Fuelling For Performance Health And Injury Prevention With Sally Walker Advanced Sports Dietician Je

Have you ever wondered how active women fuel themselves, or more specifically, how they know what foods to use to fuel their body?

Well, you've come to the right place to find out.

Sally Walker is an advanced sports dietitian who's worked across more than 25 different sporting programs, including as the lead dietitian at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.

While Jelena Savic is a naturopath with over 13 years experience in the health and fitness industry.

Put these two great minds together, and this episode has some epic information about what nutrients active women need.

I think, yes.

My name's Sophie, and I'm the producer here at the Female Athlete Project.

Together, Jelena and Sally have a wealth of knowledge about the nutritional needs of a woman's body.

This chat is brought to you by Athena Sports.

Who are changing the sports nutrition game for women.

Honestly, I have already learnt so much about nutrition just from listening along, and we hope you do too.

Jelena and Sally, welcome to the Female Athlete Project.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks for having me too.

This is going to be a really interesting chat.

Jelena, we might start with you.

Okay.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background as a naturopath?

Okay.

So, I've always been interested in natural remedies and natural health.

I can remember, and more so about how the body works on a biological level.

I always had a really, really big interest in that.

So, I guess through high school, I did the biology, the health, the psychology, and then that was a nice little segue into getting into the field of naturopathy.

So, looking at a course in natural medicine.

Didn't exactly know what I was actually stepping into, but thought I'd give it a go.

These are the things that I like.

These are what I'm interested in.

But once I got in there, I absolutely loved it.

Especially, I guess the principles that underpin naturopathy is what really got me understanding that, you know, we treat every person as a whole, you know, and we're always looking at or addressing the causes of health issues.

We're not just, you know, trying to help the symptoms.

We're actually looking what's underneath and what's going on and mental aspects and physical aspects and environmental aspects and how they're all interconnected.

So, yeah, that's kind of how I got into naturopathy.

And it's just continued from there.

Worked in health food and then had my little clinic for a few years.

That was really interesting.

Loved doing that.

Learned a lot.

And now I'm working for Athena as the national product trainer.

So, I get to educate individuals on a broader scale about health and wellness, which is what I really love to do.

Was that something that you would have anticipated early on in your career that you would have ended up in?

No.

I always loved educating.

So, no matter what I did.

After uni with the different jobs that I had, it was always within the health food industry and the fitness industry.

The biggest thing I loved doing was teaching.

So, there was educating customers that came in the store, educating staff, always learning more.

So, yeah, when this sort of role came up, I thought that's so me.

I want to be able to educate as many people as I can about health and wellness and fitness and yeah.

Have you found in more recent years that people are more open and more understanding?

Of the holistic approach?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, 100%.

There's much more of an understanding around the benefits of that health and wellness and prevention of actual illnesses.

So, if we're going to look at things like, you know, traditionally people used to, you know, really just go and see a natural healthcare practitioner.

You know, when they've sort of at the end that they've had an injury.

Or an illness or something like that.

And it can be really effective to help with kind of recovery and repair and things like that.

But definitely more of a shift to understanding more of that preventative approach now.

And people are definitely looking at what they can do to actually increase their quality of life, you know, and optimal health and wellness, you know, to prevent any issues from actually occurring.

Yeah, absolutely.

Sally, I met you in what feels like a former life back in the day when I was playing basketball.

Yes.

Tell us a little bit about your experience.

History and experience as a dietitian.

So, I'm an advanced sports dietitian.

Specialised largely in sport.

I did a double degree in dietetics and exercise rehab.

So, always had a fascination with just the human body and its ability to grow and repair and recover.

And to be able to use food as a way to contribute to that and help enhance that and improve that was always a fascinating concept for me.

So, to be able to work in that space, especially around performance and being able to improve someone's performance with the food that they're eating.

So, moved to specialise in sports, working with AFL, NRL and then at the New South Wales Institute of Sport with a range of, you know, 16 different sports programs.

