What Pro Athletes Actually Eat (and What You Can Learn From It) with Sports Dietitian Emily Kaley

What can everyday athletes learn from Olympians and pro sports teams?

In this episode, I sit down with sports dietitian Emily Kaley, who has worked with organizations like the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, and Washington Nationals, to break down what fueling actually looks like at the highest level—and how those same principles apply to you.

Emily shares her incredible journey from collegiate athlete to working in Major League Baseball, building nutrition programs from the ground up, and eventually launching her own private practice. Along the way, we dive into the biggest misconceptions in sports nutrition and what athletes (at every level) are getting wrong.

We cover:

•  The #1 habit that separates high performers from everyone else (hint: it’s not protein) 
•  What a real day of eating looks like for pro athletes 
•  Why fuel timing matters more than most people think 
•  The truth about carbs, supplements, and trendy diets 
•  How to fuel for evening workouts vs. early morning training 
•  What Emily learned from culinary school—and how to keep meals simple but effective 
•  Plant-based fueling for athletes and how to do it right 

Plus, a rapid-fire round where Emily shares her most controversial nutrition takes, underrated habits, and what she wishes more athletes understood.

Apply to work with Natalie for 1-on-1 nutrition coaching! 

Have questions or want to request a show topic? DM us @greenletes

Check out Natalie's book 📕: Planted Performance

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi everyone, thanks so much for joining the Green Leaves Podcast today. I'm your host, Natalie Rizzo, and I'm really excited to chat with another amazing sports dietitian. We have Emily Cayley today, and her resume is top-notch. She has worked with TBUSA swimming and track and field. She's worked with so many pro teams, the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, the Washington Nationals. She has a culinary background. She went to culinary school and she also works with everyday athletes. So she's gonna be a wealth of knowledge. I kind of just introduced you a little bit, Emily, but do you want to kind of go into your own background a little and shed a little light on these things that you've done?

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on today, too, Natalie. This is this is fun. Yeah, so hey everybody. My name is Emily, and I'm a sports dietitian. I'm originally from Maine. So any Mainers, hey guys. I grew up with my mother actually being a registered dietitian. So I knew what a dietitian was from a very early age. I'm very happy to have been able to know that I wanted to go to school to become a registered dietitian while I was in high school. So I went to Simmons College in Boston for my nutrition and dietetics undergrad. I had a ton of fun in Boston, worked my tail off in nutrition positions all around Boston while I was also a lacrosse athlete at Simmons College for all four years, which was awesome and very busy. Didn't know I want to be a sports dietitian at that point. And then I eventually went on to my dietetic internship in North Carolina in Charlotte through Morris and Chartwells. That's kind of where I put the two together, that there could be a world in which I combine dietetics and sport. I luckily got in touch with the senior sport dietician at Team USA, where I worked on a product with her and Charlotte with the Team USA Swimmers. Went out to Colorado Springs, got my master's in sport nutrition. Colorado Springs is like a hub for sports because they're like naturally blood doping up there. So there's all kinds of different sports. And it was so cool going to classes with other dietitians and strength coaches and ATs. So kind of learning what the multidisciplinary team was going to be like within my students, like the class of students, and got some really great experiences out there in Colorado Springs and then got scooped up by the Chicago Cubs. So I worked with the South Bend Cubs in South Bend, Indiana for a season. I never played softball. I didn't know the game of baseball, but they needed a lot of help with nutrition. And I wanted to learn the sport. So that was a really fun summer. Um, and then I hopped on over to Madison Square, kind of getting me closer to New York. My sisters were already living um in New York, um, and it was very familiar ground to me. So went off to work with the Madison Square Garden teams, which there were five at the time: the New York Knicks, the Rangers, Liberty, Westchester Knicks, and um Hartford Wolfpack. So got to support their dietitian helping that nutrition department. Then um, I think I needed a break, and there wasn't a lot uh that tickled my fancy after finishing up my time at Madison Square. So I went to culinary school in Manhattan. So that was super fun. The food didn't talk back to me and just got to learn about what it's like to be a chef and working with chefs and behind the scenes what happens. Um, so that was really fun. And then got scooped up by the New York Mets, who are looking to take on their first full-time sports dietitian with the organization. So I got to build that program with the minor leagues for a couple years. That was the second year was COVID year. So that was an interesting year. And then I was a free agent for a year, doing some work still with MLB Commissioner's office and some other projects. And then the Nationals scoofed me up. I mean, I was their first full-time sports dietitian, building them a nutrition program for the minor league. Hired some dietitians, built that thing out, had um a lot of phone the nationals, really great team. And now I've had my own private practice for about three years. I live in Brooklyn, New York, with my family surrounded all over the area, which is fantastic after being away from them for so long. And so, yeah, the puzzle pieces of my private practice are um I work with all kinds of different athletes. Big majority of them are endurance um athletes, primarily runners. Um, I also have a mentorship program, which I'll talk about a little bit later. We're doing some really fun projects with that. Um, I'm also contracted throughout the year a couple times through MLB still. We go to the Draft Combine to do ISAC skinfold measurements. I do presentations and podcasts and talk to schools. So yeah, I'm really digging my schedule now and happy to get into some more specifics about sport nutrition.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

