My Personal Sports Nutrition Journey
Do you want to know why I’m so passionate about nutrition when it comes to sports? Because I personally did everything wrong as an athlete and looking back KNOW my diet had everything to do with any and all of the issues I experienced.
Me making homemade energy gels
If you’re a younger athlete, I’ll take you back to high school for me...simply put, I did not consume enough calories for the amount of activity I participated in. Add to that, our gyms at the time were not air conditioned and I lived in southeast MO. So, I was also chronically dehydrated because of the amount of sweat lost and no one to teach us how to properly rehydrate. Then, there is the soda and processed foods teenagers love to eat and practically live off of anymore. All of these things were just setting me up for more failure as a collegiate athlete. I had already started to experience some gut issues with doctors saying I had an ulcer and to take some meds, eat bland foods, and quit stressing and it would go away. Keep in mind, I thought I was being healthier by restricting calories. Eating 4 crackers and a piece of cheese for lunch was not enough to sustain a 2 hour afternoon practice.
“Body image for young athletes, especially female, is a serious concept in sports. Overall health and wellbeing, performance and recovery is what should be emphasized from coaches, staff, AND peers.”
My freshman year of college volleyball was like many where I ate the cafeteria food (mostly processed carbohydrates like noodles, crackers, breads and cereals and cheap dairy) for at least two meals per day, fast food because it was cheap, and consumed alcohol more often than I should have. I gained the freshman 15 as they call it, created more gut issues unknowingly, and started having allergies and joint pain as well. The worst was the cystic acne I was experiencing. To address all of these, I went to the dermatologist, who put me on every antibiotic they could to try to decrease the acne cycle. Birth control was also in the mix. I went to the doctor for my allergies, which I was told I needed to be on Allegra for the rest of my life and should use Flonase and Singulair as well. The gut issues would come and go but eventually got to the point where my assistant coach at the time had to take me to the ER because the pain got so bad. They did a barium test and diagnosed me with spasmodic ulcer disease and gave me a pill for that. Lastly, the joint pain. I thought it was just normal territory being an athlete to have aches and pains but we are talking inflammation that led to plantar fasciitis, in which I had a cortisone injection in my foot, patella tendonitis that required me to take ibuprofen daily, ice daily, and warm up my legs in the hot tub prior to every practice/game. I eventually developed biceps tendonitis (shoulder issues) as well, which I had more cortisone injections for. To say the least, I was a mess.
“You go down a rabbit hole...the body is connected. It works synergistically and is not meant to be separated into different systems. One thing affects the other. To help a problem, you must help the cause. ”
My saving grace was the fact that I was majoring in Physical Education with an emphasis on Exercise Science. I took a lot of health and wellness classes with some nutrition sprinkled in. I had a professor who taught me about supplements, especially creatine. I started researching more and seeking out diet information that might help me lose weight and help my skin heal. The over-exercising and under-eating hadn’t worked for weight loss. In fact, I think my body stored more fat as a result since it was starving for nutrients. I pushed my body to the brink and loved every part of being a D-1 athlete. But, there is life after athletics. I did not get to reap the benefits of changing my diet as a college athlete, but I did as an adult athlete. What an unbelievable difference it made!
Completing my first marathon with the right nutrition!
Thinking back, the processed foods, the ibuprofen, and the antibiotics led to my gut issues. There were no good bacteria left! Therefore, allergies presented themselves because I had a leaky gut. The birth control pills and hormonal imbalances as well as the poor diet was part of my acne issues. And, all of them together is what eventually led to a body full of inflammation that presented itself in my joints and the inability to lose weight. It was all tied together and the root cause was what I was putting into my body. When I changed my diet, my whole life changed. I lost weight, my cystic acne went away, I no longer needed allergy meds, and started using food and supplements to help with my inflammation, which made my joint pain go away. The body works synergistically as a whole. It is not meant to be broken apart into systems because somewhere down the line, it is all related and it usually starts with your gut health. This is why I’m passionate about teaching nutrition to athletes. I know athletes can reach full potential if they focus on diet just as much as their physical training. You don’t have to go through what I did and feel awful, bloated, and sick all of the time. You can feel vibrant, energized, healthy and strong, which will all carry over into your performance. You can’t outtrain a bad diet.
“Listen to your body. Be your own doctor and dietitian. If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?”
