April 7, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of the OGX Podcast, Krista Stoker sits down with registered dietitian Courtney Chramowicz to tackle the nutritional challenges athletes—especially female athletes—face in today’s performance-driven culture. From breaking down energy deficiency and RED-S to navigating diet culture and body image concerns, Krista and Courtney discuss the critical role proper fueling plays in performance, recovery, and long-term athlete health.
Whether you’re a coach, parent, or athlete yourself, this episode brings clarity to common nutrition misconceptions and equips you with practical tools to support athlete wellness and performance.
Courtney Chramowicz, MS, RD, is a seasoned sports dietitian dedicated to enhancing athletic performance through evidence-based nutrition strategies. As the Director of Sports Nutrition at Milwaukee Athletics, she brings a wealth of experience from her roles at the UFC Performance Institute and Northwestern University. Courtney also runs a private nutrition coaching practice, emphasizing a diet-free approach to fueling athletes. Connect with her and learn more about her work at https://popl.co/card/KRjTC9sw/1/dash.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
All right, we're back for another episode.
Last week, Laura and I sort of intro this topic and talked a
lot around since the body weightand body image and nutritional
challenges and things that we'veseen at OGX and seen with our
athletes. And so I'm really excited this
week to jump more specifically into this with our guests.
(00:24):
So Courtney, if you want to introduce yourself to our
audience, kind of what's your background?
What do you sort of focus on nowand then we can jump in.
Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, first of all, thank
you for having me on today. I'm super excited to be here.
So I am a registered dietitian. I work specifically with
athletes. I have my master's in nutrition.
(00:48):
I got my master's in 2022 from the University of Illinois at
Chicago. So while I was there, I had the
opportunity to work with Northwestern University and
their athletics department, so working with their football team
and then their women's field hockey team as well, which was
an incredible experience. When I was done there, I then
(01:10):
moved to Las Vegas and had the opportunity to work at the UFC
Performance Institute with all the combat athletes out there.
So again, another really awesomeopportunity that I'm super
grateful for. Everyone there is really
knowledgeable and I got to learna lot about, you know, all more
(01:31):
of like an interdisciplinary approach at both places.
Really looking at, you know, performance and nutrition and
then strength and conditioning and sports medicine and kind of
even, you know, sports like too,and how all of those play a role
in creating a healthy athlete that's performing at their peak.
So once I finished at the UFCI, moved back to Chicago where I
(01:54):
live now from the Chicago area originally, and started my own
private practice, working with athletes and general population
of all areas. So really helping people train
for marathons or even collegiateathletes and helping them
improve their performance and even professional athletes
(02:17):
coming up here, which is really exciting.
So yeah, that's kind of a littlebit of me.
I do try to focus on more of a diet free approach when it comes
to feeling athletes because I feel like there's so much
information out there around food and which foods are good or
bad or even putting a label on foods being good or bad in
(02:39):
general. I think all foods can serve a
purpose in some way. And so I think when it comes to
the athletic population, you know, I want to just make sure
that people who work with me arereally fueled to perform at
their best and feel their best. And so that's my goal as a
practitioner. And I Oh yeah.
And I also work with the University of Wisconsin,
(03:01):
Milwaukee and their athletics department there.
So working just one-on-one with some of their athletes there,
which has been a really fulfilling experience 'cause I
did get my undergrad degree fromthere as well.
So I'm I'm happy to be back and doing that part time on the side
as well. So yeah.
Lots of awesome. Yeah, You mentioned some of the
(03:23):
like different information out there.
And I think obviously you said you were a registered dietitian.
I think it would be helpful just, you know, for our families
and athletes to understand maybeif I'm coming across
information, whether it's on social media or I'm seeking out
help from a nutrition standpoint, whether they're like
different levels of certification that someone might
have that can give you sort of nutritional guidance.
(03:46):
Maybe what nutritional guidance can they give you?
You know, the different layers. Sometimes we'll have athletes
ask our strength coach like, youknow, what should I be eating?
And he'll give a little bit, buthe'll say like, you know,
there's limits on how much I canreally help you with this.
And can you kind of walk throughwhat that looks like from your
sort of like schooling of of thedifferent levels and and people
that can kind of help from a nutrition standpoint?
(04:07):
Yeah, absolutely. So it, it is definitely a little
confusing because, you know, everybody, especially with the
Internet, thinks they're a nutrition expert.
So my in order to become a registered dietitian, you have
to go through an accredited program and now you have to have
your masters in order to be a registered dietitian.
(04:29):
So I have done both of those things.
You have to complete 1200 supervised practice hours.
So that is working underneath a dietitian in various different
areas. So there's a food service
rotation, there's clinical inpatient and outpatient work
that you do. And then there's some other ones
(04:50):
too that you can kind of mix in.So after you complete those
supervised practice hours, the accredited program, you have
your masters, then you're eligible for the Rd. exam.
So then you take a national certifying exam that all
(05:10):
dietitians have to take. So once you pass that exam, then
you are officially a registered dietitian.
Sometimes it varies by state whether you have to be licensed
to practice in the state. So Illinois specifically does
have their own licensing laws. So I you do have to be licensed
to practice in Illinois. Some states are different.
(05:33):
I believe they're actually working on a national license,
which is going to be awesome andreally open up more
opportunities for dietitians to practice, you know, via
telehealth. Some of the other things that
you may see are like nutrition coaches or nutrition
certifications that can be obtained through different
(05:54):
organizations. So for example, NASM, which I
know has like personal training.They also have a certified
nutrition educator. I think it's the the term or
like the course that they have. So there are different like
courses and certifications that someone could get, but that's
really just scratching the surface when it comes to
(06:15):
nutrition information and nutrition application.
Registered dietitians really have the ability to look at
someone from like a medical nutrition therapy standpoint and
we have the training and education required to really
understand what's going on in the body from, you know, a
(06:36):
cellular level even sometimes, and how nutrition can kind of
impact some different things that we see.
So that's a little bit of the difference between, you know,
being a registered dietitian, having maybe like a nutrition
certification, which I think is a great stepping stone if
someone has a nutrition certification, but they
(06:57):
certainly don't have all of likethe background and education and
training that a registered dietitian has.
So when you're seeking information, it's really
important to kind of take a lookat those things.
Many people will call themselvesa nutritionist.
Or even when I started my business, I hadn't gotten my Rd.
yet, so I was a nutrition coach.And, you know, I think that
(07:19):
that's fine, but it's also important to look at someone's
education and their experience. While I was a nutrition coach, I
also had all this other experience and education that I
knew. And I knew, you know, what
parameters to operate within from a safety standpoint and a
legal standpoint as well. You know, operating as a
(07:40):
nutrition coach versus a dietitian, it opens up a lot
more doors. But it's important to make sure
that you are getting informationfrom a credible source and not
someone who's just, you know, I did my research and, you know,
giving you information that may not be applicable to you or may
not be the correct information as well.
(08:01):
Yeah, I think that's great because obviously we get so much
information now and sometimes wecan either be LED astray or it
can, like you said. I think even more importantly,
it's a lot of time. Maybe it is well meaning, but
there's limitations to what thatperson might be able to serve
for you. And so just understanding the
different sources of information, you know, that
you're getting and what the limitations might be on that
(08:22):
person's knowledge, I think it'sreally important.
So all right, we talked, you know, Lauren, I got into it last
episode about some of the challenges we've seen.
But I think maybe if you can just start with an overview of
in your experience with athletes, what are some of the
sort of what are the big overarching sort of nutritional
challenges that you see that maybe, you know, with your work
(08:45):
at the universities you guys were trying to fill, You know,
for these athletes, What are some of the the challenge, the
big challenges that athletes face regularly from a
nutritional standpoint, from your standpoint?
Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest, I would say
number one thing that I see is just athletes not eating enough.
(09:08):
I think it's really hard, especially at the university
level and even at the high school level too.
You know, you have school, you have practice, you have extra
training when you're in season or out season, like your
schedule is jam packed all the time.
And so I think that presents some additional challenges when
it comes to fueling, but. Overall, the biggest.
(09:30):
Thing that I have seen is athletes not eating enough and
then also not eating enough of the right foods.