I love this. First off, if anyone's watching YouTube, which you should, you can listen to our podcast. Mily looks like she's 25 and she's done like I don't know how old you are, but I don't know how you've done. 35, yeah. Yeah, I don't know how you've done all of this. It's so much. It's amazing. And I actually remember seeing when the New York Mets posted that they were looking for a sports dietitian. I had no idea it was you, that you were the first one to do that. That's so cool. And also, I went to college in Boston, I went to BU. Today, actually, we're we are recording on Marathon Monday, which is like was like my favorite day in Boston last week. Yeah, the Boston Marathon. So we have a lot of uh things in common there. But yeah, what a background. Wow. And with all of that background, I want to talk about because so you worked with everyone from Olympic athletes to professional athletes to everyday clients. Is there anything surprising you've learned in terms of their nutrition that kind of applies to everyone? Maybe like a certain mistake that everyone's making or a certain thing you feel like you keep saying, no matter the population?

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yeah, uh, that's a really good question. And I will say my path to where I am today is by all means not the way you have to go to get into the sport world. It just so happens to be my path, and I love my path and um who I've met and what I've learned. But yeah, that's a really great question. So I do work with a good amount of gen pop now, which has been really exciting work for me too. And I see it across the boards. It's consistency. I mean, these elite athletes, these pro athletes, these collegiate athletes, they're human just like everybody else. You see it, you see their struggles, they have, you know, disorders just like gen pop, they have gut issues. But what really comes on top for everybody who's active, gen pop and pro, is keeping a consistent routine. Knowing your body is really important. And I think for everybody to recognize what routine works for them and then to copy paste and control that as much as they can, they'll be in a really good spot.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, I always talk about kind of all around nutrition, which is just my way of saying that it's really important to focus on what you eat before a workout and how you recover after, and then maybe your hydration and all that. Obviously, we talk about that a lot. But I think athletes focus so much on that that they don't think outside of that realm too. And they're just like, well, I can eat whatever I want outside of the pre-workout and the post-workout, but it's really kind of like the all-around, like your whole day has to be built into your fueling strategy, and you have to do it consistently day after day, which isn't always easy, but I think with obviously a dietitian it helps. Absolutely. Do you have like let's talk about when you were working with pro athletes? Was there like what is a real day of eating actually look like? I think what I'm kind of getting at is I think people don't realize how much pro athletes are eating, or I I think they think that like maybe they're, you know, everyone's obsessed with protein right now. They're just like taking down tons of protein. But what is a what does a real day of eating actually look like for a pro athlete?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yeah, that's that's a really great question too. Lots of different kinds of feeling routines for the different kind of athlete, the different kind of schedule, right? Because some sports they're playing back-to-back games, sometimes two games in a day, like baseball, and sometimes they're playing once a week or a couple times a week. So to really pin down the practice and training day kind of routine schedule versus the game day, in season versus off-season, to get those fueling routines down is going to be really important for the athlete's performance. The dietitian really benefits coming in during those transition periods from in-season to off-season, spring training to in-season, um, a training day versus a game day. What I really like to do is I like to pick the time of the day that the athlete or the active individual is actually exerting themselves. So this training time, this game time, and kind of work backwards. Okay, game is at 7 p.m. What time are you waking up? Right? Because sometimes it's a later game, sometimes they're getting up a little bit later. Let's work backwards to make sure that you're eating every three to four hours. Our meals are nice and balanced, snacks are coming into play. We're eating a decent meal a couple hours before the game, maybe a little carb top off before. And then, really, depending on the sport and the athlete, sometimes they can fuel during the game or practice too. But sometimes they're they don't want to touch anything but like sports drink, maybe because of their um digestion, digestion. And then we also hit the recovery for the game day. Um, for example, on a game day, two hours before the game, they're having a nice balanced meal, something that's gonna be easy to consume, not spicy, not fatty. My baseball players really like Chipotle bowls, but obviously we would keep it on the like lighter side of the like the fat intake. And then they can fuel during the game. And then recovery meal happens just as soon as the game ends. They're showered and ready to hit the catering table. So that can happen pretty quickly too. And then we work backwards from that pre-game meal as well. So, what time are they getting up? They're generally having like a later breakfast. We really advise them to get in some kind of lunch in the afternoon that could be a balanced smoothie, especially if some of our players have a little bit of anxiety going into the game. And then there's always well-balanced snacks around the clubhouse. So just making sure that they're grabbing something if they're going a little bit longer than a few hours before. Um, so you really see it. I mean, I used to definitely tell which players are coming in to the clubhouse or to the locker room that hadn't eaten. They're a little slouched over, they're a little slow, look like they just woke up. So, to really prioritize this fuel timing, you could definitely see a big difference in energy levels, getting prepared for the game, and decrease GI issues, especially because they're not just going hard on the pregame meal. So definitely depends on the sport, definitely depends on the athlete, what's going on, but generally taking the time that they're exerting themselves and kind of working backwards to make sure they're fitting everything in.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

