The Eat for Endurance Podcast

Intuitive Eating for Athletes: A Discussion with Sports Dietitian Jill Merkel

Claire Shorenstein, MS RD CSSD CDN with Jill Merkel, MS RD CSSD Season 5 Episode 59

Welcome to episode 59 of the Eat for Endurance podcast! Today, I am welcoming fellow sports dietitian Jill Merkel, MS RD CSSD onto the show. Jill is an anti-diet, weight-inclusive Registered Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and a runner. Jill has worked in a variety of collegiate sport settings, and was the Team Sports Dietitian for the NFL Tennessee Titans for five seasons (2017-2021). She now has a private practice specializing in body image, chronic dieting, disordered eating, and sports nutrition.

Jill is passionate about Intuitive Eating and anti-diet nutrition for athletes, which is the main topic of our discussion today. Within this framework, we cover a large number of key sports nutrition topics, including:

  • What is intuitive eating and anti-diet nutrition, and how do these definitions differ when applied specifically to the athlete population?
  • How do we handle the topics of weight and body composition in athletes and esp in sports like running, cycling, etc, from an intuitive eating standpoint?
  • How do we guide athletes to eat adequately, and as a result, avoid chronic underfueling and eventually RED-S, using intuitive eating principles?
  • Jill’s experience as an intuitive eating dietitian while also the Team Sports Dietitian for the NFL Tennessee Titans
  • Assessing a hypothetical client and how we would address her nutrition, training and health challenges
  • Maintaining a healthy iron status / Ferritin
  • GI issues especially as they relate to underfueling

Thank you Jill for a great discussion on so many important topics! I hope you all enjoy our episode together.

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Disclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendations

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