We talked a little bit about, you know, how there is so much
information out there. And I think there's a big, such
a big emphasis on protein, whichlike, yes, protein is important,
but I think for athletes specifically, a lot of times
(09:51):
they're not getting enough carbohydrates because that's,
you know, what your body wants to use as its main source of
fuel. And I think with, you know, the
fear that's put around sugar andadded sugars and these types of
things, it really puts a lot of stress on some individuals when
it comes to mealtimes of like, OK, I have to have a ton of
(10:12):
protein, but I also need to makesure I'm not eating all these
added sugars and low carb. Like those are a lot of the
things that I see. So what I tried to do is just
educate, you know, like that's ahuge part of it of like you need
carbohydrates to be a high performing athlete, like
pointing case. That's what is really going to
(10:35):
be fueling your body to do the work that you're asking it to
do. And so I would say those are
probably like the two biggest things that I see when it comes
to, you know, athletes at the collegiate level, high school
level. That's a lot of what I work on
with them. Yeah, and not that that was a
trick question, but like our literally the whole episode last
(10:56):
time was about basically how often we see athletes under
field. So I think it's it's pretty
obvious that this is the trend for athletes for a variety of
reasons of just not understanding how much to eat.
So on that without diving into everything, obviously this is
going to be high level, this is a podcast episode, but how do
athletes know as an athlete whatlevel, what amounts they should
(11:19):
be eating? What are some things that they
should look forward to sort of determine on a daily basis?
What is the amount of fuel I should be in taking?
Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, again, it can
be really detailed and I try notto really give specific calorie
amounts because at the end of the day, whether you're eating
(11:41):
like 500 calories for a meal or you know, 400, it's, it's all
going to kind of balance out at the end.
So I think one kind of key thingto focus on is making sure that
they're at least getting 3 mealsand like one to two snacks a
day. A lot of people that I have
(12:03):
worked with aren't getting 3 meals, they're maybe getting a
snack. And again, like the contents of
that is not always where we wanted to be in terms of like
carbohydrates to protein to, youknow, some veggies and, and
color on that plate. So I think, you know, trying to
make sure that you are getting at least three meals, spreading
(12:26):
that protein intake out throughout the day.
Of course, protein is important,you know, it helps your muscles
repair and continue to build, but trying to make sure that
you're spreading it out throughout the day.
I've also seen individuals, you know, having a massive amount,
something like like 90 grams of protein.
And I've seen like some of thesevideos online too, or they're
(12:47):
like 300 grams of protein in a day.
And I'm like, that's just like too much.
Like you don't need that much. So, you know, trying to spread
it out throughout the day. You know, our bodies go through
muscle protein synthesis. And so research shows that it's
best to have, you know, 20 to 30grams of protein spread
(13:07):
throughout the day. So if you look at like the size
of your palm or a deck of cards and trying to make sure that
you're getting at least that much protein at each meal, those
kind of visuals I think is a little bit more helpful than,
you know, 20 grams because that's a can be kind of like an
arbitrary number for some people.
And they're like, I don't reallyknow what that means.
And we don't use really grams inthe US anyway.
(13:30):
So I think it's kind of a littleconfusing.
So yeah, trying to make sure they're spreading the protein
throughout the day, getting sometype of carbohydrates on their
plate at each meal if you can, making, you know, half of those
carbohydrates whole grain. So doing, you know, like whole
wheat bread or brown rice or whole wheat pasta, like those
(13:52):
types of things. And then, of course, everybody's
least favorite thing, trying to incorporate some more vegetables
and produce in there. A lot of people really aren't
meeting their fiber needs. So I'm trying to incorporate as
many of those as possible. I think one time I had posted a
video on Instagram about, you know, like incorporating more
fiber and more whole grain foods.
(14:13):
And like I had just mentioned. And someone was like, oh,
Americans think that more fiber comes from eating more whole
grains. I'm like, that's not what I'm
saying. Like, it's also coming from
vegetables and fruit and, you know, nuts and seeds and those
kinds of things too. So yeah, yeah.
So getting 3 meals a day and then incorporating some of those
snacks as well. Yeah, not again.
(14:36):
And if you want very specific advice, go to Courtney and you
can get all the specific advice you want.
So we're going to try to keep itas high level as we can.
But we're in season right now for our high school athletes.
And so we like laid out, this issuch a good exercise.
But when we were in, we were going through like the
challenges our athletes are facing during this time period.
We laid out like a schedule, an actual schedule of an athlete in
(14:58):
that day. So, you know, we have athletes,
they go to school between 7:00 and 8:00.
A lot of times their lunch at school is at like 10:30.
There's some like weird hour, like they can get the weird hour
of lunch and then, you know, they get off at 2:30.
They have enough time to switch to go to practice or game.
(15:18):
And then sometimes they go to something after that or they
have an activity, you know, but they finish their game and they
either have homework or another activity and then they go to
bed. So given kind of those
parameters, what are some thingsthat you would say like without
getting again into every single specific, but you know, we would
(15:38):
try to eat this or here's where we maybe would fill in a snack.
Like I really am thinking, OK, the obvious example would be eat
breakfast before you go. You're going to eat lunch like
maybe that what might I think about bringing for lunch as a
high school athlete? And then what do I eat?
Like what should I pack or thinkabout bringing pregame or
(15:58):
practice? Because I think a lot of times
that's one of the biggest challenges.
And then maybe assuming that they're, you know, dinner is
this post activity food kind of like what they might do during
that time period. Yeah, I, I know.
I remember that high school early lunch was always tough.
Like, you know, it's such a thing.
(16:19):
At 10. 10:30 AM or something crazy, yeah, which is yeah for,
again, for an athlete is not really ideal because then you
have this big window from like 10 to whatever 2:30 or three
when they're done with school. How do you fill that gap?
So if possible, having some typeof snack in between there in
(16:40):
between lunch and, you know, finishing school would be great,
whether it's, you know, like some beef jerky with a granola
bar or even like a Gatorade or aprotein shake with, you know, a
granola bar, some dried fruit like trail mix.
Those are all really like easy options that can, you know, kind
of be eaten quickly. We don't obviously don't want to
(17:02):
be like scarfing our food down all the time, but sometimes
that's what has to happen just to make sure we're, you know,
meeting our needs. So, you know, getting if, if
possible, a snack in between there.
Maybe it's in between classes when you were done with school
before training, before practice.
Some things that I think are easy to incorporate would be
(17:24):
something like in Uncrustable, you know, some people are going
to be different when it comes tofueling before training.
Just from like AGI perspective, some people you know are it's
harder for them to eat right before training than others.
So if you feel like that's you and you're someone that you're
like, I can't eat before workingout, like I feel like I'm going
(17:46):
to throw up, like start simple. It doesn't have to be anything
crazy like that. Uncrustable might not be for
you. It might be too much.
So stick with something liquid using like a Gatorade or some
type of smoothie or 100% fruit juice.
Like those are all things that are going to be a little bit
easier to digest and going to digest a little bit quicker than
having like a full like big snack or meal, you know, like
(18:09):
right before training. So if it's at that like 30 to 60
minute mark, I would say like keep it a little bit lighter,
mostly carbohydrates. So again, like leaning on that
granola bar. If it's a liquid source that I
mentioned previously, anything like crackers or goldfish
pretzels, any of those things that are easy to throw in your
(18:34):
bag, they're shelf stable. It's not something you have to
worry about like spoiling. Those are all really good
options to have right before training.
If you can get a little bit morein and get, you know, maybe some
like a little extra protein. Maybe it's something like a Clif
Bar that has a little bit more protein or something that has,
you know, around 10 to 15 grams of protein with some
(18:56):
carbohydrates. But regardless, right before
training, that key is going to be those carbohydrates because
we want to make sure we're topping off those energy stores
before training. And then like you said, after
practice or whatever, probably most likely having dinner and
then for some individuals like having a late night snack, you
(19:16):
know, you're using your brain todo that homework.
And if you're someone in who doesn't like waking up early and
breakfast is something you really struggle with, like it's
OK to have something later at night before bed.
Like if you want to have another, like maybe it's a
second dinner, like that's totally fine.
Because we want, again, we want to make sure that we're meeting
(19:38):
your energy needs. And if you know you're when
you're sleeping, that's a big time when you're recovering.
So we want to make sure we're giving your body energy to fully
recover from the training and the day that you just had,
whatever kind of day you just had.