It's interesting. I don't know why I never thought about the fact that a lot of these games are at seven o'clock at night. And, you know, I work with everyday people who are exercising at 7 a.m. And that's almost easier in a way because it's like you're just taking in something small and then you go, and then you have the whole day to recover. But with 7 p.m., it's like you gotta think about what you eat all day because you can have GI issues or you can have anxiety that reduces your appetite. So that's that's a really interesting part of it. And you did you said before when you went to culinary school that no one was talking back to you. So that leads to you that uh maybe some of the athletes had to push back on some of the things you were saying. What were some of the struggles there?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

That was some of the best conversations because really, whenever an athlete or a coach or anybody who you work with front office brings up anything about nutrition, they're interested and they want to talk. Maybe it's coming out of a like trying to feel the dietitian out or trying to bring up some kind of information that they saw on social media. It's all good. I would absolutely take it all in this person is coming to you as the nutrition expert to say the if, ands, or buts. So I would take it all. Um, you know, I always show interest, even though I can immediately see that this is possibly um fad or not dietitian approved. Um, I always ask, where did you find the source? What interests you about it? Do you think that that's right for you? So I would say it's never bad. I would say for me as a dietitian in sport, I always watch out for the athletes who possibly are taking a little bit more time to come around to actually have a one-on-one or have a conversation about nutrition. This shouldn't be something that's pushed on them because then it's possible that they don't want to move forward with, you know, your recommendations. But they tend to come around once you start kind of building around them, talking to their other teammates, kind of showing what kind of knowledge you know about supplements and about pre-fuel, post-fuel hydration, body composition, blood work, they usually come around at the right time. But no matter what, they're eating off your spread and they're having balanced meals and sacks. So they're taking advantage of your nutrition services no matter what. But yeah, when an athlete comes to me with a question or a TIF or something like that, it's all good. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

It's interesting. I don't think people realize how passionate everyone is about nutrition. And this isn't just athletes, this is everyone I talk to. And even when you're on social media, you post something and people will argue crazy things or or not even crazy things, but they just love to argue about nutrition. Now I sometimes I'm like, we are just eating. It is just food. We don't need to be this. And this is my obviously my career, my life. Yes. But sometimes people get so heated about this. So I can imagine there were certain topics that maybe came up, especially within the supplement space.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

And I love hearing it all because if one person's thinking about it and bringing it to me, it's very likely that it's maybe spread across the clubhouse or other people are going to talk about it. So it's it's it's I love finding out new information and what the athletes are absorbing because it's probably what they're seeing day to day. So it's good.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Absolutely. Yeah. Did working in pro sports change anything about how you personally eat or fuel? And speaking of which, are you do you you said you did lacrosse in the past, but do you still I'm assuming you're probably still active and any sport you are passionate about?

