You'd expect someone who defies gravity on a routine basis to fill her meal plate with a light touch. In the case of world-class snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, you'd be right - to a point.

The Aspen resident's weeklong food diary completed for the Rocky Mountain News includes such fare as a grilled chicken salad, Grape- Nuts with organic 2 percent milk, a Starbucks latte - skinny, thanks.

But it turns out there's a sweet dollop of whipped cream floating on that skinny latte. And to mark the end of a weekend of competition, she chooses a blue-cheese bacon burger washed down with a microbrew.

Obviously, bearing the weight of silver and gold from the Olympics and X Games - and exercising the athleticism that earned those medals - allows Bleiler the wiggle room to indulge once in a while. Doubters are referred to the photos of her posing in bikinis for FHM magazine.

"You caught me on an interesting week," says Bleiler, 25. "I'm coming off the X Games, which takes the life right out of you. And there's some partying that happens at the X Games. Then I had a couple of days at home, then on the road to Oregon for Grand Prix.

"But I guess that's not odd for me in terms of my diet - it's pretty much whatever I can eat whenever I can eat it."

Her pace won't slow down any time soon. She's in Lake Placid, N.Y., for this weekend's U.S. Snowboard Cup, then off to Vermont for the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships starting Monday. She'll look to add to her already-impressive collection of medals, including a silver from January's X Games in her hometown, a gold at the 2005 X Games and a silver for half-pipe at last year's Olympics in Italy.

At the close of competition at Oregon's Mount Bachelor, site of last month's U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix, Bleiler talked by phone about her on-the-go breakfasts, favorite Colorado restaurants and why her fridge always has - if not much else - whipped cream.

Question: You allowed us to peek inside the refrigerator at your Aspen condo, and the only dairy product inside was a can of Reddi-wip. Why is that vital?

Answer: With my nonfat lattes, I like whipped cream - which pretty much defeats the purpose of the nonfat latte. But whipped cream is one of my most favorite things in all the world.

Q: You travel a lot, especially in the winter when you're competing. How does that affect your eating habits?

A: As you can see from my diary, I don't really cook myself a whole lot. (Laughs) My mom, who lives in Snowmass, is an amazing cook - she loves to cook and bake.

Because I travel so much, when I'm at home I still don't cook, because I've never really taken the time to cook. It's weird hours, traveling. I try to kind of balance out the diet. I go through periods where I eat really healthy, then periods - like this week - where I don't really think about it.

Q: What do you cook at home when you have the chance?

A: My standard is tacos: soft tortillas, ground turkey with taco seasoning, salsa, refried beans and cheese. Sometimes I do the double-decker with the soft flour tortilla and hard-shell taco and use refried beans to put them together. That's pretty much what I can make. (Laughs)

Q: What's your favorite food or cuisine?

A: I will always be down to go to an Italian or sushi restaurant.

Q: Where's your favorite place to eat in Aspen?

A: My favorite place for dinner is Topper's. The chicken cacciatore is my favorite. The Big Wrap is my favorite lunch place.

Q: Which snow-sport area has the best food?

A: Definitely, hands-down, Buttermilk (Mountain in Aspen) has the best restaurant. It's called Bumps at Buttermilk. They have amazing salads and pasta, and everything seems really fresh.

Q: How does your diet change on a competition day?

A: Generally, it's hard for me to eat in the morning. I'm nervous. The day of competition is when I eat the least, when I probably should be eating the most. But it tends to be the day where I don't eat.

I have to compete early, so I generally just wake up and eat a bagel with butter. That seems to suppress my hunger and keep me going more than anything. It's not much, but it tends to work for me.

dedrickj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5484

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