Gladiators were fat slaves. If they were anything of a highly skilled fighter, they would serve in the army. Though, they weren't. Their lives were for entertainment. It cost money to feed slaves, so they were fed a very unhealthy vegan diet promoting very bad athletic performance.
@1imesub Well, there's lots of paintings of them - they all look pretty stout - as well as plenty of writings about them that still survive. The show I watched was about a particular gladiator named Polumbus who actually volunteered for it so if you Google him you'll come up with it.
@BitterGnome If the gladiators really did live on a diet of barley, beans and some dried fruit, as scientific hair and bone analysis suggests, they wouldn't have been fat at all. They would have been very trim and probably very muscular considering all the training they would have done. I googled "gladiators" and didn't see any evidence of them actually being "fat." The google images didn't yield any fat gladiators either. DOn't trust the History Channel; it's all sensationalized BS.
@1imesub Well, not being an archeologist I'm going to have to concede TV may have been fibbing or just surmising about all gladiators. When I Google "Polumbus fat gladiator" I get tons (no pun intended) of sites. I don't really know about that, but I do know that I eat like a starchivore - vegan, starchy foods, vegetables, no oil, etc - and I carry some fat around. You can gain fat eating beyond what you want on this diet for sure. And I don't have a guy with a whip making me eat either, lol.
@BitterGnome You need a certian percentage just to maintain healthy essential fat. I eat like a starchavore too, but also eat a lot of nuts and nut butters - no oil. I'm at ~14% body fat. There have been a few times I cut back on the nut butters and I did notice a little less fat around the waist/belly, but that's due to fat intake, not starch intake. I just don't believe for a second that a diet of barley, beans, and some dried fruit could make a person fat, no matter how much they ate.
This guy has it all backwards.
Gladiators were fat slaves. If they were anything of a highly skilled fighter, they would serve in the army. Though, they weren't. Their lives were for entertainment. It cost money to feed slaves, so they were fed a very unhealthy vegan diet promoting very bad athletic performance.
Kikishredsgnar 3 weeks ago
Search the internet: gladiator and vegan diet
drmcdougallmd 3 months ago
The diet of the traditional gladiator was barley with some beans.
drmcdougallmd 3 months ago
I remember reading somewhere that the gladiators ate gruel, which was a mixture of the meat from goat's flesh and milk.
sabby123456789 3 months ago
I just saw this on the History Channel. It was odd though, because gladiators were also fat for extra protection. They must have been eating A LOT.
BitterGnome 3 months ago
@BitterGnome How did they determine they were fat?
1imesub 3 months ago
@1imesub Well, there's lots of paintings of them - they all look pretty stout - as well as plenty of writings about them that still survive. The show I watched was about a particular gladiator named Polumbus who actually volunteered for it so if you Google him you'll come up with it.
BitterGnome 3 months ago
@BitterGnome If the gladiators really did live on a diet of barley, beans and some dried fruit, as scientific hair and bone analysis suggests, they wouldn't have been fat at all. They would have been very trim and probably very muscular considering all the training they would have done. I googled "gladiators" and didn't see any evidence of them actually being "fat." The google images didn't yield any fat gladiators either. DOn't trust the History Channel; it's all sensationalized BS.
1imesub 3 months ago
@1imesub Well, not being an archeologist I'm going to have to concede TV may have been fibbing or just surmising about all gladiators. When I Google "Polumbus fat gladiator" I get tons (no pun intended) of sites. I don't really know about that, but I do know that I eat like a starchivore - vegan, starchy foods, vegetables, no oil, etc - and I carry some fat around. You can gain fat eating beyond what you want on this diet for sure. And I don't have a guy with a whip making me eat either, lol.
BitterGnome 3 months ago
@BitterGnome You need a certian percentage just to maintain healthy essential fat. I eat like a starchavore too, but also eat a lot of nuts and nut butters - no oil. I'm at ~14% body fat. There have been a few times I cut back on the nut butters and I did notice a little less fat around the waist/belly, but that's due to fat intake, not starch intake. I just don't believe for a second that a diet of barley, beans, and some dried fruit could make a person fat, no matter how much they ate.
1imesub 3 months ago