So especially being in season, Iknow like schedules can get a
(19:58):
little more hectic. So taking any of those windows
that we can to fuel is going to be really key to, you know, good
performance. Yeah, I think that we talked
about this a little bit in the last episode with Laura too.
I think one of the challenges with all this is it requires
some intentionality, but it doesn't have to be super
(20:18):
complicated. So I think that that's really
important is like, sometimes we talked about this, a lot of this
like sort of adultsification or taking this like, you know,
grown woman trying to keep her body weight down approach to
eating. And so it's like, how am I going
to pack my salad for my between meal?
(20:38):
And so I think it's important the things you're saying, which
is it does require a little bit of planning, put stuff in your
bag, but we're talking about granola bars, goldfish, you
know, beef jerky, these things that are pretty easy to to grab
and bring. And I think that that's really
important for the athletes to hear, which is this is, you
know, it's, it's really doable. It's just going to require just
a little bit of thought. So obviously we've talked about
(21:01):
athlete challenges generally in a lot of it, and I think this is
a big piece of it is just aroundthe sort of time constraints.
The, you know, you're basically,there's some here.
I think that for some athletes, when you're trying to feel
yourself and you have all of these school and sport and all
this, it feels like every free window you're eating and that
(21:22):
can feel sometimes like a littlebit overwhelming.
And so there are those challenges for athletes
certainly just in their busy schedules.
Well, there's some specific struggles you've seen that apply
a little bit more to female athletes that sort of, you know,
they struggle with at a different level or in different
ways when it comes to their nutrition and, and their sport.
(21:44):
Yeah. I mean, I think when it comes to
the female athlete, you know, obviously menstruation plays a
huge role and can impact performance and energy levels.
So that alone I think has a whole another factor when it
comes to maybe not feeling enough and missing some of those
(22:07):
those fueling windows. You know, we can kind of get
into that Reds area where, you know, it's consistent decreased
energy intake that doesn't meet their performance demands.
And so over time, starting to see, you know, more increased
injuries, whether it is, you know, muscular or, you know,
(22:31):
soft tissue issue injuries or even like stress fractures,
those types of things. Obviously that's like more of a
progression or even, you know, decreases in performance,
decreases in recovery, having taking a longer time to recover
from practice or games or tournaments more than normal.
(22:57):
And sometimes I think that can be hard.
That more than normal can be hard.
And like obviously varies personto person, especially if it's
something that's been going on for a long period of time.
You may not know like what is normal?
How long should it take me to recover?
And again, like that's going to be varied person to person.
But those are kind of some of the things, decreases in
(23:21):
strength and power, speed, reaction time, all of those
things can kind of start to takea dip when we're not meeting our
energy needs through food. Also, even like from a
psychological standpoint, increase like anxiety or stress,
difficulty concentrating or even, you know, sleep can play a
(23:44):
big role in it. So obviously I won't talk too
much about those things, but they do play a big role too.
And food can really, you know, play a big role in kind of
managing some of these things. So I think it just goes back to,
again, like, making sure we are prioritizing fueling and that,
like, if you are someone who experiences these things, you
(24:07):
know, like, take a step back andthink like, OK, am I maybe
eating enough to meet where my energy needs are?
I see that a lot where it's like, I'm really sore.
I'm having trouble. Like my performance isn't where
I want it to be. And the second we start to
incorporate just a little few changes, more food, more
(24:30):
carbohydrates, like you start tosee that like performance
increase again. Also with red sometimes, like
menstrual dysfunction, so losingyour period or having irregular
periods, those can kind of be some science that something is
going on. And I think as a dietitian, it's
(24:51):
really frustrating because a lotof times doctors will be like,
oh, that's normal. But like, losing your period is
not normal unless you're, you know, on a birth control where
that's a direct symptom of that birth control.
That's the only time it's like, OK, yeah, that's what is going
to happen. But if you're not on any type of
(25:12):
birth control, like you should be having a regular period as a
female athlete, and if you're not, then it's a sign that
something else is going on. So yeah.
Yeah, I wanted to get in more toReds in a second, but on a sort
of higher level before we dive more into that, Well, there's
some. Do you see differences And when
you're working with a male athlete and you're kind of
(25:33):
talking through, OK, we need to feel more, we need to eat these
things and you're working with afemale athlete of how it might
be received or sort of like any perception around more fuel or
any worries from a like body image standpoint, Like how is
that sort of different approach in your experience when you're
working with male versus female athletes?
(25:56):
To be very honest, it's kind of similar, I would say.
I mean, I know statistically there are more, there's more of
a concern in the female athlete population when it comes to body
image. But even in male athletes, like
I do see concerns around body image.
(26:16):
And you know, well, I don't wantto eat too much of this food
because I don't want it to change the way I look.
And it is a very real thing. And I think again, like social
media and the things that messages that we're receiving
constantly of like we need to fit this box.
I think proposes like more challenges for athletes,
(26:39):
especially because I think like at the high school and
collegiate level, you know, you may have friends who are not
athletes and they are going to be eating differently than you.
And like, that's just because they don't have the same energy
demands, you know? So I think when it comes to like
approaching those conversations,you know, my goal again, is to
(27:03):
educate and share that. Like we want to be taking care
of your body. Like this is the only body that
you get. And we want to make sure that
we're fueling it appropriately and making sure that you are
performing at your best. And if there are concerns
around, you know, body image, like I do try to address those
(27:25):
in a way and just in, in a curious way, like what are your
thoughts around that? How do you feel with these
things? Because it can be, you know, a
little more complex when it comes to that stuff, you know?
Yeah, for sure. OK, So you mentioned Reds.
Can you walk through what Reds is sort of like what are the,
(27:47):
what is Reds? What are the signs of Reds?
You know, why does it matter? You got into this a little bit,
but why is this something that female athletes need to to think
through or that she's gonna be on the radar?
Yeah. So previously we had the female
athlete triad, so menstrual dysfunction, low energy
availability, and then like low bone density as well.
(28:11):
Reds kind of encompasses all of that and then looks more at just
energy deficiency in general. So when I say energy deficiency
specifically, like not eating enough.
So you know, your training load may be all the way up here, but
then you're fueling is all the way down here.
And that's where we kind of start to see some of those
(28:35):
symptoms of, you know, maybe you're having a harder time
recovering or, you know, you have more fatigue, you're having
trouble, you know, making it allthe way through your training or
other like obviously I mentionedlike irregular periods or, you
(28:55):
know, losing it all together. These can also, you know, like
under fueling for a prolonged period of time also will have
impacts on hormones and hormone function, which is part of the
reason that we lose our period in the 1st place.
So that's kind of some of those like symptoms that maybe you can
start looking at obviously like once we get into losing your
(29:19):
period and stress fractures and other more, you know, like
serious side effects of this, that's where it's been going on
for a longer period of time. So some of the earlier things
maybe would be that prolonged recovery time or soft tissue
injuries just decreases in performance overall, whether it
(29:42):
is speed or power or strength ingeneral, endurance, like those
things will all start to take a dip.
So if that's something that you're starting to see in
yourself where you're like, oh, I don't feel as strong as I used
to or I'm not as fast as I used to be.
Those could be cues for you to kind of take a look and, and,
(30:04):
and maybe have a conversation, whether it's with me or someone
else, you know, who probably preferably a dietitian when
you're talking about the red specifically having those
conversations of like, hey, I'm,I'm experiencing these or, you
know, even talking to someone you trust and just having that
conversation, I think would be really a good starting point to
(30:27):
determining like, OK, what's going on here?
Like where, you know, where are things going wrong that like
I'm, I'm starting to see these decreases in my performance.
Yeah. And we obviously, you know, I, I
told you a little bit of our back story and we talked about
this, me and Laura talked about this, but we see irregular
periods. I would, I don't know if
(30:50):
alarming is the right word, but a too high of a percentage of
athletes. And as you mentioned, we have
experienced very similar things that you have, which many of
those athletes have been told that that's normal, that it's
normal and all the way until thepoint where we have athletes who
have stress fractures. Now these are stress fractures
that are common in our sport, things like pars fractures in
(31:14):
the back. And the things that do happen
for athletes, unfortunately, as they are young and kind of going
through that puberty window and they're, you know, we have
overuse and we have some things that play into it as well.
