NEW! A Group Sports Nutrition Program Specifically for the Young Athlete!

Hello everyone!

I hope your Spring is going well. It’s my, hands down, favorite time of year :)

If you’ve been following along with me this year, whether via this blog or Instagram, you know I have been focused a LOT on this topic of underfueling. It is probably the #1 conversation topic I have with 95% of the athletes that come to see me because of an injury. Yes, it can be intentional but it is also often completely unintentional. Little changes in an athlete’s training schedule or school schedule or a sudden growth spurt with no change in intake can suddenly shift them into this state of underfueling. Underfueling can increase risk of injury, it can lead to poorer performance and it can be the underlying reason an athlete can’t build the muscle they need for a certain sport or position on the team. When I say underfueling, I can be referring to calories or specific nutrients or both. If an athlete is underfueling in energy (calorie intake) they are much more likely to be under consuming specific nutrients needed for growth, development, performance and injury prevention.

Last year I realized how, despite this underfueling being such a big deal, athletes and families are often uninformed about its severity and the risks associated with it. I know I was completely in the dark about this condition when I was a teen athlete. So, I decided at the start of this new year to do a deep dive into all different topics centered around underfueling, to at least help educate my followers and readers. And that’s what you will find if you look back through the blog topics from this year.

In the last couple of years I’ve talked a lot with athletes about how to eat enough for their training level, what nutrients to include to ensure best performance and help prevent injuries like stress fractures. I’ve also done a LOT of education on how to use nutrition to optimize recovery from injuries like a stress fractures but also other big injuries like ACL tears. I’ve worked hard to help coach and guide athletes through these long recovery periods to feel confident in how they are eating during this restricted period of exercise and help them understand how to create meals and snacks that will serve their recovery, helping them maintain muscle, build back muscle while healing from a surgery, and maximize bone health.

I’ve chatted with hundreds of athletes over the last couple of years and I’ve discovered a few things:

• So many young athletes don’t learn anything about nutrition in school (they might get a week of education from their health class)

• So many young athletes WANT to learn about nutrition and understand how they can use it to fuel their body, recover from injury, etc (many many athletes have visited with me simply to learn)

• While, of course, nutrition on its own is not the answer to preventing all injuries it is the driving factor in certain injuries, like stress fractures.

• And, while many factors contribute to an injured athlete’s recovery plan, nutrition can keep the athlete on track or it can slow their recovery down or make it a bigger hill to climb once they are cleared to return to sport

With all this to say, I’ve had this thought nagging at me for over a year of, “these athletes could really use a place to go to learn (1) nutrition fundamentals (2) key sports nutrition principles and (3) how to use this info for their own performance and injury prevention.”

With that thought, I’ve seen how my process of working with young athletes over the years has improved their sports nutrition knowledge, enabled them to implement this information into their own routine AND allowed them to see and feel a difference in their performance / health / recovery / etc.

That’s why today I’m EXTREMELY EXCITED to tell you that I have finally done something about it!!

I’ve created an EXCELLENT resource for young athletes (and their caregivers) who are ready to learn and ready to implement the nutritions strategies they need to perform well, prevent injury and more during these critical years of growth and development.

It’s an online group sports nutrition program geared specifically for the young athlete! If this interests you at all and you want to learn more I encourage you to sign up for the WAITLIST!

By signing up for the program Waitlist you will:

• Receive more details about the program

• Receive bonus offers when doors open to register 

• Be one of the first offered a spot (there will be limited spots in this first group) before sign-up is offered to the public.

I’m really so so excited to finally get to offer this resource to young athletes (and their families). Make sure to sign up for the Waitlist if you want to get more details and, as always, you can reach out to me any time if you have questions!

Much love and a well-fueled athlete,

Taylor

RED-S: The reason for your athlete’s struggles?

RED-S: Is it the reason for your athlete’s struggles?

I know I’m talking a lot about underfueling lately. But, with what I know and all I’ve seen in the last couple of years, I feel like I would be doing my followers, clients and athletes a true disservice if I glossed over the topic or, worse, didn’t address it at all.

