What does a sports nutritionist do for you – well.. that depends. The good ones will take a holistic approach and deliver a plan plus education bespoke to you. For example, if you’re a tennis player but still in part-time work, then a good nutritionist will take that into account and help you fuel for the work required. A bad nutritionist, which unfortunately there are many who BS advice sell a dream and in reality, it’s just a fad. For example, let’s take intermittent fasting – which is one of the biggest sellers in online coaching for nutritionists. All it means is eating in a window and then ‘fasting’ for the other part, and then people start to lose weight due to missing meals. This actually just creates a calorie deficit. There are far more sustainable ways to lose or gain weight – if you’re an athlete reducing the quantity of protein or fats will likely have a bigger impact. Plus, fuelling for the actual work required is vital to succeeding as an athlete. Simple measures such as living a habitual high carbohydrate life are essential and then increasing and tapering calories/CHO/PRO/Fats throughout the week to match the required workload is far more optimal.

 

In terms of performance, then you will often see nutritionist sell supplements which combat fatigue or does this amazing thing. In truth, supplements do very little, and if they have a huge factor in your life, then you either have an unbalanced diet or a banned substance. There are some exemptions, such as vitamin D deficiency, which is common in the UK.

 

What will a Sports Nutritionist tell me to eat?

 

A great question; a sports nutritionist will tell you to eat all the things you love and customise your eating habits to follow an evidence-based approach.

 

We want you to meet your daily recommended values for optimal health.

 

We want you to Fuel correctly to maximise your performance.

 

We want you to hydrate and re-fuel appropriately to stop fatigue crashing.

 

So what’s the take home?

 

Simple, look for a sports nutritionist who will support, guide and be honest with you. Not one that will see you on an intermittent fasting programme or some other BS. If someone is pushing supplements, then they will likely benefit from you purchasing them.

 

Lastly, it’s really important to determine the goals of working with a sports nutritionist – for example here are some of the topics that get covered while working with me.

 

Education and guidance on how to fuel for your sport or profession.

Non-bias take on supplements which may be useful.

A weekly planner with normal foods adjusted to fit a specific schedule

A 360 approach to Fuelling, Re-fuelling, Hydration and meeting DRV’s.

Customised evidence-based programming