Jutta Leerdam suffered from eating problems for years: ‘I had been brainwashed’ | show

In the conversation with Robbert Rodenburg, she says that she sometimes “went completely crazy” when it came to her eating behavior. “She wanted to be so perfect,” she says. ,,In the sense that I wanted to eat as perfectly healthy and be as skinny as possible, which ended up costing me some form for several years and it wasn’t good for me either, because I was there the whole time. day busy with.”

Altogether, the skater’s eating problems have taken “worrisome forms” for about three years. At one point, he didn’t eat anything that was a bit unhealthy. “A piece of chocolate? At some point my body didn’t even need it anymore. I had it blocked, like I didn’t like it. I suddenly thought an apple was the best there was. I had been so brainwashed.” Leerdam just he ate healthy and very little, so at a certain point he had little strength left.

During one training camp, that decline became quite clear. ,,I couldn’t make any progress, I had burned all my muscles and I was exhausted,” says Jutta. When she was in the shower she had clumps of hair in her hands. ,,Was too much.” In addition to the other ailments, her eating problems prevented her from having her period for four years. ,,They say that this is normal in sport, but in reality it is not normal. (…) That really had to do with nutrition and fat percentage and not hard training. Because now I train harder than ever and my body now has enough energy for it.”

Leerdam still thought for a long time that he was doing well. He could tell myself many times, ‘You can’t do it,’ and then I just didn’t do it. For me that was discipline, but in retrospect it was very bad for my sport and my health. I’m glad I got over that.”