But we have athletes who are experiencing irregular periods
or missed periods and experiencing bone issues and are
(31:34):
still going to the doctor and they're like, that's just
overuse. That's just, you know, it's the
normal course of things. So I guess just like to
reiterate, and I think it's really important that we
continue to help our female athletes advocate that that's
not normal and try to find someone that sort of we'll,
we'll go down that journey with you of trying to dive into what
(31:56):
what is going on and, and not tell you that those things are
normal outside of the bone, You know, the risk of injury and the
things that can come from just being depleted that long.
And you've, you already are starting to have irregular
periods. Let's say that an athlete kind
of maintains a performance they're fine with and is having
that and it's prolonged period of times.
(32:17):
Are there longer term ramifications for female
athletes to that kind of energy depletion?
As far as like, I'm looking ahead to my, you know, future,
I'm just making decisions based on today and, and this feels too
hard for me to try to feel more and this is just kind of what I
am and I'm fine for now. Like what are the other
ramifications that that women can see from from experiencing
(32:38):
something like that for a while?Yeah.
I mean, I think from a long termperspective, like, you know, it,
let's say you're at the high school level and yeah, you might
be able to push through, you know, through high school,
through college. But at a certain point, like
you're going to hit a wall somewhere, right?
(32:59):
Where like you're not going to be able to push through anymore,
whether it's a more severe fracture or, you know, like
something that you're not going to be able to recover for.
FEMA athletes are also at a higher risk for ACL tears
related to like estrogen and progesterone or estrogen, sorry.
(33:22):
And so those types of things too, like could take you out of
your sport. And like, I don't think that's
what anybody like, nobody wants to have a career ending injury,
you know, but not that those arecareer ending, but they're
certainly going to play a role there.
And then also just having those hormone balances first in sorry,
(33:44):
hormone imbalances for so long is really not something you want
because it's going to take time to recover from that.
And you know, those are things that just impact like day-to-day
function. And so we really want to try to
avoid that for like a very prolonged period of time
(34:08):
because, you know, nobody wants to go through any of that stuff,
you know? And, and I know again, I
understand, I was in high schoolat 1.2 and there were times
where I was like, I don't care, like whatever, I'm young.
Like I get it. But at the same time, it's like,
think about where you want to befrom like a performance
(34:28):
standpoint. You know, like, especially if
you're in high school, like do you want to go on to play in
college? If so, like there could be
scholarships on the line for that.
And so we want to make sure thatyou are performing and like, do
set these, you know, habits now so that when you get to college,
it's a lot easier. And you already have this, like,
(34:50):
foundational knowledge of like, OK, well, I know I need to be
like, eating like this. And then you can make fine-tuned
adjustments from there. So yeah.
Yeah, I think that makes sense. I think part of the, you know,
we a lot of our listeners, our coaches and also parents, and I
think a lot of this comes down to the parent helping the
(35:12):
athlete advocate for herself. Obviously, these are hard
conversations. And as a teenager, I mean, some
of our athletes, they, you know,just got their first period.
They don't know whether it's supposed to be regular or
regular or what it looks like, you know, they need to be
educated on these things. So it does come to the parents a
lot to kind of advocate for the this type of conversation.
(35:33):
And I think the more we just keep kind of like screaming from
the rooftops that is not normal to have an irregular period.
And I think some of this US camefrom, you know, the the kind of
original definition of this was really tied in these sports
where like body weight being lowwas.
A. Key performance metric.
So you know, we reference gymnastics and long distance
(35:55):
running and these sports where where women were actively being
told and men and that sport like, you know, if women
wrestled more, I'm sure would come into play for that.
Or like these sports that are really about keeping your body
weight low or stopping your period intentionally.
They are, you know, stopping puberty almost intentionally on
these things. And so that's where some of the
(36:15):
definitions around this syndrome, you know, this
dysfunction came into play. And so I think a lot of Times
Now, because the sport system that women are in is changing
dramatically. We have way more women in very
intense and competitive sports, which is amazing.
But we're also finding that now that sort of dysfunction or
(36:38):
irregularity is coming from a sport like softball that really
has nothing to do with being lowbody weights, you know, keeping
those things down. And so we don't have a language
to talk about it. And so we've had athletes where
they've gone, you know, to the doctor or they've gone to
things. And that's been a question of
like, well, you're not in, you know, you're not in these kind
(36:58):
of like things that we would anticipate this to happen.
And so that's probably not the case for you.
And we've like lost the language, I think to talk about.
It's probably just the case now that female athletes are going
to deal with this on a differentlevel because they are engaging
so much in competitive sports ata very high level.
And this is just part of the reality of their body.
(37:19):
But yeah, I think it's really important for our listeners to
just know to really push that conversation.
If someone's telling you it's regular and I yeah, it's just,
it's not. So if it if you're having it, go
talk to Courtney and talk about what the what the kind of
challenges you might be facing. So kind of to leave our
listeners here with maybe some key things that like, OK, I'm a
(37:44):
female athlete. I don't have any of the red
flags as far as like I'm not feeling suit.
Maybe I'm feeling a little tiredbecause my schedule's really
busy. I'm struggling to kind of feel
like where I would fit things inwhether just like some of the
key, if you could check XYZ box,you know, whether some of the
key takeaways you think would bejust like really good places to
(38:05):
start for the more. You know, like I said, I'm not
if you're facing any of the challenges talked about, which
are the the bigger challenges, then I think go kind of seeking
help would be great. But we are before that and
you're trying to figure that outwhere there are some key
takeaways for those people. Yeah, I mean, I think if you're
a female athlete and, you know, you're just kind of going
(38:26):
through the motions right now oflike, OK, well, I'm not really
experiencing anything too intense.
But yeah, like you said, maybe Iam feeling a little more
fatigued. I think just taking a second to
check in with yourself of like, OK, what am I, you know, after
you've listened to this episode,what am I doing day-to-day that
(38:47):
maybe aligns with some of the things that might be
contributing to my lower energy?You know, am I getting enough
sleep? Am I eating enough?
You know, am I skipping breakfast?
Am I skipping lunch? And then just going straight
into practice and those are kindof some things to just take a
look at. And it doesn't take a lot of
(39:08):
time to kind of do a quick checkin with yourself.
You know, it can be less than 5 minutes of like, OK, let me
think back through my day or my week of like where maybe things
may have been missed. So taking a second just to check
in with yourself and see like where am I at right now and how
am I feeling with this can be really helpful.
(39:30):
And then also, you know, again, trying to just incorporate some
of those really simple snacks, like I'm not telling you to go
make a gourmet meal every singleday.
Like I understand that's not a reality for a lot of people.
Like I'm I am a full supporter of making things as easy as
(39:52):
possible. And sometimes that means like
using more like quote UN quote convenience food.
So like you utilizing frozen options, frozen fruits and.
Veggies are a great way to get them in because you don't have
to worry about them spoiling. Sometimes they're actually more
nutrient dense than their fresh counterparts just because
they've been like picked and harvested at their peak
(40:14):
freshness and then frozen. So those are great.
Like super easy to incorporate that way.
So, yeah, just trying to get some of those like, really
simple snacks in throughout yourday if you can.
And then, yeah, also just like trying to, you know, like get as
much fuel in as possible, whether it is, you know, liquid
(40:35):
sources or those snacks. And increasing your overall
meals in general I think is a great place to start, as well
as, you know, making sure you are getting enough carbohydrates
on your plate too. So if you're not sure, like if
you're that person that's bringing a salad to lunch every
day, that's fine. Please keep eating your salad
(40:56):
because I want you to have thoseveggies, but also maybe
incorporate, you know, some extra fruit on the side or, you
know, maybe you're bringing a sandwich with you.
It could be like APB and J, something super easy.
It doesn't have to be anything crazy.
But yeah, just trying to keep itas simple as possible and also
not worrying too much about like, all the other diet culture
(41:21):
things that were fed through theInternet.
So. Yeah.
Yeah, if people want to find you, you know, they have more
questions or they're, you know, have an athlete that's
interested in working with you, where can they find your
information? Obviously we'll also put it in
the show notes and we'll put it in the captions and things, and
we're sharing these things, but maybe social media handles
(41:41):
things like that. Yeah, well, you can follow me on
Instagram. My Instagram handle is my first
and last name, so you can just copy and paste that into there.
So kind of long. And then yeah, if you're
interested in working together, I would say Instagram is the
best way to kind of get in touchwith me.