So, we had it any one time.

It's a lot of sports.

Yeah, yeah.

500 athletes at one point and I was the only dietitian there.

So, being able to...

Show the value and importance of nutrition within a sporting system and to be able to increase the nutrition services and exposure to nutrition that athletes had and to be able to see that impact that it made on their journey as an athlete.

And for me to be involved in an athlete's journey as well was a really special sort of behind the scenes part of being able to be involved in sport.

To be able to be part of and witness the work.

That athletes do and the commitment and dedication that they've got to sport and to work as part of a team to do something that you could never just do on your own.

So, I like the sport side of that and the team approach and working together and being able to build that out.

To then sort of go on to larger teams and being the lead dietitian for the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast and Birmingham and the lead dietitian for the Tokyo Olympic team.

When we went to Tokyo in 2021.

I'm looking forward to asking about that one.

How much does your job vary when you're working with athletes across such a wide range of sports like you were at NSW?

Having to cater for the different demands of different athletes.

Yes.

I think it actually influenced my style as a dietitian and how I sort of work with clients now and my sort of philosophies and concept around nutrition.

In that there is no one diet per person.

Perfect approach that everyone should be doing, which is what everyone seems to be searching for that one answer and everyone else has got it wrong and one person's got it right and we all should do that.

It's sort of how to meet a need.

And when you were working, when I was working with so many sports, it was very much targeted in where do you need to be?

How can I help you get there?

Rather than trying to push loads of nutrition messages, like I had to be quite efficient and targeted with my time.

And being able to take that approach to pull out someone's needs of where are you at?

What's your training?

What are your barriers?

And how do we apply nutrition strategies for you to be able to reach that goal and to reach that target?

Created a nice framework for how you can work with anyone.

So sort of working more in frameworks and concepts to be able to teach people how to make decisions themselves.

And I think with that amount of athletes too, I couldn't be.

I was spoon feeding them what to eat and updating meal plans every day.

So it was to teach people how to make decisions around food and what to eat and to help them own their diet and to own their choices to be able to reach their goals and their outcomes.

Yeah, and I saw you nodding along when Sally was touching on the people trying to find kind of the one answer or the one right thing.

Is that something you have a lot in your mind?

You hear a lot, I should say.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I think.

And it's nutrition is so broad.

There's so much to it.

There's so much information out there.

So I can understand how it can be so confusing for individuals.

They are trying to find that, you know, one right meal plan or one right way to go.

But everyone is so different.

Everyone is so individual.

And depending on your lifestyle and what your goals are and any underlying issues that you might have.

And so it all needs to be considered.

So there's not one diet that fits all.

There never has been.

There never will be.

So seeing someone professionally to help you, you know, figure out what you need for your goal.

And like you said, battery use and all these kinds of things that need to be considered.

Probably the best way to go if someone really wants to figure that out.

If someone hasn't seen a naturopath before or doesn't know what they do, can you break it down?

Okay, so a naturopath is a holistic medical professional, mainly focusing on natural health, natural remedies,

to help with healing the body.

So supporting the body through healing processes or helping someone maintain their health,

if that's what they're looking for.

And using different tools like nutrition, herbal medicine, lifestyle changes, dietary changes.

So lots of little tools like that to basically just help individuals be at their optimal best

in terms of their health and their wellness and what they're looking for.

We talked before about your passion for education.

Yes.

Has it been difficult with this boom in social media and TikTok and people,

the influence of spreading sometimes misinformation?

Yes, definitely.

Even when I'm sometimes scrolling, I'm like, oh no.

So there is definitely a lot better information now than I think there ever used to be.

But definitely there can be some misinformation as well.

So I'm all about do the research.

So if you've heard something, if it resonates with you, before taking it,

you know, completely to heart, like, you know, do a little bit of research, you know,

check it three times, you know, you don't just do Google or TikTok, but, you know,

just do a little bit more research and have a few more discussions with people.

You can be inspired by it, but you don't need to be led by it.

