Episode 13: ‘You Are What You Eat’ With Sarah Snyder

Ravens Director of Sports Nutrition Sarah Snyder talks about her career path, how she helps players maximize their diet to boost their recovery and performance, and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
What is up? Friends, welcome back to the Purple Chair podcast,
where we amplify women in and around the game. If
you've heard of the ravens legendary peanut butter orange juice machines,
then you've heard of the work of the Ravens Director
of Sports Nutrition, Sarah Snyder. Sarah joined the Ravens in
March of Twenty nineteen, and I'm not saying the legendary

(00:30):
Ravens regular season was her doing, but I'm also not
saying it wasn't. Sarah's changes to the way we consume
food at the castle can be seen throughout the building,
both the popular ones and the not so popular ones.
Ice Cream machine, we miss you, but don't worry, I
asked Sarah all about that. So let's dive in. So

(00:51):
obviously we had you in the first season the Purple
Chair podcast, briefly, but so we didn't get to get
into all the like nitty gritty of your job, which
is what I want to do today. So we want
to have you back for a little bit more. But
first just a listeners kind of know. How does one
become the director of sports nutrition of an NFL team?
What was your journey to get here. My journey to
get to my current role as the director of Um

(01:14):
Nutrition for the Ravens started, Um with school and I
actually knew in high school that I wanted to be
a sports dietician, which is a really blessed opportunity to
know that early so I can start kind of knowing
my path. Um. I ended up going to a college
that was the small Lebro Arts School, so they didn't
have even a nutrition program but I was like, I'll

(01:35):
just do biology premed, which was really hard, Um, and
I'll specialized in my master's. I knew I would get
a master's and really specialized, so I wasn't too worried
about honing and specifically on nutrition in my Undergrad Um.
But I did everything I could to get my foot
in the door of sports. So I um worked in
the athletic training room at Santa Clara University and there
I was around the Athletic Department and working with women's soccer,

(01:57):
which they have an amazing soccer program. Um worked with
basketball and got some great exposure there to then even
put that on my resume and be hired at some gym's.
Um during this year off that I took between my
Undergrad and my masters. They didn't really want to hire me,
but because I had worked in this athletic training room
at Santa Clar they were like, okay, we'll try it,

(02:17):
we'll try it out, and I was this intern strength
and conditioning coach, not knowing a thing about strength and conditioning,
nothing Um, but I did really take a liking to
it and got certifications so that when I ended up
at Florida state to specialize in sports nutrition and and
go through the dietetic internship and take the really specific courses.

(02:38):
The strength coach at the time was John Joast Um.
He was the strength coach for the football team. He
gave me an opportunity to intern in the weight room
because I had some some little experience and I was
starting to really like it, like the Olympic lifting and
things like that. So it was pretty amazing that he
gave me the opportunity as a woman at that time.
It was it was two thousand five, so it just

(03:00):
didn't feel like it was that common where women were
working in weight rooms at that time, but they're definitely
worth some. And then that gave me even more exposure
into sports and even specifically a football team at Um
F S uh, so just get really annoying. My path
in high school helped where I was going moving forward
and I kind of had to figure it out along
the way. There's no book for it, Um and I
get a lot of questions from students now like what's

(03:22):
the path? What's the path, and I always tell them
it's kind of what you want to make of it.
Like if you want to be in the weight room,
that's one way to get exposure to sports. If you
want to be in the athletic training room, that's another exposure.
But nowadays there's also more opportunities in sports nutrition. First
stage to really start in the college level and help
out and then from there. I started at a company

(03:43):
called EXOS Um. EXOS works with players in the off
season and really hones in on getting guys ready for
the combine. It's a big business. It's become a big
business and I had a great mentor there who was
a sports Dietitian, and that was a lucky experience, blessed experience,
because not every Dietitian has a dietitian above them to

(04:04):
school them on how to do this and Um all
the strengths you need to have in this role. She
was wonderful at that. Amanda Carlson is her name, and
I'm so lucky that she was there to kind of
guide me through a lot of things. Um, and she
she saw my drive. I was really hungry to work
there and they gave me a couple of internship opportunities

(04:24):
that I took and I let her know. You know,
a temporary position was not what I wanted there. I
wanted to be full time. So she created a position
for me and, Um, I was with them for four
years and learned so much before heading into the college environment.
And then you ended up at the Lions at some
point after that. Yeah, I had worked collegiate sports for

(04:45):
five years between Florida and Michigan. Um, and I always
think going to the college environment is really great to
set you up for the NFL because you really I
always say, you get to learn if you like it
and you get to learn if it likes you. And
the grind of the schedule in college was quite a lot. So, Um,
if you can keep up with that, then you can

(05:07):
keep up with this and and just all the things
flying at you and in college athletics like if you
can work through that and excel and succeed in that,
then then you can, you know, come to the NFL
and again everyone has a different path, but I did
want to go straight to the NFL after I was
in EXOS. I wanted to not like I didn't think
about working college. I just wanted to go straight to

