protein and some carbs so that I can train later on in the day, so it’ll be grilled chicken and a small portion of rice. Sometimes I’ll have a snack like fruit, at the moment I’m obsessed with papaya for some reason. I have no choice but to eat late at night because my evening session finishes around 9pm, so I eat after to help my body recover and prepare for the following morning. Again, I’ll have some sort of protein with a salad or soup and that’s pretty much it when it comes to food. Throughout the day I’ll drink a lot of water and Red Bull when I need an energy boost.

    I don’t really have a cheat day because if I eat junk food it makes me feel really sick afterwards because I’ve been used to eating healthily for so long now. I choose not to eat sweets and things, which is really hard because at home we always have sweets and donuts on the table. It would be so easy for me to give in and eat badly but I resist. I’m not going to lie though I do have chocolate every now and again. During Ramadan things change so right before breaking my fast I do 15 minutes of running and then eat something light, like soup. Then I’ll train and then have a heavy meal afterwards, otherwise my diet pretty much stays the same.

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