Absolutely.

A hundred percent.

This is some good advice.

I like this.

People need to hear this.

It's good.

Even now to this day, even though I know, you know, might know all this information,

I will still triple check something before I'll say something out loud.

Just, it's, I think it's the best way to go.

Yeah, absolutely.

And Sally?

Can you break down for us, for someone who might not know what a dietitian actually is?

Yeah.

So a common question, and I'll take the time to cover it, the difference between a nutritionist

and a dietitian is generally a postgraduate or extended degree in dietetics, nutrition,

sort of an entry level course.

And then dietetics is the ability to clinically diagnose issues within a diet.

So it generally is more study.

And then there is a accreditation process which happens with that.

So I'm an accredited practicing dietitian, which means clients can claim on Medicare

and come and use my services that way.

And an advanced sports dietitian, which means there's a governing body accrediting our services,

keeping our professional development up to date and maintaining standards in what the

science is saying, keeping us up to date and sort of open-minded.

And having a code of conduct and all of that sort of thing to be able to see the public,

to be able to work a bit more clinically in that space based on science rather than trends

or fads or popular messages that people might want to see.

What does your clinical application look like when dealing with male athletes versus female

athletes?

So clinical, like any individual, being able to pull out where's this body at?

What do they need?

What is this body?

Also,

they're telling me too.

So people's ability to listen to their body and it may be that males and females have

got a different body awareness to be able to identify, look, this just isn't right in

me and I want to do something about it.

Whereas either gender might just put their head in the sand and sort of keep on going

with it and not realize that it's an issue to deal with.

In being able to get more information.

So the better you can understand someone's body through blood tests and different results,

you can get from tests, which is similar to what you do in naturopathy, the more considered

you can make a clinical diagnosis on what's being shown back to you and then looking at

a diet and being able to assess the amounts and the portions and the different types of

foods that they're having.

If there's adequate calcium in the diet, there's adequate iron and whether they would be receiving

that based on the food that they're currently eating in their diet by doing a dietary assessment,

how frequently they're eating.

Yeah.

And the nutrients that are in that.

So combining the two together helps to give sort of a lot more well-rounded consideration

for whether that diet is right for that individual and whether it's also meeting sort of the

recommended amounts of nutrients in the body.

What are some of the common things you're seeing amongst female athletes?

Generally with female athletes, it is a lower just total energy availability and having

purely enough energy to have.

Have the body to be able to perform and to function, to push yourself to recover and to

be able to meet that need.

There's sort of signs and signals like menstrual cycles stopping and tiredness, fatigue from

low iron and they're all things we can read into to sort of, we might not know the answer

exactly, but it's time to assess your diet.

It's time to look at this.

This isn't sort of how it's you want to be.

So how much more assessment?

Can we look at?

And it largely will be low iron in a lot of case because females do need twice the amount

of iron as males do because of the losses in menstrual cycles each month.

And then active females who are training quite regularly, doing high intense training, high

impact training.

If someone's sort of running and distance running, sweating a lot, they're going to

lose additional iron through those sources as well.

So there's a couple of different factors that they've got sort of.

Presenting to them and barriers that can sort of wipe out iron stores quite, quite quickly.

So being able to determine whether that fatigue is from hydration levels, whether they may just

need more energy, more fluid, or whether it is iron and again, sort of making a considered

assessment, not just, you know, this is what it might be, but I think.

And Jelena, for you, what are some of the specific things that you're dealing with when

consulting or educating women around naturopathy?

So it would.

Definitely revolve a lot around their menstrual cycle.

So especially different issues like gut health, I find is a huge one that revolves around

the menstrual cycle.

More women have a lot more gut issues in comparison to their male counterparts.

So that would be probably the biggest thing, one of the biggest things.

And again, like Sally mentioned, things like energy levels was always an issue and iron

levels as well.

So definitely seeing a lot more women with low iron levels.

I also know that, like Sally said, female athletes do have lower iron levels as well

because they use a lot more up.