(05:27):
to work in the NFL. But I'm so glad I
didn't have those opportunities yet because I needed to fall
and fail at the collegiate level a little bit, a
little bit of a smaller scale, and then be a
little bit more prepared, a lot more prepared, for the NFL. Sharon,
I guess you're probably balancing multiple teams when you're at
the college level too. It's not that you're just not
specialized on one roster at that point. Yeah, and that

(05:50):
was like ten years ago. That's exactly how it was. Nowadays,
there is a dedicated dietician to the football teams at
big programs and there's an army of staff at many
of these programs as well that make it where you
can work with all the athletes and get all these
snacks and beverages and smoothies mobilized to the people at
the right time. The athletes at the right time. So

(06:11):
when you're at the Lions, what excited you about the
opportunity to come to the Ravens? How did you make
that decision? I mean the winning culture that's historical Um
for this building, for this team, was, of course appealing.
The lions are fantastic organization and I learned so much
from them and everyone who was who was at the

(06:32):
lions at that time was wonderful. But winning is hard
and it's it's a tough organization to be in Um
and I know there it's a constant climbed to to
figure it out and you're constantly changing things. So it
was interesting to look at this opportunity and see what's
it like to not have to change all the time
and and eat like we always want to evolve and

(06:52):
make sure that we're innovative and meeting the needs of
the players and we want to be cutting edge, but
we don't have to fix things that are broken constantly. Yeah,
I mean when I came in here I had to
really remember I'm not coming in and saying, well, this
is what we did at the Detroit Lion. I'm not
saying that to anybody like to. Let me just let

(07:14):
me just observe and watch. That was a big thing
for me my first year was too, to really observe
and watch and learn a winning culture and what works
and not impose everything that I have here. Let's see
where I can improve things and, Um, make sure the
players have their needs from a nutritional standpoint. Yeah, that's interesting.
So how did you kind of determine, okay, this is

(07:35):
what I want to implement here? Then? I mean there
were Um, maybe the recovery program from a nutrition standpoint
wasn't totally solid. Um. You know, players have specific needs
that they want for recovery. Some can eat, some cannot eat,
some want a very specific smoothie, some want to cool
down for an hour before they put anything into their bodies.

(07:57):
So it's it's highly individualized, highly individualized. Many people obviously
like ices and Italian ice and things like that, but
in terms of what they're putting into their bodies, that
one I really have to cater teach individual and really
continually communicate with them to make sure that they have
what they need and emphasize the importance of recovery. I do.

(08:18):
I mean I always say these guys need to understand
how unique and specialized their bodies are and how much
higher the need is. So making sure that they're getting
something within that hour I think is extremely important. We
don't all need it as this general population that might
go work out, you know, getting our protein in our
carbohydrate right way might not be like top notch, the

(08:41):
top of the list, but for the players, based on
where they're at with their Um physiology and biology, I
feel like they really need it within that hour. So
building a program around that, that was something we definitely implemented. Uh.
And then the pre workout stuff, preparing the body for
the practice or for the game. Um. That's a big

(09:01):
component to performance nutrition. Making sure they have um if
it's beat juice or the proper fluids, the proper carbohydrate,
the proper energy stores going into that Um. That's individualized too,
so you need someone in place to guide them as
to what they need and watching them and learning them
and Um, seeing them exert themselves in practice and where

(09:23):
they start to Um really need extra energy helps me
know what they might need before as well. It makes
sense I'll prepare them. How do you keep track of
all of that for fifty three? Right now we're taking
this during training camp, so it's ninety different people. It's
taken a couple of years to learn every single player
and then, of course, you know people rotate help. But

(09:44):
being here every day, seeing them at practice, seeing them
at breakfast, lunch or dinner, getting to know them as people,
you really start to study, study their patterns and their
demeanors there, UM, their disposition. All those things help guide
me to Um, to then ask the questions about what
they need and how they feel. It's a lot of
qualitative research around the guys that I'm constantly doing just

(10:06):
watching them, which sounds weird, but Um, it helps me
help them in terms of what they need. That makes sense.
I never would have thought like I think people would
think it's more like qualitative or quantitative, excuse me, than
qualitative when it comes to nutrition. That's just about like numbers.
But every person is different and what they like and
what they don't like is different and you can't force
guys at this stage of their careers to do certain things.

(10:28):
That's really interesting. I hadn't thought about it. Absolutely and
how they feel is, I think, such a big question.
How do you feel? How does your body feel? How
do you overall feel? Just to check in and a
scan I think is really important. And there we have literature.
We have research in the field of nutrition. We don't
have as much as we would like, but we do
have some research. But then there's also like the actual
user and how are they responding to whatever the stimulus

(10:51):
is is. Those things go hand in hand. Research and
then actually how the person feels right. So everybody is
so individual. To go back to the changes that me
when you got here, there are two beloved additions that
you brought to the ravens the orange juice machine, which,
for fans that don't know, it's in the cafeteria and
makes fresh squeezed orange juice every day, which is divine.

