Do You Know What Ingredients to Avoid Feeding Your Child?

A few articles in our blogs have already tackled what are the best foods you should allow your athletic kid to eat and what could help develop his muscles and reduce fat. All over the internet, there are also countless materials talking about this, but do we really know what food ingredient we should avoid?

(Also read: Nutritional Needs of Young Athletes)

All around the places there are confusing articles saying one should eat this and shouldn’t eat that. The media further confuses people as one day they are talking about the disadvantages of fats, then the next day they would say that carbs are great for the body.

Food manufacturers also add to this muddle by printing misleading labels and bogus health claims. It had started to look like the whole system is set up to confuse and frustrate us into buying the latest and greatest packaged food.

But really, what ingredients are harmful to your young athlete’s health?

Listed below are the four ingredients you should avoid diligently.

1. White Flour

-White flour is a result of the processing of natural whole wheat until it is stripped off of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Basically, once this happened an ingredient is nutritionally void already. White flour is also packed with calories that release quickly into your child’s system, creating a spike in blood sugar and leads to hunger and ravings. A good alternative to this is whole wheat.

2. White Sugar

-Once again, this is a result of a sugar cane plant that underwent an intensive refining process. By refining a sugar cane, all of the enzymes fiber, vitamins and minerals are destroyed. Aside from weight gain, white sugar has been linked to weakened immune system, ADD, hyperactivity, mental and emotional disorders.

3. High Fructose Corn Syrup
-This is another form of sweetener, but man-made. It is derived from genetically modified corn. It promotes hysterical hunger, fat storage, and spikes your child’s blood sugar levels. HFCS is found in many mainstream products like cereals, crackers, ice cream, salad dressing, energy bars, and soft drinks.

4. Aspartame

-Yet again, aspartame is an artificial sweetener that was denied by the FDA 8 times before being approved in 1973. It is said to promote cravings for foods high in calories and carbohydrates as it stows away sugar. When sugar is not available, the result is hypoglycemia and severe hunger.

These are just some of the ingredients a child should avoid. Read more fitness and gymnastics-related articles by visiting our educational blogs. Experience a fun and imaginative gymnastics training, come and enroll today at Bianka Panova Sport and Art Academy :)

Decorated Gymnast Lauren Mitchell Retreats

Australia’s most decorated gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, has announced her retirement which she decided during a recent trip to Europe.

The 25-year-old is only the second Australian woman gymnast to win medals at World Championships, but the first to ever win gold. She made history in 2010 when she became Australia’s first female World Gymnastics Champion on floor in Rotterdam. She is also two-time Olympian, and a 2009 World Championship silver medalist on balance beam and floor.

Mitchell has had multiple successes in a career she started when she was six, but in June 2015 she suffered what might just be the biggest challenge to her career yet. She was withdrawn from the upcoming 2015 World Universaide due to a serious knee injury that occurred during a training session. She was working on her floor routine when she sustained a ruptured ACL, adding to her ankle problems.

Nine months after this injury, she went back to training and even almost qualified for the Rio Olympics. However, Australia failed to qualify for the team event, leaving just one individual spot available for Rio. It was because of her knee injury that Mitchell’s chances to be chosen for that spot were slim, and Larrissa Miller was instead chosen.

On a recent interview, Mitchell said that tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and missing out on a spot at the Rio Games were two of the hardest times of her glittering career.

The Real Reason For Mitchell’s Retirement

Indeed, those were trying times. However, Mitchell said that those weren’t the reasons for her retirement, or the recent announcement that the WAIS gymnastics program would be axed. Even the lure of competing at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018 wasn’t enough to spur her on.

Mitchell revealed that, "It would have been an amazing experience to compete in front of a home crowd. […]But I don't think mentally I would be able to push myself to be good enough to be able to make the team again. I've given everything that I could have to the sport, and I have no regrets. Mentally I couldn't have pushed anymore.”

Mitchell’s Future Plans

“I love the sport of gymnastics and I will still be involved in some way, shape or form.”

After her retirement, Mitchell plans to start mentoring the younger athletes and start motivational speaking not only to inspire the next generation of elite athletes, but also to inspire people in their daily lives.

“I’d love to give back to the community when they have given me so much,” she said.

Despite Australia’s failure to have an artistic gymnastics team in the Olympics for the first time in 30 years, Mitchell believed that there was a bright future for the sport nationally. She believed that there was amazing talent throughout Australia and if they can harness that talent and put it all together, they would go really well.

