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Running Issues: What Coaches Need To Know About Eating

Published by
DyeStat.com   Sep 13th 2021, 7:44pm
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Five Facts About Fueling Health And Performance To Share With Your Team

By Elizabeth Carey for DyeStat

Coaches are the first line of defense against food and body issues in sport. 

Our role? Identify and refer. 

As author and coach Rachael Steil and registered sports dietitian Heidi Strickler recently explained during a Women’s Running Coaches Collective presentation, coaches need to be aware of sports nutrition, disordered eating and red flags. But coaches should let professionals take it from there. That’s the first thing coaches should know. 

Coaches are not responsible for treating issues, prescribing diets, or assessing body composition. Any coaches who are attempting to do so: Stop.  

Only appropriate experts — including non-diet registered dietitians, psychologists, and therapists who specialize in disordered eating, and others who have the credentials and know-how to work with athletes in age-appropriate ways — should treat food and body issues. 

This runs counter to how some old-school coaches run their programs. But our sport is long overdue for a fact-check. It’s beyond time for coaches to look at the latest research and listen to athletes who’ve been harmed by archaic (and yet prevailing) sport-specific myths. 

Take, for example, Steil, who wrote about her experience as a collegiate athlete struggling with an eating disorder in her book Running In Silence. She continues to raise awareness as a speaker and provide resources through her nonprofit and its blog

Or learn from Allie Ostrander’s experience or collegiate athletes who’ve spoken out about body shaming. 

Or Melody Fairchild’s stories and important research in our book Girls Running

Or insights from pros like Lauren Fleshman and Mary Cain. Or numerous studies, including an International Olympic Committee consensus statement on the prevalance of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Or events like the Women’s Running Coaches Collective panel. 

Among this movement of athletes and experts shedding light on these issues, key takeaways for coaches abound. Here are four additional facts coaches need to know about eating for athletes that Steil and Strickler  shared: 

1. Food and body issues include disordered eating (behaviors and thoughts including dieting, restriction, compulsive and irregular eating and exercise), eating disorders, body image struggles, and unintentional under-fueling. The risks of these issues include RED-S, which has wide-ranging negative consequences for both health and performance. 

2. Myths about eating and related issues abound in sport and culture at large. Familiarize yourself with them and then challenge them — in yourself, your athletes and beyond. Steil and Strickler addressed additional myths:

>> Debunk racing weight, especially among developing athletes. 

>> It’s not just thin white girls who struggle with food and body issues. 

>> A low resting heart rate (

>> Missing menstrual cycles (and other signs of disrupted hormones) are red flags. 

3. Create a positive team culture around eating and mental health. 

>> Check in with athletes.

>> Encourage eating. 

>> Don’t celebrate or encourage disordered eating (Yes, that includes in-season restriction).

>> De-moralize food; “good” and “bad” foods are labeled as such by diet culture. 

>> Do not comment on athletes’ bodies or appearances. Don’t link athletic success to bodies or appearances. 

>> Refer and defer to a registered sports dietitian — bring one in or send your athletes to one — and pros mentioned above. 

4. Don’t write off athletes with eating disorders or disordered eating. 

>> With treatment, recovery is possible. So, too, is returning to training and competition. 

>> Stay in the loop, however possible, with a treatment team, especially the medical professionals who clear athletes for exercise. 

>> Eating disorders are complex mental health issues. Consequences include death. 

A Note To Athletes

You are not alone. Please speak up if and when you’re struggling at all. Don’t wait. The earlier the intervention, the better the prognosis, the less of your valuable time will be lost to confusion, anxiety and stress. 

If you don’t feel heard by your coach, try another adult or trusted human. You deserve care (including appropriate health care), factual answers to any questions, and folks who address your concerns with accurate information. 

National Eating Disorder Helpline

Toll-free, confidential: 1-800-931-2237

myneda.org/helpline-chat

Text NEDA to 741-741

Other resources include Project Heal (https://www.theprojectheal.org/treatment-access), Beat EDsAlliance for Eating Disorders and MEDA

 

###

Elizabeth Carey (https://elizabethwcarey.com/) is a writer and running coach based in Seattle, Washington. Her first book, GIRLS RUNNING, co-authored with Melody Fairchild, is available at your local bookstore and here: https://shop.aer.io/GirlsRunning/p/Girls_Running_All_You_Need_to_Strive_Thrive_and_Run_Your_Best/9781948007184-9934.



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