So, today I’m going to spend time giving you a surface-level overview on a relatively new medical condition known as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, also known as RED-S. 

I talk about this condition ALL THE TIME whether I’m in clinic or speaking in schools or speaking at a conference. I can speak in depth on this topic for 30 to 45 minutes if given the time but this post is just to give you an introduction to this important-to-know-about condition so it will be much more brief. So, today I hope to hit the high points on this important condition called RED-S.

BEFORE THERE WAS RED-S

Researchers have been studying underfueling, or as I explained in my last post, Low Energy Availability (LEA), for a long time. 

Lea in Females

Initially this occurrence of LEA was associated with females in what was termed the Female Athlete Triad. The Female Athlete Triad  is a medical condition in which a female athlete experiences one of the following: 

1. Compromised bone health

2. Irregular menstrual cycle

3. Underfueling (intentional or unintentional)

lea in Males

As researchers and clinicians continued to look into underfueling and its effects on athletes, their health and their performance they found that a similar condition to the Female Athlete Triad with similar consequences could present itself in males as well. And so a condition in male athletes was established called the Male Athlete Triad. 

In males the condition could manifest in several ways, very similar to females:

1. Compromised bone health

2. Altered hormone levels and cycles (testosterone levels, etc.)

3. Underfueling (intentional or unintentional)

In both Female Athlete & Male Athlete Triad…

Not all components have to be present to be diagnosed by a physician. It might be that the athlete only exhibits one. However, if one component is present, it is very likely that others are present as well and so further examination into the others is recommended. From my practice, I see that the root cause is the underfueling. And from there, if not noticed and managed leads to what we see and the athlete experiences - the bone injuries and / or the hormone changes. lost periods, etc.

In practice…

I typically come in when a female athlete has:

• lost her period for 3 months or more or 

• has experienced one or more stress fractures or

• when an athlete has exhibited some significant weight loss or a weight plateau in the last few months to years, causing her to start falling off her growth chart.

I’ve found that for some female athletes it takes a small amount of underfueling and for others it takes extreme underfueling for their menstrual cycle to be disrupted. But, just because a female athlete still has her period, it does not mean she is for sure fueling enough and appropriately. Just something to keep in mind.

I typically come in when male athletes have:

• had one or more stress injuries in the last year

• had altered labs at their last pediatrician visit  or 

• H=had recent weight loss or a weight plateau, causing them to start falling off their growth chart.

DISCOVERING RED-S

Researchers and clinicians were aware of the Female and Male Athlete Triad but continued to study the effects of underfueling and LEA (and we’re still studying LEA today).

the effects of underfueling and LEA can reach beyond decreased bone health, hormone regulation, and menstrual dysfunction

As they studied athletes and underfueling they started to see that the effects of underfueling and LEA can reach beyond decreased bone health, hormone regulation, and menstrual dysfunction. It can actually have a much wider scope of impact on the athlete’s health and performance. Underfueling can impact an athlete’s:

• mental health (seen or felt as increased anxiety for example), 

• cardiovascular health (ex: slowed heart rate as the body tries to preserve energy)

• metabolism

• gastrointestinal health

• immune system

• endocrine system

• haematological (iron deficiency anyone?)

• growth & development

DETECTING RED-S

Putting this into practice, some examples of when I would look further into RED-S and check an athlete’s fueling would be:

• A typical non-anxious athlete begins to struggle with anxiety.

• An athlete already diagnosed with anxiety has been feeling heightened anxiety lately.

• The pediatrician or other medical professional has observed a very low heart rate.

• The athlete has started complaining of GI issues like constipation or feeling like it takes a long time to digest food.  Maybe they just don’t get hungry anymore.

• The athlete is constantly getting sick or it’s taking a long time to recover.

• The athlete has experienced an injury and it’s taking a longer than expected amount of time to heal and recover.

• There are delays in growth and development. This could look like the athlete’s weight and height plateauing or falling off their growth curve. It could look like a 16 year old female athlete still not every having had a period.