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah, I always I I have a twin, so I always wanted to be able to like, yeah, like take her on. Like we we were we're I always we always like need we're very competitive. So we actually got our black belts at age 15. So we did karate, Shinru in Taekwondo from like seven to 15, and then we became interested in other things, like like high school drama. Um, and then we both went to college. I played Lacron for Simmons, and then yeah, just active from there on out. I ran the New York City Marathon a couple years ago, which was such a great experience, and I definitely understand my running athletes way, way more now. And then I also competed in high rocks the year the summer after that, which was also really cool too. I like to do a nice mix of strength and cardio. So now it's getting nicer in New York, so I'll get back out to Prospect Park and run the loop. And then I love my strength too. So just a little combo. Um, I I say it's more for like my mental state than like my physical state. Um it's kind of just like my form of therapy. So I absolutely love staying active.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yeah. And do you take any insights from the athletes that you've worked with in terms of feeling? I mean, you're the obviously the expert, but is there anything that as you've worked with these athletes, maybe you've thought, this is something maybe I'll change?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah. Um I just being in the sport nutrition realm, you're always around a gym, you're always around supplements, you're always around talking about balanced eating. So it has been just super easy to stay healthy and fit in these environments, which is a a really good world for me. Um, definitely my runners have taught me a lot about how to fuel, especially for inner, like during training fuel. So like during races and during practices, they've taught me a lot. Even down to going with the fueling is like the water bottle that you hold and how you hold it, where you put it, do you have a water belt? So they have really brought a lot to light, talking through what to expect. And and that's really fun. I think when you are having that kind of conversation with a client, you're there with building rapport with them. You guys are both learning from each other. They're opening up. You get to learn a lot more about them and the way that they teach and what they know and possibly some of their concerns. So that's been some fun conversations with those. And then, yeah, some of these, some of these sports taught me really how to shift my fueling routine too, working more evenings and throughout the weekend. Travel nutrition is a big, big one in the world of sport nutrition, how to control your fueling routine as much as you can while traveling. That's been a big one that I've learned too. Yeah, it's really fun taking care of an athlete just because they're on the go so much. There's so much stress involved, and they're just trying to perform the best that they can. So I've learned so much from my athletes and my coaches as well.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yeah. I think I I work with kind of everyday athletes, and I'm always trying to tell them that, you know, when you watch, for instance, a marathon and you see them pick up that water bottle, like that was planned. They went through testing, they went through sweat rate testing, they know exactly how much should be in there. They know exactly the formula of electrolytes that they're putting in there. Like they know the minute they're taking that water. And I'm trying to teach people like this is what we need to do. Obviously, we're not elite and we don't need to get to that level, but that plan is there to help them perform at their best because I still feel like I'm getting, there's still roadblocks a lot of times with the everyday athlete who didn't grow up in this high stress environment learning about the importance of fueling. So I think like we can learn from those people just by seeing, you know, them drink their Gatorade. Like even that is a learning experience for a lot of everyday athletes.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

When I see a gel wrapper on the ground in Prospect Park while I'm like walking or running, I look at it, I'm like, let's go. Like someone, someone did good here. Like that, that's a really good sign. That's amazing. Yeah, I think it's also becoming okay now to fuel during races. I I had a I had a runner tell me one time, she's like, you know, I used to look at the fuel tables and think how weak everybody was who needed to go. And I was like, that's it. Like there's just so much misconception about proper fueling around performance. And so now to know that knowledge that they see it as a weakness and then to teach them how it actually is gonna help your performance. Now she looks at the fueling table and says the same thing, like, let's go, like get your fuel. Like this is this is great. So just yeah, just the misconceptions are very interesting in sport for sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