So it's not just the menstrual cycle.

They usually use a lot more up through our training and exercise as well.

But in my clinic, you would see a lot more of that.

So energy, the hydration was a big one as well.

Constantly feeling dehydrated.

And I mean, that can impact your energy as well.

And then hormonal with the gut issues.

Yeah.

Earlier, you touched on this idea of being more proactive rather than reactive.

What can that look like in managing?

Injury and illness?

Well, really, if you're going to be more proactive, you're going to take steps and get the nutrition

that you need and make sure you're doing everything you need for recovery and repair for specifically,

let's say, talking about athletes.

So to prevent, to be less likely to have things like injuries.

So I think females are something like two to four times more likely to, female athletes,

sorry, to have an actual injury compared to their male counterparts as well.

So considering things like calcium levels as well is a really big one.

Bone density, you know, so for women, our bone density goes down as we get a little

bit older as well and hormones start to change.

So there's so many different considerations we have to take into place.

And again, that's why you can't just pick one diet and think it's going to cover anything.

There's loads of variables that, you know, by seeing a professional, they can weigh a

lot of that up to put that load on someone to think they have to know, do I have this

many milligrams of this?

Do I have this many milligrams of this?

Do I need this nutrient and this?

Like, no wonder people are confused about diets if they try to think about everything

they're told rather than just, what's on my plate?

What's my day look like?

And like, professionals can help sort of translate it for you a little bit and just put it into

food rather than...

And like you said, there's that extra testing as well to really see if you do have some

deficiencies and things like that.

Yeah.

Sally, I'd love to hear about your experience in the big sporting moments.

Yes.

Chat to us about Tokyo 2020.

Yes.

That can take on many forms, that story, but I guess, you know, on a personal level, just

what a privilege it was to be involved with that and how rewarding it was to be able to

be part of something that at that time, organising an international event in the middle of a

global pandemic was just the definition of impossible and to be able to work together

and constantly do something to the best of your ability to Olympic level performances

when every day people were saying it will be cancelled, it will be cancelled and to

have the same resilience that the athletes were having to just keep on pushing and keep

on pushing was such a good life experience, but then so rewarding once we actually got

to Tokyo and we were there and it was almost like this collective breath out that we did

it and we actually got there and we pulled off the impossible and to then...

The joy that was actually in the village was such a special place to be, to be behind

the scenes, to be part of that and then because the athletes couldn't go out into Tokyo and

to be seeing their family and friends, the village became like a little home.

It was in the nutrition space where we set up this amazing performance pantry and space

that athletes could come and eat familiar foods and feel safe and well-fuelled and well-nourished

to play.

And to be able to perform to the best of their ability, it was like people were going to

an event, coming back with a medal around their neck, like they were coming back to

their own kitchen and to be able to connect with athletes there in that space in such

a highly emotive, vulnerable space and learn about their experiences as athletes and as

people as well was such a rewarding experience for me to change my perspective of athletes

and how they think and their behaviours and attitudes and beliefs.

So for me, it was much more than the food we could provide, even though the services

that we did provide were, you know, rated the best by the athletes as, you know, creating

a team environment, just creating a space, which is what food can do.

It can bring people together.

It can connect people.

And I think that's just as much as an important role that food can play as how many nutrients

am I getting out of things is that, you know, food is there and diet's there to support your life.

Not to rule your life.

So to be part of that and then obviously to try to get out to some of the events when

there was completely empty stadiums and you were the ones there cheering on the Aussies

was, again, almost surreal in some things, but such a unique and amazing experience to

be part of.

And we were, I think it was equal best performance an Olympic team from Australia has ever had.

So it was, yeah, it was really, really special to,

to be part of.

I, throughout my career as an athlete, I've learned over time, this idea that you don't

have to fit in a perfect box to be the best that you can be.

I think I used to have a lot of anxiety as a younger athlete, feeling like if I didn't

do every single thing in the most perfect way possible, I was going to miss out on certain

things.