(11:11):
And there's the fresh honey roasted peanut butter machine that,
with a click of a button, just grinds your peanut
butter right there. So which one is your favorite? Let's see,
I think I like both the orange juice and the
peanut butter machine. Um, the orange juice machine takes me
back to working at Florida and reminds me of living
in Florida, and that's probably where the inspiration comes from,

(11:32):
where I wanted that. Plus the vitamin C helps with
collegen development and we all need more stronger Collagen with
our tendons and ligaments. But Um, yeah, it might be
the orange juice, super fresh and and anything that's that
fresh made, I'm a fan of. It's always the best
that I've ever had, like easily. But are you the

(11:55):
reason that the ice cream machine is missing in action?
That's the question. You know. I like to say it's
not missing, it just is finding a new home. It's
been relocated. It's been relocated TVD. It's not as good
for Collagen. This is the orange juice machine. So to
get into kind of some of the nitty gritty, because

(12:16):
I think this is really interesting for a fan. So,
since we're talking about the orange juice machine, if you
had to guess how many pounds, or I guess how
many oranges would we go through a week in general?
Oh Gosh, let's see. I think we've done the math
at some point just to try to figure out from
a budgetary standpoint. and I wonder if we were going
through four cases of oranges and how many are in
a case? I want to say between thirty and fifty

(12:39):
oranges in a case. So if we were going through
a twenty oranges certain days and sometimes people don't even
know about it when they first get here. I had
a player told me the other day you might have
been here for a couple of years. He was like,
I didn't know this was here and obviously it went
away during covid but um, he's like that's the best
thing I've ever had, like I didn't even know this
was yere and I was like, well, it's been dusted

(12:59):
off and brought back since since covid but Um, a lot,
a lot, a lot more. We might need a fact
check that one. Well, when you come into the cafetry
it's a kind of sensory overload. So I can understand
how players would like miss things. There's a lot. There's
a lot. So how do you kind of go about
determining week by week? This is what we want to
get in front of the players a menu standpoint. Um,

(13:22):
every meal would have a two different vegetable options, three
different carbohydrate options, three different protein options, and within those
carbohydrate and protein options there should be something for the
player who's trying to lean out, there should be something
for the player trying to maintain and there should be
something for the player trying to gain. So a lean
out would be brown rice or the QUINOA. It could

(13:44):
be white rice as well, and then for the kind
of the middle maintained person, it could be potatoes or pasta.
And then for your gain it's going to be the
MAC and cheese or the scallet potatoes. So it'll they'll
make sure we have something to cater for each goal
and say with the proteins, you know, the lanist would
be the fish, typically Um, and then middle would be

(14:04):
your poultry, your chicken or your Turkey, and then work
or beef would be the third option, which is dangerous
when your staff and you're not trying to gain get
served the same options. Be Able gain like fifteen pounds
and they start working here, it's like it's college. It's
like the exactly the Ravens, fifteen um, sometimes more debatably. So.
When a player comes in with like a dietary restriction,

(14:26):
how does that change things, whether it's like an allergy?
I know we've had some vegan players in the past,
so how does that kind of shift what you do? Um,
I'll work with that individual to see what they what
they do eat and what they do tolerate and maybe
even how severe the allergy is. Um and educate them
as we go through the line and the dining hall

(14:47):
to show them, like we have allergy and symbols. This
steak might be marinated in something that contains something that
you can't have, so keeping an eye for that and
even having a portion in the back it's just plane,
maybe a plane steak or a plane whatever it is.
Or even for a peanut allergy, you're going to have
a blender devoted to no peanuts. Peanut allergies are really common,

(15:10):
so you just have to have specialized tools and and
the kitchen staff is extremely well educated on food allergens
as well, so they do a good job of helping
out with that. You kind of alluded to this with
the different like options that they're served, like lunch. But
if a player comes in like under or overweight, what
is that kind of initial process like for you? Under, overweight?

(15:31):
Um is one piece of information, but I think we
need a little bit more in terms of like what
is their body composition? So what's their lean mass? What's
their fat mass? And I love that about how we
work here is we're not just looking at weight, and
that seems old school mentality to me, is to simply
just look at a weight. It's not just about a wait.
It's about how much fat mass, how much lean mass

(15:52):
he has, and then how he moves that from the field.
So there's always more and more questions to ask and
you know, our performance team is reful to provide that
information and we have dialogue and conversation and of course
you asked the player. How do you feel? How are
you moving? How do you feel like your speed is
your acceleration, and they can speak to that as well.
But then we can also combine that conversation with the

(16:14):
data and that guides us for where we're going with
with leaning out or gaining but then I can take
them through the dining hall and point out these foods
or these products are going to help with gaining weight.
That seems easier right, and then these there's other products
that can be Um, kind of hacks for leaning out.
I mean people get tired of drinking water at times,

