Every four years, the Winter Olympics remind the world that athletic excellence comes in many shapes, sizes, and stories. From curling, ice skating and short-track speed skating to cross country skiing and hockey, one truth stands out: your body is your greatest strength, not something to be minimized for someone else’s approval. At the Milano-Cortina Winter Games, athletes understand that to rise to your best, you need to keep your body fueled. Thousands of competitors are eating with purpose, not restriction. Olympic dining halls have served enormous quantities of pasta, pizza, eggs, cheese, and pastries - not as indulgence, but as high-performance fuel to meet the incredible energy demands of needing to compete at the highest level. Organizers of the games estimated athletes consumed the equivalent of 1,800 meters of pizza over the course of the Games, essential calories for rigorous competition. Olympians know something important many of us often forget: your body does not exist to be small, it exists to be strong, nourished, and capable.Nutrition is not an enemy, but a foundation of performance. As former Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno reflected on the role of fueling in his own career: “When your body and your brain are fueled appropriately, it's incredible how easy it is to get into a flow.” Fuel isn’t just about calories, it’s about respect. Giving your body what it needs lets you train with intention, recover with resilience, and live with joy. Take the words of Lindsey Vonn, an alpine ski legend at the 2026 Games, who used her return to competition to flip the script on body image standards: “I don’t need to be skinny.” Her focus is on strength, not numbers - a message that echoes far beyond the slopes. Many athletes, whether they’re gliding on ice, carving down mountains, flying and twisting in the air or charging up cross-country snow trails, emphasize balanced nourishment, variety, and listening to their bodies. They highlight that sustainable performance comes from fueling and caring for the body, not shrinking it. As Jessie Diggins, America’s most decorated cross-country skier, says, And on the ice, American figure skater Amber Glenn pushes back against narrow ideals too, writing, For everyday athletes and fitness enthusiasts, the Winter Olympics demonstrate that performance doesn’t come from dieting or restriction, it comes from fueling your body with purpose, nourishing it with respect, and celebrating what it can do. At its core, sport demonstrates that our bodies are capable of extraordinary things and that how we feed, nourish and value them shapes the strength we build. |