Welcome to my blog! I’ve been a sports nutritionist for nearly 15 years and I absolutely love my job. I’m the nutrition consultant to the Philadelphia Phillies and I work one-one-one with men and women in numerous sports, from pros to college, high school and recreational athletes.
The C.S.S.D. after my name stands for Board Certified as a Specialist in Sports Dietetics (that’s a mouth full, huh?). In a nutshell, C.S.S.D. is the top sports nutrition certification you can get. First, you have to become a registered dietitian (R.D.), which requires at least a bachelor of science degree in nutrition (I have a B.S. in nutrition and 2 masters degrees), a 900 hour supervised internship, and passing a national comprehensive registration exam. I then had to complete a minimum of 1,500 hours of specialty practice experience in sports nutrition, and finally take another (very difficult) board certification exam. But all that hard work was all worth it, because the right nutrition plan can truly transform an athlete, from boosting power and strength, to improving flexibility, pumping up endurance, speeding recovery, reducing injury risk, decreasing inflammation, and bolstering immunity.
Sports nutrition is all about giving a body in motion what it needs to perform well and recover properly. Whether you get your adrenaline pumping on a field, in the water, or riding a board, what, how much and when you eat really does set the stage for how well you play, and how much you benefit from each training session or workout.
That phrase, “You are what you eat” is absolutely true – nutrients from food are literally the foundation for the structure, function, and integrity of your tissues, from your immune system to your muscles. Here’s the deal: every cell in your body has a pre-programmed life span – a stomach cell lives about a day, a skin cell about a month. So each and every day your body is busy making new cells to replace those that have died off, and how healthy and strong those new cells are is directly determined by how well you’ve been eating. A junk food filled diet low on nutrients doesn’t give your body much to work with (it’s like constructing a house with cardboard and tape instead of bricks and mortar). But a powered up eating plan can help you build cells that are stronger, less susceptible to injury, and heal quicker. When you really think about the power of nutrition, it’s just phenomenal!
On top of all that “regeneration,” athletes are always repairing existing cells. This includes recovering from the wear and tear of performing, as well as training. When you spend a few hours hitting the weights, you’re creating stress on muscle and bone cells, and it’s the healing of those cells that makes them stronger. During recovery, nutrients from your diet travel to muscle and bone to heal it. This builds new muscle and denser bones. So in reality, it’s the recovery from training rather than the training itself that makes you a better athlete. Without adequate rest and nutrition, you’re just tearing down cells and actually getting weaker rather than stronger.
All of this is why I’m so excited to share my tips, strategies and info with you each week. I’ll include the best foods to eat, which to avoid, what to drink, the low-down on supplements, and easy ways to power up your plate to keep you body in peak performance. If there are specific topics you’d like me to tackle, send me a note. I look forward to hearing from you!