(16:38):
but there's other things out there. You can squeeze lemon
or lime into your water or put fruit into it,
any type of fruit, UM, something to mix up the monotony. Um.
And then the protein focus snacks that we have around
the building to are ones that I'll guide them too,
if they're trying to lean out versus Um, you know,
snacking on access sugars. So you kind of talked about

(16:58):
you walk them through that and the cafeteria. Is there
a point where you're kind of like, okay, we're in
a good spot, I don't need to intervene keep an
eye on them anymore. Like, how does that go? I
don't I think it's a continual follow up, especially during
the rookie year. Um, rookie year I'm I'm learning them
as a person and as an athlete and, Um, what

(17:19):
foods they gravitate to and what their weight trends are
and how they feel about food, how they build their
plates each meal. Is it balanced? Do they need help
getting more of something? Um. So during that rookie year
I would say it's a lot more continuous follow up
and I'm monitoring them a little bit more. Um, after
a couple of years of watching somebody like Mark Andrews,

(17:39):
who builds this beautiful plate and and sufficient amount of
macro nutrients every time and he's he's wonderful about his
meal timing. Of course, you know that's somebody that like,
I don't feel like I'd have to monitor him. Um,
he's well versed in knowing what he needs. Um. And then, yeah,
goals change, weights fluctuate. Sees in fluctuate. So it's it's

(18:01):
very fluid. Sure, if we go away for a break,
some people come back leaner or stronger. Some people might
have gained weight on the breaks. So then we're working
on whatever the current goal is. Yeah, how do you
kind of handle that? When they leave? What like? Are
you ever checking in with them? Do you give them
sort of like a plan to base that off of?
Ore they're just kind of on their own free for all.

(18:25):
Many of them individually will have a plan to go
away with and some chickens throughout the time that they're
on their break. I do want to make sure that
they get the mental break in the time away that
they need, because when they are here between July and
February it's all hands on deck all the time, and

(18:45):
so you want to give them some space during some
times of the year so they can have a pre
even and mentally just get to be but yeah, a
lot of them do have plans and there's chickens, but
I really I do try to emphasize those brakes. Is
ensuring that they're getting time to relax and do you compress?
And Yeah, I want to give them that space. Yeah,

(19:05):
and there's a balance there for sure. So one thing
that fascinates me too is the logistics that go into
a road game. There's food literally everywhere. You get to
meet the plane and there's snacks. There's a meal served
on the plane in the year. At the hotel there's
more food than there's food at the hotel once the
guys have checked in. So how do you coordinate all
of that at the hotels and on the road and travel?

(19:28):
I feel like each meal that's served, it's it's always
an opportunity for players to fuel. And some players need
to eat six meals a day and we're prefer to
eat six meals a day. Some players only three times
a day. So out of all those opportunities of fueling
that we're serving, between the ninety or so that we

(19:49):
might have, everyone's at least getting three meals a day
and then those that need more um alignment absolutely need
you know, they're constantly at the four front of my mind.
Are they getting everything that they need? You know, do
we put a snack at this point in the schedule? Well,
the alignment are going to need calories and they need
to be fed enough. If they're not, if in general

(20:11):
people aren't fed enough throughout the day, they're going to
make up for it later on as well. So, UM,
making sure it's in their path, even if we're in
the building or on the road. That's important to me,
to make sure that they have the opportunities to fuel
if they need it, and then coaching them up on
what their individual needs are. Is there any like instance
where a line it will be like over eating, or

(20:32):
is that really not possible for someone that needs to
consume that many calories? I think any position can over
eat or any person. I mean in this day and age,
in our culture, we can over eat. I mean just
look at instagram and all the good food on instagram
all the time. It's hard to not want food all
the time. But yeah, I'd say they it's just to
be helping them be guided. Um and at this stage

(20:53):
in their career. Some people have been through working on
some type of leanout process and they have experience with
that and then it's just fine tuning that or bringing
that back what worked and what didn't work, and making
sure they have the energy and the hydration levels first
and foremost, and that they're being healthy is always, um,
absolutely crucial, but especially in the heat right now, that's

(21:14):
one of the biggest concerns during camp when it's this hot,
making sure that they are hydrated and fueled and ready
to go for that practice. So then in game, I
guess you talked a lot about how like specialized each
guy is. How do you determine like who needs what
win what they're taking in like during an actual game?
Some of that comes from experience with them. Um, some

(21:38):
of them have their routines before I got here and
we may have updated or evolved that routine, but they
still have that routine where they need that beverage at
that time or, you know, at a certain time during
the game. Like okay, he let me check in with
him and see if he needs some electrolyte, or let
me check in with this player and see if he
needs a little carbohydrate Um, or let me make sure

(21:59):
this player is eating or in halftime, because he's burning
and expending a lot during that game or that first
half where he's going to need it to fix to
finish out the second half. Or if we're going into
a game where that week was really hot and exhausted
their reserves, making sure that they are ready for the
game and have enough during the game. That yeah, I