I love that so much. That actually I gotta clip that. That was amazing. Talk about your your culinary background, which is one of the most interesting things because you know, my whole career started out of I be I switched careers to become a dietitian. And the reason I even became a dietitian was basically because I like to cook and I liked food and I liked taking a recipe and trying to make it healthier. And that was just like part of why I went into this field. But when I was in this field, I thought it was interesting that not every dietitian does love to cook or wants to be in the culinary space, and which is totally fine. There's so many different paths, but I think it is interesting that you decided to go back to culinary school. And what was that experience like? What I mean, how did that change your approach to sports nutrition, if at all? Like just tell me a little bit more about it.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Yeah. I actually was thinking about culinary school while I was also thinking about my nutrition dietetic undergrad. And I was juggling on which one to do first. I I ended up landing on, you know, Simmons College to complete my undergrad, but I always knew there was gonna probably be a time, hopefully be a time, where I could get into the culinary world a little bit more. So glad I went dietitian route first. That was just worked out for me. And then after Madison Square, I knew I actually wanted to get back into baseball. I loved the grind of the season. I loved being outside. I loved how much we could teach this organization as performance dietitians. And so, you know, since there really wasn't anything on CPSDA job board or anything that tickled my fancy, right? CPSDA at the time, now it's ASPDA. I Was like, I'm gonna dive into culinary school, and I found a great program. Got my certificate in commercial cooking and catering and worked under Jean George during my externship. And it was just it was just an amazing time. I think for me it was a really good reset. I remembered, you know, I was reminded by just back to the basics of like food. Like this is why we're here. It was really cool being um in touch with the other students as well in my class and learning their backgrounds and what they were trying to do with their culinary certificate. I mean, my chefs were awesome and crazy, and we had really geeky chats about nutrition and sports and where I wanted to take this. I already appreciated our culinary teams in sport, but this just gave it a whole different meaning. I mean, working under Jean-George at the Mercer Kitchen, there were no chairs for us to sit on in the back of the house. There, there was nothing. You might sit on like a staircase eating a half a pizza on break if you're lucky. They were just standing for hours on end, just moving and grooving. So it really helps you appreciate your culinary team. They're the food experts, you're the nutrition experts, keep those scopes separate, but also realize how they can help each other so much. So I made it a huge point to always, to always turn to my culinary team early in the morning, throughout the day, do check-ins. Do you guys need anything? What's going on today? Checking menus, really building rapport with them because they're gonna let you know everything. They're they're going to be taking care of your team and they're going to be putting your vision into play. And to also remind the athletes and the staff that the food doesn't just show up since 4 a.m. Um, they work their, you know, their tails off and they really enjoy doing it for you guys. So be, you know, appreciated, say thank you, um, look them in the eyes when you're talking to them. Don't just point. I mean, a lot of little things that you can also teach your team to help care for a little bit more of your culinary team. Um, so after, you know, making sure that everybody was feeling comfortable with how they were treating the culinary team, you see it. You see them saying thank you more. The culinary team is happy, and the cafeteria becomes a really bright, happy place where everywhere else in the complex, there's a lot of stress going on. So if the culinary team and the cafeteria could be a positive, happy place, these athletes are gonna fuel better. They're gonna feel better, they're gonna want to come to the cafeteria and fuel. So, yeah, it really makes you appreciate, you know, the culinary team and what they're doing to bring your vision to life. So build rapport definitely with your culinary team, and you might get a fun little meal out of it, or maybe your favorite meal will be made for you from your culinary team. So, yeah, definitely thank your culinary team for sure.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Yeah, actually, my first job was in food service. I worked uh at an investment bank. I worked for a company called Restaurant Associates. They actually do the um the food at the US Open, um, but they're in like corporate cafes. So I worked in an investment bank. So I have worked with chefs and food service managers, and it's like it's a very rough job. People do not realize like what food service entails. Like we have to be there at 6 a.m., you know, it's a lot. So I I love that mindset of being like, thank the culinary team. And most of the time the culinary team loves what they do, that's why they do it. Yeah. That's that's how do you apply that to your everyday? Like, hey, do you have certain things you like to cook now? How do you apply the skills you learned to your everyday life? And like, what are some simple hacks that people who are at chefs can maybe utilize?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah. You mentioned this before, and you mentioned something along the lines of keeping things like simple. I am constantly reminding my clients and you know, my athletes that it has to, it doesn't have to look pretty, it could be super simple. Just all the elements of the meal should be there, right? The grain, the protein, and the color. No one's coming to your place and is gonna rate your meal out of like five stars. Like it just has to work for you. Also, like if you don't like a certain color being mixed with your salmon and your rice, you know, you could have an apple on the side of that. It doesn't all have to go together. It just has to work. So, you know, a lot of clients and athletes, they they tend to get a little overwhelmed and make eating really complicated. But I think if you could bring it back to the basics, utilize their strengths in the kitchen and let them know how balanced eating can look for them on a certain budget or a certain time restraint and certain limitations of preference, you're gonna be doing your client really well because they're gonna try to keep it as simple as possible. They'll come back to you saying, like, thank you so much. I didn't realize it could work like this or that this could save me so much time. And I don't have to put together perfectly beautiful meals every single week. Um, for me, I've always stayed pretty simple. You know, growing up with my mother who's a registered dietitian, we kept things really simple. We ate from the house most days. I think we would venture out like every so often or get like ice cream every like Friday nights. So I've always eaten pretty simple and my body really likes that. So I know if I'm, you know, going out into New York and having a little bit more fried food, like my body probably won't like that very much, but I know that I'm making the choice to have a little bit more fun with my food. So most of my meals, now that I'm especially in private practice, are made from my apartment, which I absolutely love. Yeah, it's I find cooking also very therapeutic. If I have a pan going here and the oven on and the music going, I'm in my happy place. And if I'm cooking for others, I'm in an even happier place. So I absolutely love throwing like dinner parties or having my family over for meals or making things for our family holidays. It's really fun. I have a really fun time cooking. Again, the food doesn't talk back. So it's just me in my elements. So yes, cooking, cooking is a very fun activity for me.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