How much in your approach to dealing with athletes and obviously not as much face-to-face

client work, Jelena, for you, but that just educating people as well around it's actually

okay to.

Have balance and be kind to yourself and not to fit in this perfect box.

Perfection is the biggest undoing of any diet.

And I think the Tokyo examples, um, a nice example of that is it was never going to be

perfect.

Um, and we weren't being led by what's the best way that we can fuel athletes.

It was like, what barriers have we got, which were substantial?

Um, how can we bring it to life?

Um, you know, if the dining hall gets shut down, let's ship over tins of tuna and rice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We've got the basics of what we need and it's bringing it to life with the barriers that

are around you.

It wasn't like, how do we make this the perfect diet?

It's how do we get everything we need?

Um, so that we can sort of be consistent and keep carrying on.

And that's why I think people miss in that to have a good diet, it needs to be perfect

rather than what environment am I going into?

What are the realistic expectations that I can achieve here?

Um, and how am I going to make it happen?

How am I bringing it to?

And that's why I think a lot of diets fall down is again, you're trying to rule your

life around a diet and jam it into a life that it doesn't fit into.

And then when people's routine changes or their habit changes, they don't know how to

readjust that.

So being led by your life and your priorities and your barriers and finding ways to, to

fit food in around that to go, this is going to help me get to where I need to be or help

to, to achieve my goals.

And you know what?

This is perfect for me.

And it's that sort of TikTok approach to sort of show this is my perfect day on a plate.

This is, can create so much comparison and guilt and shame that, well, I'm not doing

that.

It's not that perfect.

So it's not any good.

Whereas people can just be, this is good because it's good for me.

And at the end of the day, I'm the person I'm feeding.

So that's enough.

Um, yeah.

And you're messaging on that about not having to fit into a perfect box.

Yeah.

So, and it all just comes back down to individuality as well.

Um, firstly, trying to be so perfect about your diet, create stress, what does stress

do?

It absolutely causes other havocs, you know, it affects your energy levels and your thinking

and, um, all that kind of stuff.

So let's, let's remove the perfectionism, you know, and then we remove the stress.

Um, uh, but you had a point and I'd kind of missed it before.

Like I had a point to something that you did say.

Um, but it'll come back.

It'll come back to me.

Okay.

Sorry.

It'll come back to me.

It'll come back to you when, um, you're reminded of it.

We've started to see an increase in research and data into women.

Has that informed your role?

Is it, is it easier to have access to more information?

Um, it is, uh, because again, the more, you know, the more specific you can be in, in

helping someone who are in this sort of awkward window of research at the moment where we

know what we don't know around women.

And that we've.

Identified that a lot of research is done on men and they can't just be an extrapolation,

a comparison of that.

Um, and that more studies need to be done on women, but then they haven't actually been

done yet.

So we're still sort of working through that, but, but there's certainly a big direction

in science to, to try to change that.

So it's exciting what, what will come out.

There are just so many different variables as we've sort of outlined in just trying to

have the perfect diet to even do research on people.

Cause even.

One individual.

Person, you know, you'll change from each day to the next and each month to the next.

It just surprises yourself sometime how different you can change.

So, um, we can be guided by that and that can sort of inform choices, but I think there

still needs to be a layer of, you know, what's actually happening here in front of us and

what's happening to you.

Um, and if someone's able to shift the dial in, in where they want to be in their health,

then that's the priority.

And we can use science to, to certainly guide.

That, um, but, but in my opinion, it's sort of, it's bringing that data to life and actually

getting people to see the results they want to see, which is, um, you know, an important

next step from the site.

So we still need that data.

Um, but you do want to progress it as well.

We might jump into some questions that we've had submitted from our Instagram followers.

Best meal or light snack before game day to keep you.

Going for three hours.

Competition eating, um, is always put in this whole other column of eating.

Like we should only think about it when we're going to compete, but ultimately on competition

day, you should just roll out what you're doing around training.

Like you're training to practice skills, to practice fitness and build it.