(22:19):
mean there's definitely people on my lists where I'm like, okay,
make sure we're checking out with him. He's okay, this
one needs a little bit more. This one's good. He's like,
that's where my brain's up. I don't know how you
can track up all of that. Um In training camp
wired there was a lot of guys talking about pickle juice.
So what's the science phine pickle juice? I did not
know that was a nutritious substance, that pickle juice. To

(22:42):
me it does feel a little bit on the on
the traditional historical side of football. I think it's been
going on for a long time where people drank pickle
juice out of glass jars. I've had coaches or or
even our team chaplain and telling me that they drank
pickle juice out of the jar when they were playing.
The science isn't there, the research isn't totally there. To

(23:03):
say pickle juice solves hydration or cramping problems like that
doesn't exist. But there's definitely something to be said about
how these guys feel when they take it. They like it.
They'll be sweating out a lot and highly um exerting
themselves and then they'll have pickle juice and some water,
maybe some gaitorade and and feel good. And I mean
that makes us have a lot of pickle juice on

(23:25):
hand at all times. That I would say. There's not
too much literature that says pickle juice, is it? So
do you think it's like a little mental, like they
just they think it works, so it works. Yeah, it
could definitely be. It could be definitely mental as well.
There's I mean there's vinegar in it and there is
sodium in it, so it may be something with the
mechanism of the the acid, the vinegar and of course,

(23:47):
the sodium may help with the amount that they're sweating out. Right.
That makes sense. So then postgame for recovery, what is
that process like? How are you like? What are you
recommending for guys? Then Post game is a lot they done.
How they feel. I mean they will let you know
what they feel like and what they don't feel like. Um,
and we've had these conversations even recently, like let's check

(24:08):
in and make sure we're going with some good postgame
options for you guys and what you want. I mean
I was just sitting with a player the other day
who was like it's got to be something, something light,
not something too heavy. However, I know I have players
who want Mac and cheese after a game, like they
are ready to eat. I don't know if I'm allowed
to say, like Travis Jones is ready to eat after practice,

(24:30):
after a game, and I'm just like this is amazing
that you're ready to go, whereas other players sit there
and like I can't even look at food right now.
He's on it, he's eating, he's thriving. That's me when
I work out. I'm like yes, not starts the postgame.
Popeye's on the plane. Sarah Snyder sanctioned love too hard

(24:54):
to get rid of. I thought that was an Eric
Da Costa One and I just thought that sound. You
don't overrule. So how do you kind of talk about
this a little bit, and every guy is different, but
how do you balance like getting guys to eat what
you know they need versus, like, what they like? That's
a great question. Balancing what a player needs versus what
he likes. Um, that is takes some education and it

(25:16):
takes the maturity to some players come in with a
Palette that is similar to Um. You know, somebody like
like chicken tenders might be a favorite. Yes, I can
say it. Yeah, you gets say it Um. So they
might be coming from there and it it takes. It
takes the maturity and it takes Um some education and
just feeling themselves and going through, uh, some years of

(25:39):
experience in football to Um evolved from that, I think.
And it just being in the NFL and and having
opportunities to travel and being around other teammates can also
help get guys to try new foods too, which is
which is awesome. If they'll see their teammates eating certain things,
they'll try it. Right. It's kind of the process of
becoming a pro and all aspects you learn from the

(26:00):
vets instead of the vets. Remember Jimmy Smith? I'd always
talk about that, like when he came in as a rookie,
like he didn't care about any of that stuff and then,
like you know, year twelve, you have to care about
all those little things and all those details pay off. So,
like talking about games on the logistics, the one of
the things that's interesting is like rain delays, and you've
told me before, this is like one of the hardest
things to prepare for because obviously you don't control the weather,

(26:21):
you don't know how long they're gonna last. So you
don't players eat too much, be too sluggish, be too tired,
like lacking food. How do you handle and prepare for that?
You will have people want to eat during the break.
That's just given. In the two rain delays I've had
between a college game and a NFL game, people wanted
to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and it's like

(26:43):
we we would burn through all of them during a
rain delay. So it's it's and it's not just the players,
I mean the staff are taking the opportunity eat as well,
and it's like your body is slowing down where you
might actually feel some type of hunger. Game days maybe
spotty for people because they're for players really when they're
thinking about the game and what they have to do

(27:04):
in the playbook, eating it might be a little bit
challenging for some. So slowing down during a rain game
rain delay may allow them to feel their hunger and
and actually eat something, which could be a good thing.
But you don't want us to sit in the locker
room and just eat, and we're not going to do that.
You know, we'll work on our hydration make sure we're well,
but I know the coaching staff will take the opportunity
to work on strategizing the game. And obviously that's not you.