The food doesn't talk back unless you have kids, which I assume because Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

I I have a plant that's doing pretty good. But yes, no, no kids at this time.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Yeah, I like I like cooking as well. But then my four-year-old will be like, I didn't want this. Because I'm the same. I'm like, let's let's keep dinner simple, like let's do a rice and a veggie, and we're plant-based, so we'll do tofu or tempe or whatever. That's some nights of the week. Other nights I get more fancy. We have pizza every Friday that I make and things like that. But yeah, I grew up, my mom made pizza every Friday, um, because I grew up in an Italian family. Rizzo's like my maiden name. I never change it, so it was Italian, and uh I it's like a tradition that I kept on. And people are always so surprised that as a dietitian, I still eat pizza every Friday. It's a well-balanced meal. You have your grain, you have your color, and you have your protein. Yeah, no, totally. I feel like I think that people don't realize we love food as dietitians, and we like, but we know what makes us feel good and what doesn't. So it like you said before, like it maybe I'm not not eating four slices of pizza, you know, like two, and then I'm maybe having a salad on the side.

unknown 29:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

But yeah, and then also we're plant-based, so we eat obviously a ton of plants and whole foods. Have you worked with athletes that are plant-based, or has that come up in your culinary approach at all? What are you kind of like how do you navigate that? As you said you eat salmon, so I'm assuming you eat meat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