You should also be practicing how you're eating and how you want to eat.

So then, you know, what sits well on your stomach, you know, what sustains you.

So then when you do get.

To competition, you're like, oh yeah, I'll just do my pre-training snack.

And I'm used to eating that I'm familiar.

I can just sort of, um, roll my plan out rather than getting to competition day.

Again, if sort of stress is a factor that's contributing to that, to then be like, what

do I do?

But also again, learning, having a few competitions under your belt, maybe you

might say, oh, I get really nervous and I can't eat.

We'll factor that in, like, don't again, not trying to be perfect and this is how you should eat.

And.

At this hour, eat this.

And at this hour, eat that.

Go look, I just, some athletes that I saw.

Some athletes could eat something as they were diving into the pool and then some.

It makes me feel stressed.

I know, they'll be like, oh, I'm fine.

Psh, not at all.

Um, and some would need four or five hours.

So everyone's quite different in what they need, but they found that out through practice

and trial and error and sort of knowing what is right for their, for their body.

So, um.

There will be sort of again, guidelines and boundaries that we can start with and then

sort of refining, refining, um, based on, uh, how your body responds to that, what it

needs, but, but largely it will be anything with lots of fiber, lots of fat, lots of

proteins take a lot longer to break down.

So if they're sitting in your belly, um, and a lot of blood flows go into your belly,

that means it's not in your working muscles.

So if you're about to be active and compete,

then those two things might not align.

So even in some instances, those foods may actually be quite healthy, but they're not

right for what the body needs at that time.

So it's aligning what the body needs and what you're giving it.

And so, um, that would depend on that competition.

If it's a 30 second sprint or if it's a three hour game, in that instance, it's a three

hour game, but you might need longer stores and things to consider in, in that regard

too.

So.

Lots of different options and it depends, it depends, but, um, and again, it just comes

back down to the individual, right?

Yeah.

Um, yeah, knowing what works and thinking about it, um, more than just on the day of

competition.

Yeah, absolutely.

What is a good way to get enough protein when not eating dairy or bananas?

I don't know where the bananas part fits in there.

Some of it, there's always a road thing that comes out that you're like, oh yeah, that's

right.

Not everyone knows.

Um, but, but that's how people learn.

So you ask questions and you refine your knowledge.

So, uh, I don't think that's too bad, but yes, the, the bananas would be more of a carbohydrate

option than a, than a protein option.

Um, but there's, there's protein in loads of different foods.

It might just be your list of choices is shortened.

If you're not having dairy, then you might have to move towards, um, eggs, chicken, tuna,

If you don't eat meat, then you might have more lentils and legumes

and plant sources of protein, yeah.

So, you know, the concepts can stay the same in that you will need

carbohydrates before you're active and you will need proteins afterwards.

Where you get them from will depend on your taste

and your dietary requirements, that sort of thing.

So you don't have to get it from dairy, but you do have to get protein.

So then it might just be going through a list of protein foods

that will be able to get that.

Is fasting, e.g. 16, 17 or 18, not eating overnight beneficial?

Again, that'll depend on the individual and if it works for them.

Yeah, and the goal.

Yeah, some people find it works really well for them

and they feel great on it and they get really great results from it,

depending on their goal again, and others not so much.

So, yeah.

Looking at training too.

You know, it depends what rules you want to stick to

and what you're working towards and some things just don't align.

So if someone's going to have a really long fast,

but then they wake up in the morning and go for a long run,

the outcome and the quality of their run is probably not going to be that great.

If they are fasted, if they're training and doing quite high intensity

strength training while fasted, that might deplete some of their muscle mass

and have the reverse impact if their goal is for strength.

So, again, defining what beneficial is.

And what you're actually trying to achieve is the first thing to ask

before you start pulling apart diet concepts and whether they're right.

Do you feel that you are valued in your job by the coach, players and staff?

I think something that is overlooked in the dietetic profession

is that we're just handing out meal plans to everyone.