(27:27):
Like said, it's not happened to you twice. It's not
having something that happens often. But do you have to
prepare just in case like something like that happens, like
to have enough stuff on hand? Yes, I coordinate with
the stadiums and say if we have a rain delay,
if it's a you know it's an outdoor stadium and
it's looking like it could be a possibility, I'll ask
them to have some more things on hand. Um, when
I was at University of Florida, we did have sandwiches

(27:50):
delivered to the Locker Room in pouring rain and the
two gentlemen delivering the sandwiches were on bikes and they
had a hundred sandwiches between these two bikes in cardboard
boxes wrapped in trash bags, and I didn't get a
picture of it, but it was like the best thing
that's ever happened in my career is that this company
showed up with sandwiches with within thirty minutes for a

(28:13):
football team and and it didn't necessarily slows down. I
guess I need to look back at the outcome of
that game. The trash bags underneath the carbet box. I
was a carpet boxes. Tho Sandwiches are soggy. It was amazing.
That is why it was amazing. What about like overtime?
So is that just still kind of the stuff that
they're taking in on the field? And it's just like
repeating that. That's a big deal because that means where

(28:35):
those that are playing a lot are going to play
even more and they will need more. oftentimes they may
need more carbohydrate, they may know, more electrolyte Um. Some
people might want something heavier like a bar on the
field or UM or a peanut butter and Jelly Sandwich
or a banana or something, but that absolutely can test
the body. Four quarters is a lot as it is

(28:56):
for somebody who's playing many of the series, but extending
that is really something where I'm mindful about making sure
that people are good and they have what they need
and they don't look like they're deficient in anything. So
we've talked a lot about game situations, but you're also
at practice every day. So again like distributing various things
different guys. So what goes into kind of is there
a difference and what guys are taking in? I guess

(29:18):
at a practice versus a game it's I would say
it's similar between a practice and a game. is to
what players need, and I think practices definitely help me
learn their needs to then go into the game and
everything we do at a practice. You know, we have
to have all of those same tools at the game available.
Um Out of my my list of players that need
pickle juice like they will ask for it when they

(29:40):
need it Um, but it's it's the same list. It's not.
There's not typically a new person ality to listening. I
need a new product and we'll talk through that, because
I always tell them, and they know, not to try
anything new on Game Day. So you practice it at
practice or or even if it's Um, something like beat
juice can be tough on the stomach, so I don't
necessarily want to mess up a practice with that either.

(30:02):
I'm like, let's try this on an off day and
you can see if your stomach feels anything with the
beet juice on and off day, versus messing up a
practice for you because we don't have time for that.
You know, Sarah gave me beat juice and now I
can't practice. So how do you combat dehydration on the
like really really hot days, especially during camp, like obviously,

(30:23):
is it cramping somewhat inevitable? Is that like preventable? How
does that the hydration program and processes is a large
one during August and July. I mean it's so important
that we're as as a performance team, we're working together
to monitor these guys and give them everything that they
need to stay fully hydrated and they need to just
achieve a hydration balance. Players don't need to overhydrate. We

(30:46):
don't want them under hydrated. It's like it's a fluid balanced.
You know, fluids going to leave the body and we
put it back. But we don't need to overhydrate because
that causes more complications. Um. But we weigh them in,
we weigh them out and you know that's a little
bit annoying for people to get on the scale that
many times a day. But you know, to make sure
these guys understand from an educational standpoint, this is to

(31:07):
check your fluid loss in your body and to know
how much we want to put back in, you know,
to make it very standard in streamline. We're looking at
for everyone pound you lose, you're drinking one bottle of
fluid and it doesn't have to be water. You don't
necessarily want it to be all water, unless they're getting
a lot of electrolytes and things from their food salting
their food. It could be water, it could be sports drinks,

(31:30):
it can be milk, it can be Um, a number
of different fluids. Even fruit is, you know, wonderful with
the water content and actual fruit. But making sure they're
they're learning their bodies and we have these amazing scales
that digitally record the way in, digitally record the way
out and they will give exactly that information to the
player as to how they need to replenish, so they're

(31:51):
constantly seen. Okay, this is an action item that I
need to replenish before the next practice and I'll be
reminding them through message, like make sure that you're putting
back in what you lost. If they're losing a lot
during practice, we'll build some strategies during practice in like okay,
so you're drinking just water right now and you're losing
ten pounds at practice. How does that affect your performance?

(32:14):
Are you feeling anything or is anything being noticed or
observed with your performance towards the end? And if it is,
we can add in some sports drink or write electrolyte
Um to see if that works. And is that like
a high number? Like what's a normal number for a
guy to kind of lose during a practice, just water wise?
Like twelve pounds is a lot to lose in water. Um.

(32:35):
But really we go by percentage of body weight. So
if somebody loses two body weight of water, is pretty normal. Um,
three percent is where we start to monitor. Six percent
is a high and it just depends on on if
the guy's two pounds. You know, losing ten pounds is
a lot for a two pounds athlete, for the average
person like me, the non elite athlete we're talking about here.

