Sport RD Rachel, Scottsdale, AZ (2026)

06/01/2026

It’s officially June, which means summer training is here! Does your athlete know how to optimally fuel to outwork the competition at summer camps?

The summer months are great-they give student-athletes a well-deserved break from classes and a more structured schedule. But for some young athletes, summer starts to fill up fast and the lack of structure and regularly provided meals/snacks at school can keep athletes from reaching their goals if they aren’t adequately fueled.

I’ve been working with many high school athletes and their parents on how to fuel for daily training sessions, body comp goals AND full-day camps that may serve as a scouting opportunity for an aspiring D1 level athlete.

This post is from the lens of preparing for a football camp, but principles can apply for any other sports (ie: day-long volleyball, soccer, tennis, basketball, etc. camps that span the course of a week)

The college hosted football camps are typically ~3-4 hours morning or afternoon. Some are all day, others multi-day. Some are more position specific with various skills, indy and fundamental drills, others may have a strength and conditioning component/testing, followed by 7-on-7 or other scrimmage type reps to end the day and assess player reaction/technique under pressure.

Some provide meals or light fuel prior to the start, most do not, so it is on the athlete to fuel accordingly and plan ahead for a day of strong performance. Camps typically provide water, sports beverages and some intra-snack type options, but I encourage athletes pack snacks and hydration support they need.

Most parents have questions about WHAT their child should be eating. A lot depends on timing and duration of the camp/training, as well as individual preferences and goals. A lot of athletes are traveling and may have limited options on the road. There are lots of great fueling options from restaurants/gas stations, but you also may need to pack nutrition to ensure optimal fueling.

3 top tips:
⛽️plan ahead - eat carb-focused breakfast and or lunch 1-3 hours before training, watch fat, fiber and protein closer to start time you get
🔋pack carbs to top off energy fuels
💦hydrate!!!

05/21/2026

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the 19th Annual American Sports & Performance Dietitian Association (ASPDA) Conference. It was a full week of networking, catching up with dietitian friends, getting inspired by performance chefs, learning from some of the world’s best researchers and clinicians and eating amazing food.

Shoutout to all of the amazing sponsors that make the organization and conference what it is today. The expo hall has grown over the years and even after spending a couple of hours there, I still didn’t get to visit every booth and check in with all my favorite vendors (less yapping next year😅).

There are so many sport nutrition products these days, most consumers don’t even know where to start when it comes to what supplements to take, what to eat to fuel their first half marathon or how to hit 60-90g carbs per hour and 1.5+ L fluid/hr for an extended period of time while maintaining electrolyte balance.

The most important thing to consider whether an athlete is in high school, a current D1 athlete or a weekend warrior is to screen what supplements or sport products they are currently using and analyzing if they are third party certified.

The supplement industry is widely unregulated. Third party certification helps add a quality check for athletes. They verify a product contains what is listed on the label, in accurate amounts, and free from harmful contaminants. The second picture has examples of what those third party certification labels can look like. NSF for Sport and Informed Choice Sport are my top recommendations.

I get a lot of questions from athletes, friends and family about supplements so sharing some of my favorites after being reinvigorated at this year’s conference:

⛽️Favorite carbs for pre-/intra-workout: HoneyStinger, Science in Sport, Skratch, BPN, super excited to try Beonixe
🔋Favorite juice: Cheribundi 100% tart cherry juice and Florida orange juice (not pictured)
🧬Favorite supplement brands: Klean Athlete, Thorne, Nordic Naturals, Momentous
🥜Favorite snacks/nut butter: Spread the Love, Wonderful Pistachio, G2G bars (not pictured)

05/19/2026

What is energy availability? Simply put, it is the amount of energy from the diet available for essential body functions (ie: breathing, circulating blood, metabolism, immunity, etc.) after taking energy expenditure from exercise out of total energy intake.

Low energy availability (LEA) occurs when intake is not sufficient to support both training demands and daily physiological functions.

LEA is one of the root causes of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs), a syndrome of poor health and declining athletic performance that can impair bone, heart, psychological and reproductive health, as well as immunity and metabolism.

LEA can be intentional (intentional dieting, doing extra exercise on top of team/coach prescribed activities, etc.) or unintentional (munderfueling due to lack of nutrition education, high volume training with inadequate fueling, etc.).

As a sport dietitian, I work with many individuals who come to me after following diets or eating patterns that maybe initially led to performance changes, but left them feeling worse with undesirable body composition changes and no performance gains.