• The athlete is complaining of extreme fatigue with exercise, weak muscles, hitting a wall. Labs come back from the pediatrician and patient has low iron levels.

• The athlete gets hormone labs at their well-check visit or another visit and they find low and altered levels of specific hormones.

what next?

Now, it’s important to take into account that there could be something very clinical going on and these complications have nothing to do with nutrition, so of course get it checked out by the appropriate specialist.  

BUT, at the same time, if there has been any change in the athlete’s training or the athlete’s intake, it may benefit the athlete to look at their fueling. Are they getting ENOUGH fuel each day? And then, are they getting enough of the best foods for them within those fuel choices? 

In practice…

Similar to what I included above, athletes with suspected RED-S typically show up in my office when:

• A female athlete has lost her period for 3 months or more

• A 15 or 16 year old competitive female athlete has not yet started her period

• An athlete has experienced one or more stress fractures

• An athlete has exhibited some significant weight loss or a weight plateau in the last few months to years, causing them to start falling off their growth chart.

• The athlete is experiencing repeated injuries or illness

• The athlete has had a sudden change in intake and food preferences

• The athlete has received altered nutrition labs like iron levels from the pediatrician or other markers that may indicate dehydration or altered nutrition intake

Sometimes taking a look at the athlete’s fueling plan and giving it a boost AND BEING CONSISTENT with these changes, can improve digestion, can help the athlete with their anxiety, can decrease illness and can allow appropriate, necessary and needed weight gain so the athlete can continue to reach their height potential and get through puberty.   

What I’m talking about today is something I see in my practice all the time. It’s also all found in the scientific literature. I’m linking a resource below in case any of you like to get really into the details and the science (like I do 🙂).

Resource for more reading:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9724109/pdf/nihms-1853616.pdf

And here’s a great graphic that explains RED-S by Keay & Rankin…

And, if you think your athlete could benefit from improved fueling, you can download my free Getting Started Guide HERE!

Until next time!

Much love and a well-fueled athlete,

Taylor

Is Your Athlete Underfueling? A Common Oversight

Is Your Athlete Underfueling?

Many of my posts have an underlying theme of underfueling but I realized I have not created a post specifically devoted to this topic. So, that’s what I’m going to take a few minutes to talk about today.

If you have been following along with me on Instagram lately, or in my Newsletters, then you have seen me talk about this topic. It has been the most asked for topic that coaches and athletic trainers have asked me to come speak on in this last year. And it is one of the top two reasons athletes have come to see me in clinic since the beginning of 2023 (with probably the other one being helping them navigate nutrition in their recovery, like from an ACL tear and repair).

Going into the field of sports nutrition and then, more specifically, pediatrics I didn’t think this is what I would spend the majority of time talking about. Although, it should not surprise me because for a time in my childhood I was absolutely another underfueled young athlete - even when I improved my fueling significantly, I was still underfueling. And I didn’t realize that part until I got into this field as an adult, started working with young athletes, and studying the field. So, I know how easy it is to say, “no, my fueling is good. It’s so much better than a year ago. There must be another reason for (xyz). Or, I’m doing well so my fueling must be optimal now”. 

If the young athlete is experiencing any of the signs or symptoms I’m about to mention, then they and their support team really need to take a closer look into their fueling. Improved food and energy intake can have a huge impact on performance, helping the athlete achieve the muscle gains they have been working on, it can improve endurance and speed, it can improve mental focus and, a big point, it can keep your athlete in the game and away from nutrition-related injuries that can have them out of their sport for months. From a health perspective, being well-fueled can improve the athlete’s mood, help keep anxiety down, promote heart health, metabolic health, and bone health. 

Maybe you are the athlete or have the athlete who has experienced some of the signs and symptoms below but they are still performing and practicing well. My thoughts to that are... 

“Ok, great. So you’re performing well off of minimal fuel. But, for how long? And, if you can perform well off not enough, JUST IMAGINE what you could do, how you could perform, the levels you could get to if you were fueling WELL. If you were fuleing your BEST. If you are talented and driven and scrappy enough to perform well off of too little fuel or the bare minimum, just think about what your body could do if it had all that it needed!! Imagine what it could do if it didn’t have to power down or compromise different systems so you could practice and perform?