Yeah, I um I lean towards like the pescatarian route. Like I definitely have red meats and other meats, but I tend to eat a lot more fish. I'm also Italian, I'm Sicilian, so we absolutely love all of the fish and seafood. And then I also have a lot of tofu, a lot more, you know, plant-based proteins. And that's just makes me feel good. But I also love, you know, a piece of red meat, like especially around like my menstrual cycle or some other times when like I'm, you know, exerting myself a little bit more with exercise. I have come across all different kinds of plant-based um and different diets with my athlete. I think the most interesting one was a fruititarian and he was coming back from injury on both hips. Let's just say he didn't end up coming back, but it was a very interesting time, you know, trying to recommend certain foods to him, but he was kind of already a little bit locked in his ways. But yes, I would say, let's see, when I came back for spring training with the Mets, like what the health had just came out, and everybody, all the guys were asking about going vegan and, you know, all this, you know, information from what the health and we love a food documentary because it brings up the conversation around food and nutrition and gives you a really great conversation to have with your team. But they, you know, sometimes people will tend to take it a little extreme. So, yes, a lot of my athletes that season went a little bit more plant-based because at spring training they kind of wanted to go vegan. And I reminded them like, do you like me? Do you actually just want to go more plant-based? And then, you know, teaching them what that could look like. So that was kind of a trend. I've had teams of vegans. I definitely have my different kinds of vegetarian athletes, ovo, lacto, pescatarian, all kinds of more plant-based eaters. And it's really, really fun making sure that they have everything that they need and you're educating them as much as you can. And it tends to bring in another aspect of food into the clubhouse, just with someone being a little bit more plant-based or a little bit more of the vegetarian type, because you're bringing in some more plant-based proteins, you're bringing in certain supplements that they can have. So it just adds to the variety that everybody in the clubhouse has. And maybe they'll also brush up on some other players that possibly could benefit from going a little bit more plant-based as well. So seen a lot in the athlete world and just making sure that they have everything that they need. It's really good also if you're able to look at blood work for these athletes as well to make sure, especially for your more vegans, vegetarian, plant-based athletes, or athletes that need to watch out for certain foods to make sure that they're getting everything they need. So if you're finding it difficult to get a hold of blood work where you are, that's another good bullet point of why it could help their overall performance.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

That's really good for I love hearing it because I've worked with some athletes, and this is more just the everyday who come to me saying, I worked with a dietitian in the past and I'm vegan, and they basically told me, like, you shouldn't be a vegan if you want to run marathons or whatever it is, which I'm I get it with some people, like a fruititarian, that's obviously what I would do if someone came to me with that. It was a lot. Yeah, that's that's hard, but I love hearing from you that you're like, okay, we're figuring out ways to incorporate new proteins in there. And that's uh because some people who listen are considering going plant-based or new to plant-based, or to them, plant-based means 80% plants with some animal foods. Like there's ways to do it, like like you just said, like the approach of figuring out new proteins to add in. So it's not like necessary you can't do it at all. Yeah, you're more athlete.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Yeah, nothing in the nutrition world is fast or easy. So to layer on these behavior changes and educate as we go, that's what the body's gonna respond to best. So yeah, they came in pretty frantic with wanting to make quick changes. And that's why it's so important to have a health professional there to lead them in the right direction.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

I remember, I think there was one recently, maybe it was called like game changers or something. Was that it? Yeah. Those are when I see like an up t uptick in people following me. Then they realize that I'm that I'm not and like it's still a balanced approach, what I'm doing here. It's not like, you know, 100% like there's some people who promote no oil or no sugar or whatever it is. That's not yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Yeah. Like every few years there's an uproar on something, and we're just here to keep people on the path of balanced eating.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

100%, yeah. Yeah. Uh okay, I want to do a little game of rapid fire questions, and you can, you know, answer them in one sentence or take as much time as you want. Need, but is there a nutrition hill that you will die on?

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Gotta say, I gotta say fuel timing. Okay. Timing of when you eat. I'm not letting it go. Okay. Love that. Not letting it go.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Meaning like you're gonna tell them exactly like you you gotta space it out.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

You could be pairing all the right macros together. You could be taking all the right supplements, you could be getting in all the colors and all the lean proteins and all the good grains. But if you're not timing your nutrition right, it's not gonna be benefit it's not gonna be as beneficial as you want it to be.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Okay. I always say what you eat depends on when you eat, because I like to have my little sayings. Yeah. But steal it, use it. Yeah, I'll give you, I'll give you 10%. Okay. Overrated nutrition trend, you which wish it would go away.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

