So you’re hooked. You love spending time outside. Maybe you’ve started training for longer bouts, exploring new trails, and tackling more endurance adventures. And you’re seeing improvements - in fitness, endurance, strength, mental health, and physical health. But exercise is only half the equation. The actions you take to care for your body outside of physical exercise are just as important to your physical and mental health.
One of the greatest barriers to longevity and performance in sport is proper fueling. To help encourage adequate nutrition during exercise, we’ve included some general suggestions and ideas for fueling before/during/after exercise.
[coming soon]
All too often, athletes are forced into early retirement due to injuries from inadequate energy intake, either intentional or unintentional. A multitude of societal, cultural, and biological factors are at play in an athlete’s fueling decisions. The International Olympic Committee just released an updated consensus statement on REDS, “relative energy deficiency in sport.” While becoming more well known, REDS is still far under discussed and under diagnosed in the medical and athletic communities.
Here are a few key takeaways from the consensus statement (linked below if you’re interested in the full paper)
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Additionally, here is a podcast (“Getting Real about REDS”) created by Katie Fearon and Katie Walther that delves into the social and biological mechanisms of REDS, with specific attention to the landscape female athletes must navigate.
In the future, we’ll be linking more resources and discussions around optimal fueling to make outdoor exercise a more inclusive activity. In the meantime, a few of our favorites are:
Fueling forward: https://www.instagram.com/fueling_forward/?hl=en
FED collaborative: https://www.instagram.com/fed_collaborative/
Stacy Sims Roar: https://www.amazon.com/ROAR-Fitness-Physiology-Optimum-Performance/dp/1623366860