Just saying, eat this.

Oh, don't eat that.

And slapping food out of people's hands.

And so, so much of the role is,

is building relationships, building rapport with, with athletes.

And so they feel comfortable talking about potentially anxieties around food

or issues that they've got around how they eat or why they eat.

And again, being able to target support, which, which works in with their needs.

Building relationship with the coaches and understanding the training load,

which is coming up and understanding whether it's a hard session

or a more endurance session.

So then in being able to guide diet,

strategies, you can apply it to the energy systems being used

and the type of training that they've got,

whether there's a camp coming up and they're training three times a day,

or, you know, it's a, they're in a taper period.

So to understand the training better,

having that rapport and relationship with the coaches makes a difference as well.

So I think in trying to, and again, maybe this was my approach,

but I think most accredited sports dietitians are trying to connect

with,

with just the team and that concept of overall,

how can we all work to make this athlete better rather than how can I just push

diet and hope that it works and that it is a team effort because ultimately the

athletes are the one doing the work.

It's not just the diet that's winning the medals.

And I think acknowledging and respecting that,

that I'm just a piece of that puzzle and nutrition is just a strategy to help

them reach a goal.

It's not the goal to have a great diet.

Some people could have great diets,

and still not be off at Olympics.

It's you know,

being mindful of your role as well and being part of the team.

And I think that gains quite a lot more respect from just the athletes and the

coaches as well,

but it will vary.

People with diet are often the science is one thing,

but it's very,

very driven by beliefs and opinions.

And if people have strongly invested opinions on a diet that

they've done themselves,

like that's great that they've found their answer for them.

The damage comes when they try to push that on someone else that it

may not suit.

So you see that a lot in someone who's not training.

So they're working with the sport.

I didn't eat carbs,

so none of the athletes should be eating carbohydrates.

And by pushing that message,

because they believe it and banning foods,

that whole,

the culture of that environment is going to be off kilter.

So there may not be a lot of value,

or respect there,

but it's probably not a great team environment.

If you're being led by someone's opinion,

rather than what are we going to do to help this athlete or

team progress and to move forward?

That can be seen quite a bit in different sports,

but not just in sport in again,

social media and those messages,

which are being put on us so strongly that it worked for

me. So everyone should do it as a way to almost validate

their choices rather than.

Trying to help people.

And a lot of people miss that as well.

The sort of selfishness of trying to push a nutrition message

on people and the damage that that can do to people's relationship

with food,

disordered eating,

that sort of thing.

I think people really need to be mindful of,

am I trying to inspire others or am I trying to validate

my own diet choices with the messages they're pushing?

Yeah,

it's a really good point.

Yeah.

I know we might come to you with this one.

What have been the noticeable changes in your profession with increased

awareness and potentially prevalence of food intolerances?

That's increased.

That's for sure.

So from when I started my course in naturopathy to

now huge increase in food intolerances,

whether that's a combination of people being more aware and more in

tune with their bodies as well,

with the information and the education that's out there now.

And,

and females,

particularly being a little bit more in tune with their bodies,

but our foods changed as well,

you know,

and,

and we're all got really busy lives.

So a lot of us are doing the real quick meals and things

like that.

So sometimes we're not,

maybe not getting the nutrition that we require to support our

bodies.

And we might be also consuming a lot of things we generally

think are healthy,

but they might have a lot of preservatives and things like that.

Cause everyone's,

like I said,

busy. And all of that over time,

can slowly start to deteriorate your gut and cause gut issues and

increase in tolerances and things like stress also has a factor on

your gut as well.

And again,

with females hormonal related there's a lot of things in our

environment that are affecting our hormones.

This is a multifaceted conversation.

We could keep going with this one.

Absolutely.

Maybe you'll enter this one and let me know if you feel like

answering it or not,

but,

when did you notice a shift in naturopathy being more widely accepted

as a support or resource in sports?

I think it was gradual over the last 10 years,

but in maybe in the last three,

four years,

I think it was just before,

before our sort of COVID situation.

