The Nastia Liukin Diet
By: Rosemina Nazarali
Published: August 7, 2012

Nastia Liukin is an Olympic gymnast whose fit philosophy ensures her body is in its best form. The 22-year-old, who didn't make it to this year's U.S. Olympic team, says her athletic parents raised her to treat her body well. 
"My mom raised me to believe that you have to treat your body like an expensive car -- you have to put in the most expensive fuel," the five-time Olympic medalist said. "My approach is to have a clean diet and eat fresh food, and eating organic is definitely important to me." 
Liukin stays away from processed food but still listens to what her body wants. 
"I try to stay away from multi-processed foods, but, at the same time, I think to deprive yourself of something that you really want is the worst thing because then you just want it even more," she said. "So if you want a cookie, than you should have a cookie -- it's just, like, don't have five cookies at once. That's kind of always been my motto: if you want a treat or something, do it."
Liukin does have trouble with one area of her diet -- eating breakfast. The gymnast says she simply doesn't have an appetite in the mornings, but knows she needs to give it fuel for her intense training sessions.