(42:02):
Just shoot me Adm honestly, and we can chat more about what
you're looking to do and kind ofwhat you might be struggling
with. I'm always open to having those
conversations or just sharing any information.
If you have any questions about anything, my DMS are always
open. So yeah, Instagram is the best
best place for now. Awesome.
(42:24):
Well, thank you so much. I think this is just such a
great conversation and super relevant for our athletes and
the things that they deal with. And so I know that people will
have great takeaways from today like and subscribe the OGX
Podcast anywhere you listen to your podcast, it helps us and we
appreciate it.
All right, we're back for another episode.
Last week, Laura and I sort of intro this topic and talked a
lot around since the body weightand body image and nutritional
challenges and things that we'veseen at OGX and seen with our
athletes. And so I'm really excited this
week to jump more specifically into this with our guests.
(00:24):
So Courtney, if you want to introduce yourself to our
audience, kind of what's your background?
What do you sort of focus on nowand then we can jump in.
Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, first of all, thank
you for having me on today. I'm super excited to be here.
So I am a registered dietitian. I work specifically with
athletes. I have my master's in nutrition.
(00:48):
I got my master's in 2022 from the University of Illinois at
Chicago. So while I was there, I had the
opportunity to work with Northwestern University and
their athletics department, so working with their football team
and then their women's field hockey team as well, which was
an incredible experience. When I was done there, I then
(01:10):
moved to Las Vegas and had the opportunity to work at the UFC
Performance Institute with all the combat athletes out there.
So again, another really awesomeopportunity that I'm super
grateful for. Everyone there is really
knowledgeable and I got to learna lot about, you know, all more
(01:31):
of like an interdisciplinary approach at both places.
Really looking at, you know, performance and nutrition and
then strength and conditioning and sports medicine and kind of
even, you know, sports like too,and how all of those play a role
in creating a healthy athlete that's performing at their peak.
So once I finished at the UFCI, moved back to Chicago where I
(01:54):
live now from the Chicago area originally, and started my own
private practice, working with athletes and general population
of all areas. So really helping people train
for marathons or even collegiateathletes and helping them
improve their performance and even professional athletes
(02:17):
coming up here, which is really exciting.
So yeah, that's kind of a littlebit of me.
I do try to focus on more of a diet free approach when it comes
to feeling athletes because I feel like there's so much
information out there around food and which foods are good or
bad or even putting a label on foods being good or bad in
(02:39):
general. I think all foods can serve a
purpose in some way. And so I think when it comes to
the athletic population, you know, I want to just make sure
that people who work with me arereally fueled to perform at
their best and feel their best. And so that's my goal as a
practitioner. And I Oh yeah.
And I also work with the University of Wisconsin,
(03:01):
Milwaukee and their athletics department there.
So working just one-on-one with some of their athletes there,
which has been a really fulfilling experience 'cause I
did get my undergrad degree fromthere as well.
So I'm I'm happy to be back and doing that part time on the side
as well. So yeah.
Lots of awesome. Yeah, You mentioned some of the
(03:23):
like different information out there.
And I think obviously you said you were a registered dietitian.
I think it would be helpful just, you know, for our families
and athletes to understand maybeif I'm coming across
information, whether it's on social media or I'm seeking out
help from a nutrition standpoint, whether they're like
different levels of certification that someone might
have that can give you sort of nutritional guidance.
(03:46):
Maybe what nutritional guidance can they give you?
You know, the different layers. Sometimes we'll have athletes
ask our strength coach like, youknow, what should I be eating?
And he'll give a little bit, buthe'll say like, you know,
there's limits on how much I canreally help you with this.
And can you kind of walk throughwhat that looks like from your
sort of like schooling of of thedifferent levels and and people
that can kind of help from a nutrition standpoint?
(04:07):
Yeah, absolutely. So it, it is definitely a little
confusing because, you know, everybody, especially with the
Internet, thinks they're a nutrition expert.
So my in order to become a registered dietitian, you have
to go through an accredited program and now you have to have
your masters in order to be a registered dietitian.
(04:29):
So I have done both of those things.
You have to complete 1200 supervised practice hours.
So that is working underneath a dietitian in various different
areas. So there's a food service
rotation, there's clinical inpatient and outpatient work
that you do. And then there's some other ones
(04:50):
too that you can kind of mix in.So after you complete those
supervised practice hours, the accredited program, you have
your masters, then you're eligible for the Rd. exam.
So then you take a national certifying exam that all
(05:10):
dietitians have to take. So once you pass that exam, then
you are officially a registered dietitian.
Sometimes it varies by state whether you have to be licensed
to practice in the state. So Illinois specifically does
have their own licensing laws. So I you do have to be licensed
to practice in Illinois. Some states are different.
(05:33):
I believe they're actually working on a national license,
which is going to be awesome andreally open up more
opportunities for dietitians to practice, you know, via
telehealth. Some of the other things that
you may see are like nutrition coaches or nutrition
certifications that can be obtained through different
(05:54):
organizations. So for example, NASM, which I
know has like personal training.They also have a certified
nutrition educator. I think it's the the term or
like the course that they have. So there are different like
courses and certifications that someone could get, but that's
really just scratching the surface when it comes to
(06:15):
nutrition information and nutrition application.
Registered dietitians really have the ability to look at
someone from like a medical nutrition therapy standpoint and
we have the training and education required to really
understand what's going on in the body from, you know, a
(06:36):
cellular level even sometimes, and how nutrition can kind of
impact some different things that we see.
So that's a little bit of the difference between, you know,
being a registered dietitian, having maybe like a nutrition
certification, which I think is a great stepping stone if
someone has a nutrition certification, but they
(06:57):
certainly don't have all of likethe background and education and
training that a registered dietitian has.
So when you're seeking information, it's really
important to kind of take a lookat those things.
Many people will call themselvesa nutritionist.
Or even when I started my business, I hadn't gotten my Rd.
yet, so I was a nutrition coach.And, you know, I think that
(07:19):
that's fine, but it's also important to look at someone's
education and their experience. While I was a nutrition coach, I
also had all this other experience and education that I
knew. And I knew, you know, what
parameters to operate within from a safety standpoint and a
legal standpoint as well. You know, operating as a
(07:40):
nutrition coach versus a dietitian, it opens up a lot
more doors. But it's important to make sure
that you are getting informationfrom a credible source and not
someone who's just, you know, I did my research and, you know,
giving you information that may not be applicable to you or may
not be the correct information as well.
(08:01):
Yeah, I think that's great because obviously we get so much
information now and sometimes wecan either be LED astray or it
can, like you said. I think even more importantly,
it's a lot of time. Maybe it is well meaning, but
there's limitations to what thatperson might be able to serve
for you. And so just understanding the
different sources of information, you know, that
you're getting and what the limitations might be on that
(08:22):
person's knowledge, I think it'sreally important.
So all right, we talked, you know, Lauren, I got into it last
episode about some of the challenges we've seen.
But I think maybe if you can just start with an overview of
in your experience with athletes, what are some of the
sort of what are the big overarching sort of nutritional
challenges that you see that maybe, you know, with your work
(08:45):
at the universities you guys were trying to fill, You know,
for these athletes, What are some of the the challenge, the
big challenges that athletes face regularly from a
nutritional standpoint, from your standpoint?
Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest, I would say
number one thing that I see is just athletes not eating enough.
(09:08):
I think it's really hard, especially at the university
level and even at the high school level too.
You know, you have school, you have practice, you have extra
training when you're in season or out season, like your
schedule is jam packed all the time.
And so I think that presents some additional challenges when
it comes to fueling, but. Overall, the biggest.
(09:30):
Thing that I have seen is athletes not eating enough and
then also not eating enough of the right foods.
We talked a little bit about, you know, how there is so much
information out there. And I think there's a big, such
a big emphasis on protein, whichlike, yes, protein is important,
but I think for athletes specifically, a lot of times
(09:51):
they're not getting enough carbohydrates because that's,
you know, what your body wants to use as its main source of
fuel. And I think with, you know, the
fear that's put around sugar andadded sugars and these types of
things, it really puts a lot of stress on some individuals when
it comes to mealtimes of like, OK, I have to have a ton of
(10:12):
protein, but I also need to makesure I'm not eating all these
added sugars and low carb. Like those are a lot of the
things that I see. So what I tried to do is just
educate, you know, like that's ahuge part of it of like you need
carbohydrates to be a high performing athlete, like
pointing case. That's what is really going to
(10:35):
be fueling your body to do the work that you're asking it to
do. And so I would say those are
probably like the two biggest things that I see when it comes
to, you know, athletes at the collegiate level, high school
level. That's a lot of what I work on
with them. Yeah, and not that that was a
trick question, but like our literally the whole episode last
(10:56):
time was about basically how often we see athletes under
field. So I think it's it's pretty
obvious that this is the trend for athletes for a variety of
reasons of just not understanding how much to eat.
