What Does a Sports Dietitian Do?
A Registered Dietitian who specializes in sports nutrition, often called a sports dietitian or sports dietician, goes far beyond telling you what to eat before a workout. We assess your full nutritional picture: your medical history, training schedule, sport-specific energy demands, recovery patterns, sleep, relationship with food, and performance goals. From there, we partner with you to develop an individualized fueling strategy that actually fits your life, your sport, and your body.
We also understand that the world of sports nutrition is saturated with misinformation, from protein supplement marketing to coaches who push undereating for “leanness.” Our approach is grounded in science, not trends, and we are not afraid to push back against harmful narratives that put performance, or worse, eating disorder risk, ahead of an athlete’s health and wellbeing.
Sports Dietitian: What We Help With
Athletes come to our sports dietitians for a wide range of reasons. Common areas of focus include:
- Pre-, during-, and post-exercise fueling and recovery nutrition
- Energy availability and preventing Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)
- Competition-day nutrition strategies
- Hydration planning for training and competition
- Building muscle and supporting strength gains
- Eating disorders and disordered eating in athletes
- Transitioning out of sport and managing nutritional needs during that shift
- Youth and adolescent sports nutrition to meet growth, development and sports energy needs
- Supplement guidance and sports nutrition product navigation
Sports Nutrition With a Whole-Person Lens
Our sports dietitians understand the physical demands of training, but they also understand the psychological side. Athletic culture often promotes harmful relationships with food and the body. Pressure to eat less, look a certain way, or achieve a particular body composition can push athletes toward disordered eating and eating disorders at alarming rates. We bring eating disorder awareness and a weight-inclusive perspective to all of our sports nutrition work, ensuring that your fueling strategy supports not just your performance, but your long-term health and well being and your relationship with food.
In-Person & Telehealth Sports Nutrition Appointments
We see athletes in person at our offices throughout the Triangle in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Cary and we have an office in Charlotte, NC. Telehealth sports nutrition sessions are also available for athletes in North Carolina and Oregon who are live outside of NC or are traveling, training remotely, or simply prefer virtual appointments. Our dietitians can also work with individuals in several other states, depending on dietetic licensure laws. Reach out to get started with a sports dietitian today.