Prolonged caloric restriction triggers BMR reduction, increases ghrelin (hunger hormone), decreases leptin (signals fullness), decreases non-exercise thermogenesis and leads to breakdown of muscle tissue for energy while preserving fat storage. This is a coordinated survival response. Clients have had bone stress injuries, hormonal disruptions, immune suppression, impaired training adaptions, etc. all signs of LEA.

Many high school athletes I work with just don’t have the awareness or time in the day to meet their elevated needs due to training and the pivotal period of growth. Education and making small nutritional changes makes a huge difference for these growing, young athletes.

A lot of what I do is encourage individuals to ADD more throughout the day to support individualized needs and help strategize making fueling accessible, easy and fun!

Summer is here, it’s time to dial in to training and optimize nutrition to help you or your athlete meet their goals! 94% of people can see an RD for free with insurance - see the link in my bio!💪🏽

05/01/2026

Brief nutrition education interruption to share some news! The boy mom era continues this fall… pushing us to make some adjustments from man-to-man to zone defense. We can’t wait to welcome another baby boy into our family!!!

04/13/2026

Save this post for your next long run🏃🏽‍♀️As April events and spring races ramp up, here’s your reminder to carb load with tips to execute well!

You’ve put in the work. Now comes the time to trust training and enjoy the run. Running times are getting faster - likely due to a mix of training AND nutrition protocols athletes are implementing to avoid hitting “the wall” in the days leading up to a race and mid-race. How we fuel (or don’t fuel) can make or break you in an event like the marathon.

Carbohydrate loading is so important for competitions like triathlons, marathons, ultras and any full-day competitions. The combination of tapering (aka not dipping into muscle glycogen as deeply as during regular training) and maximizing carbohydrate intake is the carb load.

Ideally over the course of training, a runner is adjusting their carbohydrate intake relative to their training load (meaning they increase carbohydrate intake as the distance run and intensity of training increases). Carbohydrate intake should increase leading into a difficult workout/long run and might increase the day of and even day after a harder workout (nutrition is so individualized, it all depends😅).

The goal is to increase carbohydrate intake and fill glycogen stores. General recommendations go by grams of carbohydrates per pound or kilogram of body weight. For those of us that don’t know our exact weight - that’s okay! Use your best guess to estimate needs or follow the pattern of filling over half your plate with low-fiber carb sources. Focus on carb-rich snacks and plan ahead so you are fueling every 2-3 hours during the carb load (maybe even more often if you fall in the higher ranges).

With all of these carbs, hydration continues to be another priority to go into the run feeling strong. An easy and free way to monitor hydration is to look at the color of your urine - ideally it is almost clear/light yellow rather than clear (over hydration) or apple juice (dehydrated).

If you are looking to run a fall half or full marathon, this is also for you! Your stomach is a muscle, and just like your legs, you’ve got to practice how you play when it comes to an endurance event.

03/13/2026

Track athletes and parents of busy high school track athletes, this one is for you. Track season is upon us, and if you haven’t had your first meet, it is likely just around the corner!

Track is a fun sport to work with because of the “mini teams” within the team. For younger athletes, track is also not their primary sport– and they are going from one practice/conditioning/skill session to another.

High school athletes are busier than ever. Fueling this activity needs to be a priority to compete at the highest level AND give growing bodies energy needed to thrive. Fueling for a track meet starts days before the meet. Implementing daily habits will improve health and performance long term.

A common issue I see with high school athletes is unintentional under-fueling. One of the biggest things I work with parents and athletes on is planning ahead to set yourself up for success with easy, realistic options to fit a busy lifestyle and meet increased energy needs:
🍌Work through grocery lists and meal plans for the week; if it is a busy week, we talk through performance-focused convenience options to prioritize rather than last minute drive-thrus or skipping meals altogether. I also encourage adding weekly bananas/apples/oranges/fruit that is on sale & within budget to throw in lunches or grab at breakfast.
🥨Plan ahead & pack extra snacks in your backpack/lunchbox/gym bag to fuel throughout the day. Easy nutrient & calorie-dense options: trail mixes, beef jerky, protein/granola bars, salty snacks like pretzels, goldfish, etc.
🔋High school athletes, regardless of sport– get in the habit of topping off energy stores before practice! Most kids go from lunch at noon to dinner at 6pm with a long practice in-between. I encourage athletes to pack foods like fruit snacks, apple sauce, banana, etc. in they can have at the end of the school day before practice.

There are more factors to consider and examples in the post. This is not one-size-fits-all; this post is meant to be educational and does not constitute medical advice. If you would like individualized help in meeting your performance goals for yourself or your athlete this season, don’t hesitate to reach out.