(32:59):
What's the best recovery snack after a workout? What would
you recommend someone eat? Oh, UM, recovery snacks could be
Greek yogurt and fruit, it could be chocolate milk, it
could be there. I mean there's a number of protein
shakes out there, or you could simply take some way
protein and blend it with some fruit, some strawberys and bananas,

(33:20):
and so that's like a protein and a sugar. Then
basically protein and some carbohydrate. I mean, depending on what
the workout was, if you were and what your goals are,
of course. Are you training for something, or are you
trying to lean out or are you trying to gain weight?
You know, it all depends on what the individual goal is.
But Um, you want some type of carbohydrate and protein
post workout. To kind of go back a little bit,

(33:41):
back towards like you're kind of journeying here when, so
when you worked into college, and we talk to this
a little bit. But you're responsible for different sports and
that also goes into kind of being responsible for male
athletes and female athletes here at there evens. Obviously responsible
for male football athletes specifically, but does that change like
your role at all as you're dealing with like different
genders front sports? Like how does that change? I guess, yeah,

(34:03):
definitely different. Working with men and women. Bodies are extremely
different and I think, I mean I know it's evolving
in terms of there's there's eating disorders, there's disordered eating.
You know, historically it's been looked at. More women encounter
Um those issues between order disorder, and we actually have
research that can show um if of females in a

(34:26):
deficit of energy and the way they eat, this could
be part of an eating disorder. With men it's a
little bit harder to see and and maybe it's not
even purposeful. It's just based on maybe a schedule or
a situation where it's disordered eating and it might not
be intentional. It might be intentional Um, but I think
more and more researches is coming out with males and

(34:47):
disordered eating or eating disorders or just it just might
not be as prevalent as what you're seeing with women.
But Um, it's definitely something that you have to be
educated on and be very skilled to work within a
team of people to help the vigil who has the
eating disorder and help them start to nourish their bodies
in the appropriate way and and thrive. Sure, and I
guess like to it could be an athlete that's coming

(35:09):
in that knows they are like overweight and so making
sure that the weight that they are losing is being
done in a healthy nutritional way. Then right, and that's
so hard with all the messaging and social media and
on the Internet it's so hard to know what advice
to follow. So, Um, I mean disordered eating or eating
disordered or nothing. It's just being online can throw a

(35:30):
lot of different pieces of information that might not be
totally accurate to follow and deciphering what's what's real and
what's not. What's what's actual, evidence based literature might not
make its way to facebook, but a lot of people
might take their nutrition advice from facebook and everything that's
on facebook isn't true wild. So if you could give

(35:53):
one someone, one piece of nutritional advice to take away
from this podcast, just the average person. Well, would that
be balance. Create balance in in your life around food,
and we don't need too much or we don't need
to restrict I don't think anyone item. You just create
balance around that. That would be that would be it.

(36:13):
I have a few fan questions for you, because I
put this out on twitter and instagram that we were
going to have you. So this one is from Jack's
settlement on twitter. If you could only pick one diet
or exercise, which would you choose? Oh, that's such a
good question. I love to work out and move I
absolutely love to move and work out. So the question
is to pick one one. Yeah, there's not really like

(36:35):
a context. Just pick one. So the nutrition is is
going to pick working out. I like food and I
also like to work out. Okay, so both. This is
your podcast, so you make the rules. Um. This one
comes from Owen likely. What advice do you give to
Vegan and vegetarian athletes and finding alternative sources of protein?

(36:55):
That's a great question. I would like to ask them
how they like to eat? Beans, lentils? Um? Do they
like Tofu do they like soy milk? How they're eating?
Maybe some type of trail mix. Those will have a
little bit of protein in Um. Some nut butters would
have protein in it. Um. There's some products out there
that their plant based shakes that are not bad. Some
of them are really chalky Um, but that's a good

(37:16):
way to supplement the protein if you need Um. For
athletes it's hard to get the creating naturally from food
if you're a Vegan. So I would look at supplementation
creatings and chicken and steak and pork, and if you're
not eating those items it's hard to get creating in
the body. Creating helps with explosive movement in athletics. So
it depends on the sport and what they're doing, but

(37:38):
creating also has other benefits as well. This one is
from Haley or cart, wife of Patrick. She said, is
Diet Coke actually that bad for you? Is it that bad? Um,
I'd say ten cans a day could be bad. But
going back to my balance, my word of balance, I'd
say balance it out and if you're having one a day,
I don't think that's harmful. I don't know there's tons

(38:00):
of harm in that. I think it's when we overdo things.
We're overdoing. There's, you know, there's fake sugar and and
some additives to that that maybe you don't want to
dump in large quantities into your body. But if this
is the what makes the person feel good and happy,
and you know I like I like my cup of
coffee or my my latte. That makes me feel good.
You know, maybe that's how the Diet Coke is for her. Yeah, Kay, yes,

(38:24):
this one is from his user. Name is danger Dan
zero zero. What is one thing everyone should be consuming
more of in their daily Diet? Oh, that's such a
good question. There's two that I like to talk more
about healthy fats. It's a short list, but I feel
like we can all do better trying to get in
some healthy fats, whether it be olive oil or walnuts