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Former Rhythmic Gymnastics Olympians Surrender Athletic Careers for Degrees

World-renowned Olympic rhythmic gymnasts Alisa Kano and Natalie McGiffert have both aimed for Olympic gold medals before, but it seems like their goal has already changed, and now they’re focused on getting degrees as full-time students at Loyola.

21-year-old Alisa and 19-year-old McGiffert were both part of the American Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team, which advanced to the Olympic competition in Rio de Janeiro after beating Brazil – the host country of the 2016 Games – at the 2015 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

The win earned them a qualification spot for the Rio Olympic Games. It was a historic achievement for the U.S., as it served as the first earned Olympic spot in rhythmic gymnastics team competition. The national team was filled with joy after knowing about the qualification.

“We finished our ribbon routine and we were so happy with how we did that we were crying of happiness,” Alisa said excitedly. “We were so happy we finished a clean routine and everyone else thought we were crying because we qualified [for the 2016 Olympics], but we had no idea.”

Group rhythmic gymnastics is a gymnastics discipline which has a distinct resemblance to synchronized swimming. Alisa explained that it is a combination of gymnastics, dance and ballet with apparatus work. The athletes perform leaps and turns while maintaining full control of their apparatuses. The sport focuses on flexibility and elegance instead of flipping, which is a bigger factor in other disciplines of gymnastics.

After the 2016 Rio Olympics came to an end, Kano and McGiffert both realized it was time to retire. 

“There was such a huge chapter of our life that was gymnastics,” said McGiffert. “There comes a time where you get to the highest point you can reach and you need to move on.”

With their days practicing in the gym long gone, Alisa and Natalie moved on to Loyola, refusing to grab the opportunity to perform with their teammates on the Kellogg’s Tour, which is a national tour that features various elements from both artistic and rhythmic gymnastics disciplines.

“You need to discipline yourself with the transition,” Alisa explained. “Being a gymnast, we never had any homework. Homework and studying is a lot different than training.”

Both athletes have gone through massive changes for the sake of the sport. They both recalled the adversity they’ve gone through when they decided to compete at a professional level.

“We’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I moved from New York and [Natalia] moved from California. We changed our whole lives to come to Chicago and train for the team,” told Kano. “It was a big change in my life.”

McGiffert expressed her excitement now she has a lot more free time to spend. She’s looking forward to making plans with her friends and not having to work them in around her hectic training schedule. 

Kano, currently a psychology major, said she’s looking forward to having a professional career in physical therapy. McGiffert haven’t decided yet which course to take, but she plans to pursue a major in social work. Despite not having any plans to come back to their athletic careers, they still plan to return to visit their old gym. 

Both gymnasts plan to make the same approach on their academics as what they did on their gymnastics training – with determination and focus.

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Simone Biles’ Outstanding Performances in Rio Boosts Gymnastics’ Popularity

Several gymnastics facilities across the United States have reported a significant surge in enrollment after the gold medal-winning performances of the 19-year-old gymnast Simone Biles at the competition recently ended in Rio last week.

According to the owner of the Klub Gymnastics in Los Angeles, Michael Eschenbrenner, the Summer Olympics usually brings a 20% boost in the amount of gymnastics newcomers in their facility. But this year, “it’s going to be at least that because of the whole Simone Biles amazingness.”

Simone Biles has been one of the most successful gymnastics in the U.S., having won a total of 4 individual Olympic gold medals and one bronze despite being a first time competitor in the Summer Olympic Games. She also owns a large number of World Championships titles, which adds up to her huge collection of gymnastics achievements.

Her success in the sport encouraged the young generation to try out the sport themselves. Watching her perform stunning routines in the Rio Olympic Arena inspired young gymnastics aspirants to be just like her someday.

Normally, the post-Olympics surge doesn’t come until the summer session ends and the school starts. But that clearly have changed this season, with more than 1,400 weekly enrollees at Klub Gymnastics – “higher than we’ve ever been,” says Eschenbrenner.

There is typically a surge in enrollment after an Olympic Games,” said USA Gymnastics’ spokeswoman, Jennifer Teitell. “For example, the women’s program had over 16,000 new athletes in 2012-2013 which was a 22% growth over the previous year.”

Names such as Simone Biles and Aly Raisman have encouraged a generation to try out gymnastics, a sport that’s often overlooked outside the Olympic season.

“Gymnastics is one of the most popular Olympic sports. All the kids are watching it, they see that and decide that’s what they want to do,” a coach in a gymnastics facility in Huntington said. 

After witnessing her impressive performances in the 2016 Rio Olympics, everyone suddenly wants to be just like Simone Biles.

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