I’m so passionate about this, clearly. And I get SO EXCITED when I see athlete’s performance improve with improved fueling. It could be small changes it could be big changes, but it makes a difference and I love to see this “click” in the young athletes I work with.

This is not just me talking about fueling and how important it is. This concept of underfueling has actually been studied and continues to be studied in great detail. From it has developed a term call Low Energy Availability, meaning the athlete does not have enough energy available at the end of the day each day to perform all of the functions demanded of it (think - exercise, studying, growth, development, breathing, eating, heartbeat, hormone cycles, etc.). Another way I like to explain this is that “if you have been underfuling consistently for a long period of time, you are likely in a state of Low Energy Availability (LEA)”. It can be intentional or it can be unintentional, but either way it means that some function of the body is very likely getting powered down or compromised (think loss of menstrual cycle in females, sluggish performance, fatigue, lowered heart rate, etc.) and can lead to decreased performance and injury.

Further research shows us that Low Energy Availability is often the root cause of a few other medical conditions now recognized in athletes.

These medical conditions stemming from LEA are:

• Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)

• Female Athlete Triad

• Male Athlete Triad

I’m not going to go into detail about these today, but will instead devote a separate blog post to each topic. They all can lead to decreased performance, health problems or injury, none of which we want in our young athletes! In future posts I also want to talk more about potential reasons for underfueling - intentional vs unintentional. The reason the athlete is underfueling can have a big impact on how we help them get fueled and the projected timeline of return to optimal fueling (or return to sport).

So, I’ll leave you today with a handful of the signs and symptoms of underfueling. Is your athlete experiencing any of these? If so, it’s likely time to start looking into their fueling habits and create a plan. And, definitely stick around for future posts where I go a little deeper and provide insight into these medical conditions caused by underfuleing.

Signs and Symptoms of Underfueling:

• Dizziness

• Fatigue

• Weight Loss

• Hair Loss

• Growth Disturbances (athlete stops gaining in height)

• Unable to build muscle

• Lost period or not starting period by age of 16

• Heightened anxiety and/or moodiness

• Low iron levels / iron deficiency

• Low heart rate (but must distinguish between underfuling and lower heart rate that elite athletes tend to have)

Much love and a well-fueled young athlete,

Taylor

Oh, and if you’re looking for a little more direction and a place to start taking action, you are welcome to download my free Getting Started to a Well-Fueled Young Athlete!

A Key to Fueling Well in 2024

Happy New Year, Everyone!

How is your year starting off? For me, in my current season of life, it’s a time to take a breath after a very fun but very hectic December.

I sent out my first newsletter of the year last week (you can sign up here if interested) and thought I would pull my intro message from my newsletter for this first post of the year because it’s a message that I really want people to hear and I know that not everyone who follows or lands on the blog is a newsletter subscriber. So, as we kick off this new year, I share with you what I hope will be one key practice you and especially your athlete keep in mind going into and throughout this next year…..

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An excerpt from my Winter 2024 Newsletter…

… I see young athletes in my practice for a variety of reasons. Some have sustained an injury, some have recurring injuries, some are struggling with body image related to their sport and some simply want to learn about sports nutrition so they can make food and fueling decisions on their own to improve their training and performance.

As I thought about this newsletter, I wondered, “if there was one thing I wanted athlete families and athletes to remember throughout this entire year, what would it be?” I reflected on most of the clients I worked with last year and, for our winter newsletter, I quickly landed on this…

If your athlete’s training increases, whether it’s the duration of practices, intensity of practices, or number of practices a week, then his/her intake should increase as well. Let me share a little more…

So many athletes have walked into my office over the last year due to injuries like stress fractures. Many are runners. Some play soccer. Some run and play soccer. Some are dancers. Some are gymnasts.Some play lacrosse. These injuries are not exclusive. Some are new to the sport and quickly take to it and some have been playing since they were six years old. Either scenario, they have recently been ramping up their mileage or hours in the studio or the gym or decided to play for school and club. During our conversation in my initial session I ask my usual questions about training schedule and level, food allergies, recent labs and appetite, specifically if there has been a change in appetite or intake over the last year or so. It’s often a casual conversation revealing no big allergies, altered labs or changes in intake or appetite and we continue on with our discussion.