(38:46):
or a good source of salmon. Um to get in
some Omega Three's and work on our healthy fat ratios.
The other one would be fermented foods. So I think
you know, for the GUT, trying to get in some
like Sauer Kraut or Kim Chi or um any type
of fermented vegetable to help with the gut health. Interesting.
What's the logic behind that? They contain probiotics, and probiotics

(39:10):
are the good bacteria and the gut. Or they may
can also contain prebiotics which helped feed the good bacteria
and the gut. Interesting. I don't think I eat either
of those things. Start Um, and you could only take
one food on a deserted island, what would it be?
Coffee is not a food, right. Oh, that's such a

(39:30):
good question. In my growing up days I would have
taken pizza, but I'm I'm allergic to milk, so I can't.
I can't pizza. That doesn't have very free yeah, it's
not very good, unless your apologies give you coffee, coffee,
but that really doesn't feel like I would say some.
I would say fruit, like a good bowl of fruit.
That might be a few different foods, but that's okay,

(39:52):
we'll take it. And this last fan question for you
here from Steph. How many calories a day does a
defensive lineman eat? Oh, around six thousand? Wow, five thousand
maybe might be in that range. That just sounds like difficult.
Like I love to eat and I feel like I
would have a hard time eating six thousand calories a day.
It needs to be multiple plates. I mean it needs

(40:14):
to be like three plates and sometimes that you know,
that's not the norm for the average person, but when
I see alignment with a couple of different plates, that's
appropriate for them, totally appropriate. I remember like one time,
like my first year here, and I feel like I
can say this now that he's gone, I walked in
the cafeteria and Marshall Yanda had like an entire plate
of Spaghetti and then he just had like a whole blender.

(40:37):
It wasn't in a cup, it was just then he
was drinking on the wonder and I was like yes,
very different diets. It's good for you. I love watching
I loved how well he has like completely transformed his body.
So it is wild like the changes that they make,
kind of going from professional athlete to normal human. Yeah,
a lot of them have it like in their head

(40:57):
that this is what they're gonna do and they do
it Um and that's definitely a transition that they need
help with if they don't know how to do it right,
because the heart keeping up with cardiovascot health and all that.
It's important to make sure they transition right right. That
makes sense. Okay, last thing for you. are a little
purple hot seat. Your favorite after workout snack for you?

(41:18):
I like to eat. I mean I would rather have
food than a smoothie post post workout. Um, so, even
if it's dinner, if I'm working out in the evening,
like a chicken, I love chicken or fish. My carbohydrate
choice could be like a sweet potato or a potato.
Love sweet potatoes and po potatoes, and then a vegetable

(41:38):
like so I'm I'm probably if I work out in
the evening, that would be dinner and that would be
a good choice. What's your favorite indulgence? Um, let's see,
I probably like cupcakes. Cupcakes, yeah, cupcakes and your your
favorite way to distress working out, traveling. Um, I love swimming, swimming,

(42:00):
whether it be in a pool or an ocean, or Yoga,
with a lot of things, but like a stressful job,
you have lots of options. I'm like, well, that's like
five perfect thank you so much, Sarah. I appreciate the time.
Thank you. Thanks for having me. Sarah is great. Selfishly,
I love having another woman on Road Games. Now Sarah

(42:23):
always knows where the woman's locker room allotted for us is,
which is clutch. And this season is the first I've
really noticed the changing tides. There's female representation and coaching,
our strength and training staffs right now. It just feels
really different and it feels really, really good and I
get way more compliments on my outfits now, so it's

(42:44):
a win win. Speaking of hitting the road, the team
heads up to the notorious New England patriots this weekend
and we'll see our old Pal Matthew Judean, and I
was actually talking to someone at practice this week about
how much quieter practices are here without him. You could
hear him no matter where on the practice field you were,
and when I first got to the Ravens. The Group

(43:05):
of him, Tony Jefferson, Patrick Owasso and the rookie Marlon
Humphrey really made me feel welcome, and by welcome I
mean that judon loved hitting the phone out of my
hand mid video, but I do like to think that
was a sign of endearment with him, and I could
always count on that crew for a great social clip
and re filming it for me the one time I

(43:26):
forgot to hit record, which was a big note. Not Now.
Only marlins still here, and fortunately we all know he's
quite the content guy. I mean he's even got his
own podcast now. Anyways, I digress. I do have some
very exciting views about this podcast, though. At the end
of October, Friday, October twenty, we're going to have, drumroll please,

(43:50):
a live in person taping with an audience of the
Purple Chair podcast right here at the castle, with drinks.
So what could be better? And a very special guest.
So if you want to hang out with me, and
even if you don't, stay tuned for more details on that,
don't forget to leave us a review rate and subscribe
so you get each new episode as soon as it drops.

(44:11):
New episodes will air every other Tuesday and I'll talk
to you soon