So on that without diving into everything, obviously this is
going to be high level, this is a podcast episode, but how do
athletes know as an athlete whatlevel, what amounts they should
(11:19):
be eating? What are some things that they
should look forward to sort of determine on a daily basis?
What is the amount of fuel I should be in taking?
Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, again, it can
be really detailed and I try notto really give specific calorie
amounts because at the end of the day, whether you're eating
(11:41):
like 500 calories for a meal or you know, 400, it's, it's all
going to kind of balance out at the end.
So I think one kind of key thingto focus on is making sure that
they're at least getting 3 mealsand like one to two snacks a
day. A lot of people that I have
(12:03):
worked with aren't getting 3 meals, they're maybe getting a
snack. And again, like the contents of
that is not always where we wanted to be in terms of like
carbohydrates to protein to, youknow, some veggies and, and
color on that plate. So I think, you know, trying to
make sure that you are getting at least three meals, spreading
(12:26):
that protein intake out throughout the day.
Of course, protein is important,you know, it helps your muscles
repair and continue to build, but trying to make sure that
you're spreading it out throughout the day.
I've also seen individuals, you know, having a massive amount,
something like like 90 grams of protein.
And I've seen like some of thesevideos online too, or they're
(12:47):
like 300 grams of protein in a day.
And I'm like, that's just like too much.
Like you don't need that much. So, you know, trying to spread
it out throughout the day. You know, our bodies go through
muscle protein synthesis. And so research shows that it's
best to have, you know, 20 to 30grams of protein spread
(13:07):
throughout the day. So if you look at like the size
of your palm or a deck of cards and trying to make sure that
you're getting at least that much protein at each meal, those
kind of visuals I think is a little bit more helpful than,
you know, 20 grams because that's a can be kind of like an
arbitrary number for some people.
And they're like, I don't reallyknow what that means.
And we don't use really grams inthe US anyway.
(13:30):
So I think it's kind of a littleconfusing.
So yeah, trying to make sure they're spreading the protein
throughout the day, getting sometype of carbohydrates on their
plate at each meal if you can, making, you know, half of those
carbohydrates whole grain. So doing, you know, like whole
wheat bread or brown rice or whole wheat pasta, like those
(13:52):
types of things. And then, of course, everybody's
least favorite thing, trying to incorporate some more vegetables
and produce in there. A lot of people really aren't
meeting their fiber needs. So I'm trying to incorporate as
many of those as possible. I think one time I had posted a
video on Instagram about, you know, like incorporating more
fiber and more whole grain foods.
(14:13):
And like I had just mentioned. And someone was like, oh,
Americans think that more fiber comes from eating more whole
grains. I'm like, that's not what I'm
saying. Like, it's also coming from
vegetables and fruit and, you know, nuts and seeds and those
kinds of things too. So yeah, yeah.
So getting 3 meals a day and then incorporating some of those
snacks as well. Yeah, not again.
(14:36):
And if you want very specific advice, go to Courtney and you
can get all the specific advice you want.
So we're going to try to keep itas high level as we can.
But we're in season right now for our high school athletes.
And so we like laid out, this issuch a good exercise.
But when we were in, we were going through like the
challenges our athletes are facing during this time period.
We laid out like a schedule, an actual schedule of an athlete in
(14:58):
that day. So, you know, we have athletes,
they go to school between 7:00 and 8:00.
A lot of times their lunch at school is at like 10:30.
There's some like weird hour, like they can get the weird hour
of lunch and then, you know, they get off at 2:30.
They have enough time to switch to go to practice or game.
(15:18):
And then sometimes they go to something after that or they
have an activity, you know, but they finish their game and they
either have homework or another activity and then they go to
bed. So given kind of those
parameters, what are some thingsthat you would say like without
getting again into every single specific, but you know, we would
(15:38):
try to eat this or here's where we maybe would fill in a snack.
Like I really am thinking, OK, the obvious example would be eat
breakfast before you go. You're going to eat lunch like
maybe that what might I think about bringing for lunch as a
high school athlete? And then what do I eat?
Like what should I pack or thinkabout bringing pregame or
(15:58):
practice? Because I think a lot of times
that's one of the biggest challenges.
And then maybe assuming that they're, you know, dinner is
this post activity food kind of like what they might do during
that time period. Yeah, I, I know.
I remember that high school early lunch was always tough.
Like, you know, it's such a thing.
(16:19):
At 10. 10:30 AM or something crazy, yeah, which is yeah for,
again, for an athlete is not really ideal because then you
have this big window from like 10 to whatever 2:30 or three
when they're done with school. How do you fill that gap?
So if possible, having some typeof snack in between there in
(16:40):
between lunch and, you know, finishing school would be great,
whether it's, you know, like some beef jerky with a granola
bar or even like a Gatorade or aprotein shake with, you know, a
granola bar, some dried fruit like trail mix.
Those are all really like easy options that can, you know, kind
of be eaten quickly. We don't obviously don't want to
(17:02):
be like scarfing our food down all the time, but sometimes
that's what has to happen just to make sure we're, you know,
meeting our needs. So, you know, getting if, if
possible, a snack in between there.
Maybe it's in between classes when you were done with school
before training, before practice.
Some things that I think are easy to incorporate would be
(17:24):
something like in Uncrustable, you know, some people are going
to be different when it comes tofueling before training.
Just from like AGI perspective, some people you know are it's
harder for them to eat right before training than others.
So if you feel like that's you and you're someone that you're
like, I can't eat before workingout, like I feel like I'm going
(17:46):
to throw up, like start simple. It doesn't have to be anything
crazy like that. Uncrustable might not be for
you. It might be too much.
So stick with something liquid using like a Gatorade or some
type of smoothie or 100% fruit juice.
Like those are all things that are going to be a little bit
easier to digest and going to digest a little bit quicker than
having like a full like big snack or meal, you know, like
(18:09):
right before training. So if it's at that like 30 to 60
minute mark, I would say like keep it a little bit lighter,
mostly carbohydrates. So again, like leaning on that
granola bar. If it's a liquid source that I
mentioned previously, anything like crackers or goldfish
pretzels, any of those things that are easy to throw in your
(18:34):
bag, they're shelf stable. It's not something you have to
worry about like spoiling. Those are all really good
options to have right before training.
If you can get a little bit morein and get, you know, maybe some
like a little extra protein. Maybe it's something like a Clif
Bar that has a little bit more protein or something that has,
you know, around 10 to 15 grams of protein with some
(18:56):
carbohydrates. But regardless, right before
training, that key is going to be those carbohydrates because
we want to make sure we're topping off those energy stores
before training. And then like you said, after
practice or whatever, probably most likely having dinner and
then for some individuals like having a late night snack, you
(19:16):
know, you're using your brain todo that homework.
And if you're someone in who doesn't like waking up early and
breakfast is something you really struggle with, like it's
OK to have something later at night before bed.
Like if you want to have another, like maybe it's a
second dinner, like that's totally fine.
Because we want, again, we want to make sure that we're meeting
(19:38):
your energy needs. And if you know you're when
you're sleeping, that's a big time when you're recovering.
So we want to make sure we're giving your body energy to fully
recover from the training and the day that you just had,
whatever kind of day you just had.
So especially being in season, Iknow like schedules can get a
(19:58):
little more hectic. So taking any of those windows
that we can to fuel is going to be really key to, you know, good
performance. Yeah, I think that we talked
about this a little bit in the last episode with Laura too.
I think one of the challenges with all this is it requires
some intentionality, but it doesn't have to be super
(20:18):
complicated. So I think that that's really
important is like, sometimes we talked about this, a lot of this
like sort of adultsification or taking this like, you know,
grown woman trying to keep her body weight down approach to
eating. And so it's like, how am I going
to pack my salad for my between meal?