Now PAUSE for a moment, as the sports dietitian I have already seen a big red flag. Did you see it?

It was the fact that there was no change in appetite or intake over the last year or so. What I would have wanted to hear, was “yes, we’ve seen an increase in his appetite” or “yes, she’s been packing bigger snacks or been snacking more since his training has picked up”. The fact that this adolescent athlete, who already has high energy and nutrient needs for growth and development, is intensely training daily, logging lots of miles or hours in the gym or on the field but without an increase in intake tells me he/she is very likely underfueling and likely has been underfueling for quite some time. And, if you have been following my blogs and social media, you know that underfueling puts an athlete at a high risk of stress fractures (and I’ll be talking more about this on the blog this year).

I share this with you today because I think we can (1) forget to think about our fuel when life gets busier and practices and school pick up and (2) get caught up in macros and micros and “healthy” and “unhealthy”. I know I did as a young adolescent athlete. However, it doesn’t matter what ratio of macros our athlete is getting or how much magnesium, potassium, calcium, etc. our athlete consumes if at the end of each day, day after day, they are at an energy deficit. If they are chronically in an energy deficit at the end of each day then they are still at risk of injuries like stress fractures, among other health concerns or it’s going to be super hard to reach goals for those trying to build muscle / gain weight.

So, this year, let’s help our athletes first and foremost fuel enough to help prevent injury and perform their best! Only when they are fueling enough will specific fueling strategies put in place be most effective.

This is what I intend to help you with this year. Over the next few months I plan to shed some light on underfueling. I saw this a lot in 2023. I saw injuries that could have been prevented if the athlete was optimally fueling. And the thing is, so much of it was unintentional. A lack of awareness of how food needed to change along with the athletes training and involvement in sport. I saw girls get their periods back, I saw runners reach new PR’s, I saw football and soccer players reach weight goals and I saw anxiety and moods improved as athletes learned nutrition fundamentals and built off of this foundational knowledge to improve their fueling. I’m even more passionate about this topic going into 2024 than going into 2023 (and I thought I was pretty passionate about it then). So, I share this with you today and shed a little light on what to expect in the months to come.

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Follow along my newsletter (sign up HERE), on my blog, on Instagram (@taylormorrisonRD) or on Facebook (Taylored Nutrition, LLC) where I will continue to share content with you and hopefully create more ease and understanding when it comes to fueling the young athlete. I know fueling can be really hard in different seasons for a variety of different reasons. My goal here at Taylored Nutrition is to guide you and your athlete through some of those difficult scenarios and give you both facts and resources so that your athlete can feel more confident in fueling enough and fueling well through those tough situations and perform his/her best.

There are other big topics I want Taylored Nutrition to cover this year such as: factors around recovery after injury, supplement use in YAs, energy drinks and more. But as we get started, this topic of underfueling (unintentional and intentional) is where I want to start.

Stick with me and I’ll talk to you again soon!

Much love and a well fueled athlete,

Taylor

P.s. -

If you’re looking for direction on where to start when it comes to helping make sure your athlete is fueling well, you can download my FREE Getting Started Guide HERE!

If you’re looking for a little more help and okay spending a bit of money ($30) to start off the new year, I’m excited to announce that I’m hosting our first parent chat of 2024! Our Winter Parent Group Chat will be held virtually on Thursday January 25th at 7:15pm CST! This is a great chance to discuss some basic nutrition info to know for fueling the young athlete with a registered sports dietitian (me) and other parents of young athletes. You can learn more about these by reading this blog here or reading more here. It’s only $30 per person and space is limited to allow for good discussion. If you would like to join us this month to kick of the year, you can REGISTER HERE!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out via email (taylor@taylored-nutrition.com) or send me a DM on Instagram (@taylormorrisonRD). I would love to hear from you!