Balancing nutrition and performance

Once an athlete, always an athlete. This is why I love blending sports performance and sports nutrition and helping clients define and keep that perfect sweet spot. Finding balance in sports nutrition is so much more than just what an athlete eats.

Finding that Sweet Spot

The sweet spot of sports performance and sports nutrition is:

• What you eat
• Why you eat
• When you need to eat
• What you want your food to do for you

Every athlete is unique in the right combination of what works for them. This complexity is why I chose to specialize in helping athletes; exploring the balance of fueling that works within their desired performance outcomes. And, most importantly, I love to find a method of fueling that still allows for life to happen.

Athletes have rich lives, just like the rest of us! They have:

• Birthday parties
• Date nights
• Families
• Friends
• Holiday get togethers
• Desire for pleasure (and yes, pleasure from food, too!)

I have had clients say they don’t eat any foods outside of what is defined as “healthy.” They worry about everything they eat and how it will impact their performance. What they don’t realize is by giving those negative thoughts energy, they are pulling that energy away from where it deserves to be, and that’s on you, the athlete! All the different components of athlete’s personal lives lead to a balanced, happy, healthy and fulfilled athlete.

Olympians share their favorite foods

One of my favorite articles during the Winter Olympics was Bon Appetit’s “All of the Quirky Food Facts We Learned About Team USA’s Winter Olympians,” where the elite athletes share their favorite foods. Enjoying food and standing on top of the podium – it’s a combination that can’t be beat. The athletes’ favorite foods ranged from donuts, ramen noodles and meat to Grandma’s cookies and Five Guys burgers.

Stories of Food Peace in Sports

For those of you that like to hear straight from the athlete’s mouth here are some podcast interviews where athletes share how they manage life & sport.

Check out Tina Muir talking about how she broke the norm in professional running by speaking out against amenorrhea (loss of menses), finding peace with her body and food and ultimately a having a baby.

Listen as we interview the Food Peace guru Julie Duffy Dillion.

Avoiding RED-S while having it all

My firm belief that an athlete can have it all – a nourished body and a nourished soul ready to take on any physical challenge thrown at them – is the reason I write my book “Finding Your Sweet Sport: How to Avoid RED-S (Relative Energy Deficit in Sport) by Optimizing Your Energy Balance.” I encourage athletes to leave the negative energy behind, find peach with food and go out to take on life!