(20:38):
And so I think it's important the things you're saying, which
is it does require a little bit of planning, put stuff in your
bag, but we're talking about granola bars, goldfish, you
know, beef jerky, these things that are pretty easy to to grab
and bring. And I think that that's really
important for the athletes to hear, which is this is, you
know, it's, it's really doable. It's just going to require just
a little bit of thought. So obviously we've talked about
(21:01):
athlete challenges generally in a lot of it, and I think this is
a big piece of it is just aroundthe sort of time constraints.
The, you know, you're basically,there's some here.
I think that for some athletes, when you're trying to feel
yourself and you have all of these school and sport and all
this, it feels like every free window you're eating and that
(21:22):
can feel sometimes like a littlebit overwhelming.
And so there are those challenges for athletes
certainly just in their busy schedules.
Well, there's some specific struggles you've seen that apply
a little bit more to female athletes that sort of, you know,
they struggle with at a different level or in different
ways when it comes to their nutrition and, and their sport.
(21:44):
Yeah. I mean, I think when it comes to
the female athlete, you know, obviously menstruation plays a
huge role and can impact performance and energy levels.
So that alone I think has a whole another factor when it
comes to maybe not feeling enough and missing some of those
(22:07):
those fueling windows. You know, we can kind of get
into that Reds area where, you know, it's consistent decreased
energy intake that doesn't meet their performance demands.
And so over time, starting to see, you know, more increased
injuries, whether it is, you know, muscular or, you know,
(22:31):
soft tissue issue injuries or even like stress fractures,
those types of things. Obviously that's like more of a
progression or even, you know, decreases in performance,
decreases in recovery, having taking a longer time to recover
from practice or games or tournaments more than normal.
(22:57):
And sometimes I think that can be hard.
That more than normal can be hard.
And like obviously varies personto person, especially if it's
something that's been going on for a long period of time.
You may not know like what is normal?
How long should it take me to recover?
And again, like that's going to be varied person to person.
But those are kind of some of the things, decreases in
(23:21):
strength and power, speed, reaction time, all of those
things can kind of start to takea dip when we're not meeting our
energy needs through food. Also, even like from a
psychological standpoint, increase like anxiety or stress,
difficulty concentrating or even, you know, sleep can play a
(23:44):
big role in it. So obviously I won't talk too
much about those things, but they do play a big role too.
And food can really, you know, play a big role in kind of
managing some of these things. So I think it just goes back to,
again, like, making sure we are prioritizing fueling and that,
like, if you are someone who experiences these things, you
(24:07):
know, like, take a step back andthink like, OK, am I maybe
eating enough to meet where my energy needs are?
I see that a lot where it's like, I'm really sore.
I'm having trouble. Like my performance isn't where
I want it to be. And the second we start to
incorporate just a little few changes, more food, more
(24:30):
carbohydrates, like you start tosee that like performance
increase again. Also with red sometimes, like
menstrual dysfunction, so losingyour period or having irregular
periods, those can kind of be some science that something is
going on. And I think as a dietitian, it's
(24:51):
really frustrating because a lotof times doctors will be like,
oh, that's normal. But like, losing your period is
not normal unless you're, you know, on a birth control where
that's a direct symptom of that birth control.
That's the only time it's like, OK, yeah, that's what is going
to happen. But if you're not on any type of
(25:12):
birth control, like you should be having a regular period as a
female athlete, and if you're not, then it's a sign that
something else is going on. So yeah.
Yeah, I wanted to get in more toReds in a second, but on a sort
of higher level before we dive more into that, Well, there's
some. Do you see differences And when
you're working with a male athlete and you're kind of
(25:33):
talking through, OK, we need to feel more, we need to eat these
things and you're working with afemale athlete of how it might
be received or sort of like any perception around more fuel or
any worries from a like body image standpoint, Like how is
that sort of different approach in your experience when you're
working with male versus female athletes?
(25:56):
To be very honest, it's kind of similar, I would say.
I mean, I know statistically there are more, there's more of
a concern in the female athlete population when it comes to body
image. But even in male athletes, like
I do see concerns around body image.
(26:16):
And you know, well, I don't wantto eat too much of this food
because I don't want it to change the way I look.
And it is a very real thing. And I think again, like social
media and the things that messages that we're receiving
constantly of like we need to fit this box.
I think proposes like more challenges for athletes,
(26:39):
especially because I think like at the high school and
collegiate level, you know, you may have friends who are not
athletes and they are going to be eating differently than you.
And like, that's just because they don't have the same energy
demands, you know? So I think when it comes to like
approaching those conversations,you know, my goal again, is to
(27:03):
educate and share that. Like we want to be taking care
of your body. Like this is the only body that
you get. And we want to make sure that
we're fueling it appropriately and making sure that you are
performing at your best. And if there are concerns
around, you know, body image, like I do try to address those
(27:25):
in a way and just in, in a curious way, like what are your
thoughts around that? How do you feel with these
things? Because it can be, you know, a
little more complex when it comes to that stuff, you know?
Yeah, for sure. OK, So you mentioned Reds.
Can you walk through what Reds is sort of like what are the,
(27:47):
what is Reds? What are the signs of Reds?
You know, why does it matter? You got into this a little bit,
but why is this something that female athletes need to to think
through or that she's gonna be on the radar?
Yeah. So previously we had the female
athlete triad, so menstrual dysfunction, low energy
availability, and then like low bone density as well.
(28:11):
Reds kind of encompasses all of that and then looks more at just
energy deficiency in general. So when I say energy deficiency
specifically, like not eating enough.
So you know, your training load may be all the way up here, but
then you're fueling is all the way down here.
And that's where we kind of start to see some of those
(28:35):
symptoms of, you know, maybe you're having a harder time
recovering or, you know, you have more fatigue, you're having
trouble, you know, making it allthe way through your training or
other like obviously I mentionedlike irregular periods or, you
(28:55):
know, losing it all together. These can also, you know, like
under fueling for a prolonged period of time also will have
impacts on hormones and hormone function, which is part of the
reason that we lose our period in the 1st place.
So that's kind of some of those like symptoms that maybe you can
start looking at obviously like once we get into losing your
(29:19):
period and stress fractures and other more, you know, like
serious side effects of this, that's where it's been going on
for a longer period of time. So some of the earlier things
maybe would be that prolonged recovery time or soft tissue
injuries just decreases in performance overall, whether it
(29:42):
is speed or power or strength ingeneral, endurance, like those
things will all start to take a dip.
So if that's something that you're starting to see in
yourself where you're like, oh, I don't feel as strong as I used
to or I'm not as fast as I used to be.
Those could be cues for you to kind of take a look and, and,
(30:04):
and maybe have a conversation, whether it's with me or someone
else, you know, who probably preferably a dietitian when
you're talking about the red specifically having those
conversations of like, hey, I'm,I'm experiencing these or, you
know, even talking to someone you trust and just having that
conversation, I think would be really a good starting point to
(30:27):
determining like, OK, what's going on here?
Like where, you know, where are things going wrong that like
I'm, I'm starting to see these decreases in my performance.
Yeah. And we obviously, you know, I, I
told you a little bit of our back story and we talked about
this, me and Laura talked about this, but we see irregular
periods. I would, I don't know if
(30:50):
alarming is the right word, but a too high of a percentage of
athletes. And as you mentioned, we have
experienced very similar things that you have, which many of
those athletes have been told that that's normal, that it's
normal and all the way until thepoint where we have athletes who
have stress fractures. Now these are stress fractures
that are common in our sport, things like pars fractures in
(31:14):
the back. And the things that do happen
for athletes, unfortunately, as they are young and kind of going
through that puberty window and they're, you know, we have
overuse and we have some things that play into it as well.
But we have athletes who are experiencing irregular periods
or missed periods and experiencing bone issues and are
(31:34):
still going to the doctor and they're like, that's just
overuse. That's just, you know, it's the
normal course of things. So I guess just like to
reiterate, and I think it's really important that we
continue to help our female athletes advocate that that's
not normal and try to find someone that sort of we'll,
we'll go down that journey with you of trying to dive into what
(31:56):
what is going on and, and not tell you that those things are
normal outside of the bone, You know, the risk of injury and the
things that can come from just being depleted that long.
And you've, you already are starting to have irregular
periods. Let's say that an athlete kind
of maintains a performance they're fine with and is having
that and it's prolonged period of times.