03/11/2026

Happy National Registered Dietitian Day! 🍎🥑🍓🍞🥞🍳🥩🍕🌮🍔🫘🥄🥗🥪🍜🍦🍪🏈🥎🏃🏽‍♀️🚴🏽‍♀️🏋🏽🤍

Everyone claims to be a nutrition expert these days, and it is making nutrition more confusing than ever. Misinformation from large platforms and uneducated influencers is rampant. Make sure you trust the credentials of anyone giving you nutrition advice - look for the RD or RDN credentials!

I am so fortunate for all of the amazing dietitians, mentors and students I have had the honor of meeting, learning from and working with. I am so proud to have a career that not only allows me to encourage people to live a healthier life through nutrition and lifestyle habits but also enables me to have a positive impact in athletes’ lives. I feel so grateful to be able to work with and mentor future dietitians who were in my shoes a few short years ago. It certainly is no walk in the park, but the hard work and long hours studying ochem, medical nutrition therapy, anatomy/physiology, food service management, food and ingredient interactions biochemistry, etc. is worth it!

To the athletes I have had the pleasure of working with: thank you for entrusting me to walk alongside you and help reach nutrition-related goals to improve performance and achieve your goals. Everyone from masters ironmen to college athletes to high schoolers work so incredibly hard in the weight room, on the trails, in the classroom and on the field. As dietitians, we are here 100% for our clients whether they are patients at a hospital, athletes or just normal people, it is our natural instinct to care like crazy!

I hope you all hug or send virtual hugs to your dietitians today, thanking them for the work they do and the BS they debunk.

Reach out if you’d like to learn more about nutrition and taking your performance to the next level💪🏽I am licensed and can virtually work with individuals in NE, IA, SD, MN, NH, ME, GA, VT, KS, TX, AZ, CO and CA!

03/04/2026

It’s March!!!! Happy National Nutrition Month!

This is a trend I had to get in on. I hope the little girl in the photos is proud of all we have accomplished together. It is an honor and a privilege to get to work with so many amazing athletes in the pursuit of their goals big and small! You all inspire me every day. Now go and get yourself some protein, fiber and carbs and don’t forget to hydrate!

01/12/2026

Happy New Year!!!

As many people may already be aware, with the new year, came the updated 2026-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). Even if it’s old news now, I’ve gotten questions on my thoughts, and now that I have had time to digest it, I’m ready to share.

This 5-year installation is definitely simplified from the last DGA. Overall message is to “eat real food.”

TLDR: I don’t totally love this update, but I don’t hate it either. As a dietitian, I’ve been encouraging people to eat real food my whole career, but the key is to make it work with an individual’s goals, their budget, access to food and resources to prepare said food as well as their needs (which change across the lifespan and even season to season).

While overarching themes to eat more protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, full-fat dairy, healthy fats and support gut health are a step in the right direction, I feel the major missed opportunities are to promote fiber and carbohydrates as a whole (especially for athletes and active individuals).

A lot of the official document feels like an unfinished school nutrition project to me, maybe because it lacks a lot of the detail and context included in past DGAs.

I get we need simplification. Nutrition is simple, but it’s not. Most people have a good idea of what they should be doing from these guidelines, but it doesn’t mean they have the knowledge, resources or skill set to do so. The challenge with these vague guidelines will be turning it into something that works in our schedules, budgets, environments, genetics, lives, etc.

Also not addressed in this is the fact than many people have a terrible relationship with their food and body, but that’s another conversation for a different day.

Working with a dietitian to sort through all this noise around food and these guidelines with YOUR dietary preferences and YOUR goals in mind is a great place to start if you have any questions about what you are currently doing and where you want to go.

Questions, comments, anything to add? I’d love to hear!

09/16/2025

7 years as a registered dietitian🥳

🏈5 years in D1 college football (4 years as a Director of Football Nutrition)
🍽️Going on 2 years in the world of Allergen Education and food service management within college athletics
🏃🏽‍♀️Almost 1 year consulting with all different kinds of athletes from high school to masters endurance athletes w/

One of my main focuses when working with athletes and really any client is what can we ADD to support overall health and performance when it comes to nutrition? Sharing 7 (and a couple extras) of my favorite ways athletes can add to their routines to support performance with nutrition.

Our society and social media in general is so good at making us feel like we aren’t enough and focusing on what we should take away or do differently from a place of shame rather than constructive feedback. More often than not, we just need to hear that we are doing a great job. It is not my goal to take away food/food groups that brings an athlete joy.

Giving all of the hard working athletes out there a big pat on the back and looking forward to the opportunities to come in the wild field of sport nutrition!

Sport RD Rachel

06/01/2026

05/21/2026

05/19/2026

05/01/2026

04/13/2026

03/13/2026

03/11/2026

03/04/2026

01/12/2026

09/16/2025

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