This episode of the Female Athlete Nutrition podcast is with Olympic Trials qualifier and registered sports dietitian Kelsey Pontius. Kelsey recently competed in the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Team Trials, and comes on the podcast to share about her nutrition and athletics journey. Growing up playing soccer, Kelsey credits this background to her ability to remain injury free as a runner, allowing her to ascend to an elite level. Personal and professional experiences have highlighted to Kelsey the importance of carbohydrates for health and performance; we discuss the emerging awareness of low carbohydrate availability (LCA) independent of RED-S, and the impact of carbohydrates on recovery, bone health, hormones, iron absorption, performance, and more.

Kelsey’s current area of interest is around understanding blood glucose and the usefulness of measuring it for healthy, athletic populations. We do a brief blood sugar 101, talking about healthy responses to exercise as well as disorders like diabetes and glycogen storage disease, the condition affecting my son. We chat about continuous glucose monitors for healthy and unwell populations, as well as tips on how most of us should think about blood sugar spikes, fluctuations, and CGMs. We finish off with our usual end of the podcast questions.

TOPIC TIMESTAMPS:

8:15 Kelsey’s journey as an athlete and sports dietitian

13:00 From soccer to running in the Olympic Trials

20:15 Low carbohydrate availability, performance, and RED-S

24:15 How many carbs do we really need?

27:50 The effects of carbohydrates on iron levels, bone health, recovery and hormones

34:00 Performance improvements from more carbs

41:15 Society’s carb phobia and how carbohydrates impact blood glucose

47:40 Measuring blood sugar, spikes and fluctuations: lower is not better!

51:15 Blood glucose 101, diabetes, and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs)

55:00 Use of CGMs in sport and healthy populations

1:05:00 Blood glucose disorders and CGMs

1:09:30 Night time snacks for better blood sugar control and sleep

1:11:30 How to think about blood sugar and CGMs

1:16:40 End of the podcast questions

Check out Kelsey’s website: meteornutrition.com

Follow Kelsey Pontius on Instagram @sportsdietitiankelsey and me, your host Lindsey Cortes, on Instagram @female.athlete.nutrition

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