(32:17):
Are there longer term ramifications for female
athletes to that kind of energy depletion?
As far as like, I'm looking ahead to my, you know, future,
I'm just making decisions based on today and, and this feels too
hard for me to try to feel more and this is just kind of what I
am and I'm fine for now. Like what are the other
ramifications that that women can see from from experiencing
(32:38):
something like that for a while?Yeah.
I mean, I think from a long termperspective, like, you know, it,
let's say you're at the high school level and yeah, you might
be able to push through, you know, through high school,
through college. But at a certain point, like
you're going to hit a wall somewhere, right?
(32:59):
Where like you're not going to be able to push through anymore,
whether it's a more severe fracture or, you know, like
something that you're not going to be able to recover for.
FEMA athletes are also at a higher risk for ACL tears
related to like estrogen and progesterone or estrogen, sorry.
(33:22):
And so those types of things too, like could take you out of
your sport. And like, I don't think that's
what anybody like, nobody wants to have a career ending injury,
you know, but not that those arecareer ending, but they're
certainly going to play a role there.
And then also just having those hormone balances first in sorry,
(33:44):
hormone imbalances for so long is really not something you want
because it's going to take time to recover from that.
And you know, those are things that just impact like day-to-day
function. And so we really want to try to
avoid that for like a very prolonged period of time
(34:08):
because, you know, nobody wants to go through any of that stuff,
you know? And, and I know again, I
understand, I was in high schoolat 1.2 and there were times
where I was like, I don't care, like whatever, I'm young.
Like I get it. But at the same time, it's like,
think about where you want to befrom like a performance
(34:28):
standpoint. You know, like, especially if
you're in high school, like do you want to go on to play in
college? If so, like there could be
scholarships on the line for that.
And so we want to make sure thatyou are performing and like, do
set these, you know, habits now so that when you get to college,
it's a lot easier. And you already have this, like,
(34:50):
foundational knowledge of like, OK, well, I know I need to be
like, eating like this. And then you can make fine-tuned
adjustments from there. So yeah.
Yeah, I think that makes sense. I think part of the, you know,
we a lot of our listeners, our coaches and also parents, and I
think a lot of this comes down to the parent helping the
(35:12):
athlete advocate for herself. Obviously, these are hard
conversations. And as a teenager, I mean, some
of our athletes, they, you know,just got their first period.
They don't know whether it's supposed to be regular or
regular or what it looks like, you know, they need to be
educated on these things. So it does come to the parents a
lot to kind of advocate for the this type of conversation.
(35:33):
And I think the more we just keep kind of like screaming from
the rooftops that is not normal to have an irregular period.
And I think some of this US camefrom, you know, the the kind of
original definition of this was really tied in these sports
where like body weight being lowwas.
A. Key performance metric.
So you know, we reference gymnastics and long distance
(35:55):
running and these sports where where women were actively being
told and men and that sport like, you know, if women
wrestled more, I'm sure would come into play for that.
Or like these sports that are really about keeping your body
weight low or stopping your period intentionally.
They are, you know, stopping puberty almost intentionally on
these things. And so that's where some of the
(36:15):
definitions around this syndrome, you know, this
dysfunction came into play. And so I think a lot of Times
Now, because the sport system that women are in is changing
dramatically. We have way more women in very
intense and competitive sports, which is amazing.
But we're also finding that now that sort of dysfunction or
(36:38):
irregularity is coming from a sport like softball that really
has nothing to do with being lowbody weights, you know, keeping
those things down. And so we don't have a language
to talk about it. And so we've had athletes where
they've gone, you know, to the doctor or they've gone to
things. And that's been a question of
like, well, you're not in, you know, you're not in these kind
(36:58):
of like things that we would anticipate this to happen.
And so that's probably not the case for you.
And we've like lost the language, I think to talk about.
It's probably just the case now that female athletes are going
to deal with this on a differentlevel because they are engaging
so much in competitive sports ata very high level.
And this is just part of the reality of their body.
(37:19):
But yeah, I think it's really important for our listeners to
just know to really push that conversation.
If someone's telling you it's regular and I yeah, it's just,
it's not. So if it if you're having it, go
talk to Courtney and talk about what the what the kind of
challenges you might be facing. So kind of to leave our
listeners here with maybe some key things that like, OK, I'm a
(37:44):
female athlete. I don't have any of the red
flags as far as like I'm not feeling suit.
Maybe I'm feeling a little tiredbecause my schedule's really
busy. I'm struggling to kind of feel
like where I would fit things inwhether just like some of the
key, if you could check XYZ box,you know, whether some of the
key takeaways you think would bejust like really good places to
(38:05):
start for the more. You know, like I said, I'm not
if you're facing any of the challenges talked about, which
are the the bigger challenges, then I think go kind of seeking
help would be great. But we are before that and
you're trying to figure that outwhere there are some key
takeaways for those people. Yeah, I mean, I think if you're
a female athlete and, you know, you're just kind of going
(38:26):
through the motions right now oflike, OK, well, I'm not really
experiencing anything too intense.
But yeah, like you said, maybe Iam feeling a little more
fatigued. I think just taking a second to
check in with yourself of like, OK, what am I, you know, after
you've listened to this episode,what am I doing day-to-day that
(38:47):
maybe aligns with some of the things that might be
contributing to my lower energy?You know, am I getting enough
sleep? Am I eating enough?
You know, am I skipping breakfast?
Am I skipping lunch? And then just going straight
into practice and those are kindof some things to just take a
look at. And it doesn't take a lot of
(39:08):
time to kind of do a quick checkin with yourself.
You know, it can be less than 5 minutes of like, OK, let me
think back through my day or my week of like where maybe things
may have been missed. So taking a second just to check
in with yourself and see like where am I at right now and how
am I feeling with this can be really helpful.
(39:30):
And then also, you know, again, trying to just incorporate some
of those really simple snacks, like I'm not telling you to go
make a gourmet meal every singleday.
Like I understand that's not a reality for a lot of people.
Like I'm I am a full supporter of making things as easy as
(39:52):
possible. And sometimes that means like
using more like quote UN quote convenience food.
So like you utilizing frozen options, frozen fruits and.
Veggies are a great way to get them in because you don't have
to worry about them spoiling. Sometimes they're actually more
nutrient dense than their fresh counterparts just because
they've been like picked and harvested at their peak
(40:14):
freshness and then frozen. So those are great.
Like super easy to incorporate that way.
So, yeah, just trying to get some of those like, really
simple snacks in throughout yourday if you can.
And then, yeah, also just like trying to, you know, like get as
much fuel in as possible, whether it is, you know, liquid
(40:35):
sources or those snacks. And increasing your overall
meals in general I think is a great place to start, as well
as, you know, making sure you are getting enough carbohydrates
on your plate too. So if you're not sure, like if
you're that person that's bringing a salad to lunch every
day, that's fine. Please keep eating your salad
(40:56):
because I want you to have thoseveggies, but also maybe
incorporate, you know, some extra fruit on the side or, you
know, maybe you're bringing a sandwich with you.
It could be like APB and J, something super easy.
It doesn't have to be anything crazy.
But yeah, just trying to keep itas simple as possible and also
not worrying too much about like, all the other diet culture
(41:21):
things that were fed through theInternet.
So. Yeah.
Yeah, if people want to find you, you know, they have more
questions or they're, you know, have an athlete that's
interested in working with you, where can they find your
information? Obviously we'll also put it in
the show notes and we'll put it in the captions and things, and
we're sharing these things, but maybe social media handles
(41:41):
things like that. Yeah, well, you can follow me on
Instagram. My Instagram handle is my first
and last name, so you can just copy and paste that into there.
So kind of long. And then yeah, if you're
interested in working together, I would say Instagram is the
best way to kind of get in touchwith me.
(42:02):
Just shoot me Adm honestly, and we can chat more about what
you're looking to do and kind ofwhat you might be struggling
with. I'm always open to having those
conversations or just sharing any information.
If you have any questions about anything, my DMS are always
open. So yeah, Instagram is the best
best place for now. Awesome.
(42:24):
Well, thank you so much. I think this is just such a
great conversation and super relevant for our athletes and
the things that they deal with. And so I know that people will
have great takeaways from today like and subscribe the OGX
Podcast anywhere you listen to your podcast, it helps us and we
appreciate it.
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