The Differences Between Nutrition For Athletes & Healthy Eating

Thanks to TikTok and Instagram, we get a front-row seat to the lives of athletes—learning about how they care for their bodies in their day-to-day lives. Food included.

While a snapshot of their plate may somewhat resemble your dinner, athletes' eating patterns are quite different. And they 100% should be. 

Athletes constantly push their bodies to extreme physical lengths, and food is a lever in making those feats possible. But typical "healthy eating" advice—think eating plenty of fiber, protein, and veggies while reducing added sugars and salt—isn't going to get them to their goals. 

To help show the differences between "healthy eating" and fueling for sport, we tapped top registered dietitians for the advice they most regularly give their female athletes (of all ages) that contradicts the norm. 

Here at mindbodygreen, protein is the macronutrient that's been at the top of our minds for the last several years—and making sure that women get enough of it. While that still holds true for athletes, carbohydrate intake is paramount for athletes.

When you eat carbs, some of the glucose gets used right away by cells, and then you also store some glucose (as glycogen) in your muscles and your liver, which you can tap into for energy later.

As endurance sports imply you are using a high amount of energy over a long period of time, you need to have a lot of glucose availability. 

Carb-heavy foods have long gotten a bad rap in the wellness space for overly increasing blood sugar—and many people view foods like bread, pasta, rice, etc., as unhealthy, including athletes. 

"There is still a lot of fear around carbohydrates in athletes," notes Smith. "But as a rule, as training increases, carb intake also has to increase."

The best way to fuel before and during a workout is with quick-digesting carbs—aka, foods that mainly provide sugar.   

"One of the most contentious topics of nutrition in a sport like gymnastics is the use of quick-digesting carbohydrates intra-workout," says The Gymnast Nutritionist Christina Anderson, M.S., RDN, CSSD, CSP. "The lay public doesn't understand the differences between 'fueling vs. snacking,' and so you'll see a lot of things—especially on social media—saying that sports drinks are toxic, full of sugar, etc."

But that's actually the exact fuel that athletes need. 

Anderson emphasizes that high-intensity sports (like gymnastics) can have grueling four- to six-hour practices, and quick-digesting carbs are needed every hour and a half to two hours. Sports drinks, or snacks like dried fruit, gummy candies (yes, fruit snacks!), gels, and crackers—all foods that many people try to avoid to eat healthy—are crucial for performance nutrition and keeping the muscles and brain fueled. 

"The stomach gets limited blood flow during exercise, which can compromise digestion, so we have to use a fuel source that can digest easily like fruit snacks, processed carbs (grains), etc.," emphasizes Anderson. 

This applies to not only gymnastics but also sports like tennis, soccer, running, football, and so on that span hours. 

Anderson also notes, "So many people lose their minds when we say that it's OK to give your gymnast their favorite candy—as they hear, 'let them eat candy all the time in massive quantities.' And that's not it at all. It's about balance." 

The struggle here is that no one is immune to healthy eating messaging—which often focuses on reducing sugar-containing foods and labeling foods good or bad. 

Smith typically advises her clients not to fill up on veggies—a recommendation you'd probably never expect to hear from a dietitian. 

"Eating a lot of veggies at meals and snacks takes up a lot of 'space' in the stomach—leaving someone too full to get adequate carbohydrates from grains or starches or enough protein," says Smith. While many people intentionally use the tactic of filling up on veggies for weight management or fat loss, it's another example of advice that can dampen an athlete's performance. 

Many health enthusiasts choose to track their macros and sometimes calories as a way to monitor their health. But Smith believes this approach is too restrictive and does not account for the ebbs and flows in training throughout the week and the unique needs of athletes.

She says, "Many of my clients come to me after working with macro coaches. They are underfueled and experiencing negative health and performance outcomes. It also very often creates or perpetuates a negative relationship with food and exercise in most endurance athletes."

Did you notice that all the advice on this list is about ensuring athletes have enough energy availability? Both Smith and Anderson brought up the dangers of underfueling (not eating enough to support daily energy needs, workouts, and recovery) that can lead to relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs).

"REDs is a huge contributor to the high rates of injury in a sport like gymnastics, especially overuse and bone-related injuries, poor healing from an injury, and performance issues," says Anderson.

 The rate of REDs varies by sport but may affect up to 80%1 of elite athletes. 

"Most athletes (and parents or coaches) only focus on eating healthy, and yet you can eat healthy and underfuel, technically overfuel (though rare in these growing athletes [I] work with), or eat enough, but it's not enough of the right foods at the right times," says Anderson.

"Endurance sports can be a fun and fulfilling way to push yourself, gain community, and stay active," says Smith. "But for many busy individuals who are training in addition to navigating life responsibilities, it's easy to find yourself overtrained and underfueled if you don't match your nutrition to your training (and life) stress load!" 

Healthy eating depends on the context. For athletes, beneficial food choices do and should look different from the recreationally active individual. But healthy eating ideals run deep, and both Smith and Anderson point out how they work with athletes to detach from practices and messaging that aren't designed to help them reach their goals.