A Little Goes A Long Way

By: Adria Butler

Prior to college, the only place I lived was Memphis, Tennessee. Sweet tea, barbecue, peach cobbler, homemade ice-cream, fried pork chops, and many other southern dishes “seasoned to taste” composed my diet regularly. I had been an athlete since the age of four, so my health had never been an issue and I was not concerned.

Despite my diet, my athletic involvement proved to be very successful and I accepted a collegiate track scholarship to a D1 University. My participation in athletics and various organizations at the university helped me to improve my teamwork and leadership skills, but there were also many challenges I had to overcome. Time-management, seeming to be my biggest obstacle of all. There never seemed to be enough of time, and I was constantly on the go. Waking up at 5:45am for 6:45am lifting, trying not to wake up my roommates as they slept soundly. Going to class immediately after drenched in sweat, while secretly hoping I don’t have an odor and I don’t look as gross as I felt. Rushing to my dorm to take a quick shower, change, and eat at one of the dining halls on campus just to eat something before my next two classes. Arriving to the training facility at least 30 minutes before practice just to go to the training room to get treatment and avoid being late. Engaging in at least 90 minutes of what felt like a slow and painful death on the track. Then, returning to the training room after practice for at least another 30 minutes to an hour for treatment. FINALLY, I can take a shower!!! When I get out, there’s two options: go get food before starting homework/studying or go get food and spend an extra hour to hour and a half eating with friends I haven’t seen all day before starting homework/studying. It could be anywhere between 7pm to 9pm by the time I finished eating. Where would the day go???!! Not to mention there were mandatory meetings, volunteer events that we were ironically required to attend as a team, mandatory study tables, and traveling for competitions as well. This is what a typical day and week can consist of for student-athletes.

Trying to figure out how to balance being an athlete and all the demands that came with it, while also trying to maintain good enough grades to remain competitive as a student was nothing shy of daunting. Honestly, my diet was not at the top my list; I ate because I knew I needed to for energy and tried to make the healthiest decisions when I had time to think about it. As far as I was concerned, “I would just burn it off at practice anyway,” so I ate what I liked.

The campus was residential; freshmen were not allowed to have cars, and a majority of the foods that were being served in the food courts were far from healthy. As a result, I struggled with my weight a lot that year, and my performance was also compromised. Although things improved the following year, I sustained an injury and was deemed non-weight bearing for seven weeks. Such a drastic decrease in my physical activity levels and the ability to spend more time at home during breaks made the transition into training much more difficult than I could have ever imagined. Challenges I would have never imagined arose, like having two pre-hypertensive episodes from all the stress. My saving grace ended up being my Introduction to Nutrition course, which I was also taking during this transitional semester.

The semester began with the completion of a week-long food diary. We analyzed and adapted the food diary throughout the course of the semester to meet the needs of the different populations we discussed each week (i.e. gestating women, athletes, elderly, diabetics, etc.). One activity in particular sparked my interest in the course. The activity involved each student drawing a family tree of their family’s medical history and determining ways their current diet could be modified to help prevent such diseases. I was somewhat embarrassed at the time, because I needed longer than the fifteen minutes she allotted for the completion of the activity at the end of the class period just to finish drawing out my history. When my professor noticed how long it was taking me, she walked over to offer some assistance and we began to discuss what I had written, my diet, my injury, disease prevention, her full-time job as an RDN, and much more. From that day forward, I spoke with her often after class to discuss my progress from week to week. Cooking meals daily, meal prepping, snacking, and implementing the little suggestions she would give me was making a world of difference in my life. My performance and the speed of my healing process shocked many people, including my surgeon. In the midst of it all, one thing I was certain of was the extreme difference my diet had made on both my life and athletic performance.

I became fascinated with nutrition because I could not believe how small changes had such a great impact overall. A lot of my teammates and acquaintances were noticing some of the benefits I was receiving from my diet, and they began to ask questions. I was no expert, but I was able to share with them what I was learning and applying from class that was working for me. (It should be noted that harmless occurrences like these can lead people to adopt extreme diets or nutrition habits from sources of misinformation, causing more harm than intended.) My own family even became more cognizant of the food they ate when I did the same! With all of the questions I received, I realized the need for more people like my professor—more people with answers.

Since that semester, I yearn to be someone that informs and teaches children and many others, like myself, who do not really understand the effects of a poor and unbalanced diet. I desire to educate and guide athletes who are in the same place as I was in when I arrived at college: not fully understanding that their dietary practices can make a significant difference in their overall development—it’s not enough to just eat something. My passion for nutrition has now led me to pursue an additional bachelor’s degree in dietetics, with the hopes of one day being a sports dietitian that will work to serve athletes that may need the same guidance as I once needed.

It is often said that a little goes a long way, but for me, a little guidance did way more than that; it helped me discover my passion, has helped improve the diets of myself and family, and helped me improve my performance while competing. Providing nutrition education to others may not possess as drastic of effects for others, and they may not be as receptive to the information as I was; however, I’m a firm believer that even implementing one small change can go a very long way.

Performance Nutrition Tidbits

Fueling On-the-Go

Hydration

A hydration schedule or routine is just as important as eating when it comes to performance nutrition.

According to the USADA:

“As an athlete trains or competes, fluid is lost through the skin through sweat and through the lungs while breathing. If this fluid is not replaced at regular intervals during practice or competition, it can lead to dehydration. A dehydrated athlete has a decreased volume of blood circulating through the body, and consequently:

·      The amount of blood pumped with each heartbeat decreases

·      Exercising muscles do not receive enough oxygen

·      Exhaustion sets in and the athlete’s performance suffers

·      By-products of exercise are not flushed out of the body as regularly as they should be

Research has shown that losing as little as 2% of total body weight can negatively affect athletic performance.”

Building a Performance Plate

Additional Source:

https://www.sportsrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Building_a_Performance_Plate_WEB.pdf

Sources

“CPSDA: Fueling Victory - CPSDA: SportsRd.org: Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association.” CPSDA | SportsRd.org | Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association, www.sportsrd.org/#.

“Fluids and Hydration.” U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), www.usada.org/athletes/substances/nutrition/fluids-and-hydration/.