And I think through that people started to realize there was

definitely benefits more about being proactive.

And I guess that came from more immunity side of things,

but that opened up the gates,

right?

People are real like people kind of started to understand and

be more knowledgeable about the benefits of being more proactive in

their health.

So yeah,

probably the last few years.

Yeah.

And in your,

in your role,

obviously if we take a step away from the diet side

of things,

what are some of the things you encourage around that holistic approach

to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle?

Just besides the diet and life.

So besides the diet also,

I mean,

it comes back to diet again,

but,

but making sure that you're getting all the nutrition that you need.

So diet is one thing and it's fantastic.

We need to make sure we are eating as healthy as we

can for our individual needs.

But a lot of the time,

the foods that we are consuming don't quite have the nutrition,

you know,

within the food that might've been in there 20 years ago,

our soils are different and packaging and processing and things like

that.

So I'm looking at things like deficiencies is a big one

for me as a naturopath,

making sure that,

you're not deficient in any nutrients.

And sometimes it can be really hard to get tests from a

general GP for certain nutrients.

So seeing someone within that sort of more holistic healthcare professional

where they can do extra testing.

I think that would be really looking at the nutrients to

see if there's any deficiencies or anything you particularly need in

that sense.

Looking at supplements,

we've partnered with Athena sports nutrition for this mini series.

When is an appropriate time to introduce supplements into someone's diet?

Really?

Whenever someone's looking for,

I can,

this depends on their goal,

what they're looking for.

You know,

if there are any issues they might be struggling with really,

there are so many different times we can look at when we

might want to be incorporating nutrition.

Sports nutrition is also not just for athletes as well.

So women just active women in general.

So Athena is also catered just to active women wanting to

make sure they're getting the protein they require.

As well as things like specific nutrients that we talked about earlier,

things like iron calcium,

which we haven't mentioned as well,

which is a big importance in women and women athletes as well.

When we're talking about the fractures and things that are more highly likely

for female athletes.

So with Athena,

we're basically got the nutrients that are more catered to female athletes and

active women and you know what they may potentially be deficient in or what

they tend to run through a lot more quickly.

So, you know, I think it's really important for women to be able to do that.

I'm in their bodies compared to their male male counterparts and providing them with the

specifics of what they need to reach their goals.

And from your perspective,

Sally, integrating supplements.

Sometimes I think it is also just bringing it to life too in just being realistic with the time

constraints that people have got that if having a protein shake means that they can get protein to help

recover.

A working muscle as it needs it you know,

weighing up if that's going to mean your appetite's managed for the rest of the day,

you've recovered well.

So the next day you can train again,

which you know is then important for mental health and clarity and things like that.

So you can get consistency in your in day to day with the amount of training you're doing and and living life and acknowledging that training you're doing too,

rather than no,

I need to I'm not an athlete,

so I won't have supplements that's only for the elite.

Like,

acknowledging that I do train hard and I train regularly and I enjoy it and there are so many benefits of exercise than just weight or anything like that to be able to push yourself and perform and feel rewarded by that.

That's what supplements can help sort of encourage that so that when we're training you feel good and you want to do it again.

It's not a struggle or something.

You've just got to like jam in the day.

Um and and being able to support and encourage that lifestyle and mindset and to to put a priority on it that you know if you're training hard and you want to train harder like why stop that?

Like you don't need a label of going to a games or being in a squad or something to to be able to do that.

So in being able to to offer supplements that um can help lifestyle factors just as much as the nutrient side.

So convenience and.

Things like snacks and the snack bars and um the the protein shakes uh it all helps to just offer options and solutions and to to problems that people have um in yeah busy full lives.

So we're all very busy.

Thank you both so much for your time and your insights today.

It's been great to sit down and chat and learn a lot more about both of your uh careers and and.

professional lives and and I think our listeners are going to take a lot from it so thank you so much.

Great.

Thank you for having us.

Thanks so much for listening.

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