There's so many. Carnivore diet. The carnivore diet, I wish it would go away, away. I think there's even with how things change with the, you know, everything that's being voted on today with like the nutrition labels and everything, like with the emphasis on protein being even higher, you know, I don't think it's doing our our bodies good to be eating that much, especially red meats. So I'm I'm not big on getting in all that saturated fat, especially for our active population, which can cause a lot of inflammation. So I think anything emphasizing a lot on one kind of nutrient isn't going to be a great diet. So I just wish the carnivore diet would go away, but with that would go away a lot of social media um personnel and and and personnel that a lot of our um, you know, athletes are watching. Um, so I wish it would go away and never come back. You know I'm on board with that one.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Yeah. Yeah. What about underrated habit or underrated thing that maybe you wish more people would pick up and and do? Water in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Like you wake up dehydrated and with some low blood sugar from a night of fasting. So to break the fast, breakfast, break fast, the two best things you could do is get in some water and get in some carbohydrate with a little bit of, you know, protein, a little bit of fat if you want to make that balance and you're not jumping right into a workout. I think a lot of people wake up and likely to eat a lot or even drink, um, and then they're feeling fatigued and not great. So to start your day off with some water, one of the best things you could do. It does not have to be lemon water or any kind of special water. It could even be tea or coffee can be hydrating if you eat if you drink the same amount of coffee um consistently. So get in some fluids in you for sure.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

So simple, yet so effective. Yes. Please hydrate people. Yes. What's one thing most athletes don't want to hear, but they need to hear? You can't use that supplement.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

I used to say it almost every single day. I was very fortunate as I, you know, worked with teams. I was on the ground with them. I was seeing what was in their locker, I was seeing what was um, you know, what they were carrying around um on the field. So, you know, some of the athletes would do the approach of like come up to me and show me a product on their phone or that they had in their locker and ask, is it okay? So it's just another learning opportunity and moment where I could teach them about third-party testing. And in baseball, they the supplements have to be NSF certified. So a lot of you actually shouldn't use it, give it to a friend, and I can teach you what brand is actually safe for you. And then there's some athletes that would sneak around with certain supplements or drinks that they know that they shouldn't have and they'd kind of hide it from me and think that I don't see it. But yeah, the conversations around safe supplementation for these athletes, especially in organizations, is so important because they could sit if they uh get popped for banned substances. Sometimes that even comes back on the dietitian or, you know, the performance or medical staff. So it's really important to keep these athletes safe, remind them that there are safer supplements out there, and to sometimes handhold them to the right decisions. So supplements is a big one.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

I'm sure that that, I mean, we see headlines all the time of like so-and-so was caught doping. And sometimes it may just be, I mean, I don't know. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but it could just be like a tainted supplement, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Yeah, it could be a multivitamin that they were taking since they were a kid. Like it's all across the boards. So just to keep the athletes safe and to get that support from the organization is is good too, to like revamp the supplement lineup if you need to.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Okay, last one. If someone listening wants to improve their fueling tomorrow, what's what's the first thing you'd recommend? Carbohydrates.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Carbohydrates, carbohydrates. Thank you. Can't say it enough. Um, there's a lot of misconception that your body uses protein during workouts and you have to get in a ton of protein. Again, not to, you know, harp on protein or anything. Protein's so essential for repairing muscle mass after workout and for keeping you satiated and getting all aminos and all that fun stuff in there. But so many athletes just aren't utilizing carbohydrates where they need to. Carbohydrates are all around the activity. It's pre-activity, during activity, post-activity with every meal, with every snack. So if an athlete comes to me or I see an athlete who's lethargic or fatigued or not performing as best they can, carbohydrates, let's increase those carbohydrates. They come back more alert, more awake. And it's the power of the banana or power of the applesauce squeezy or of a gel. Um, it could be so, so simple. So carbohydrates all day.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Thank you. I agree. You are amazing. You shared like a wealth of knowledge, and you truly are like, you know, an expert in the field. So I'm sure people are gonna want to work with you. You work with everyday athletes, not just pros, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:41

I work with everyday athletes, um, active individual pros, you name it from, you know, I've worked with as young as two all the way up to, you know, in this in their 70s. So I work with any kind of client. I also have a mentorship program. So I take anybody who's trying to get into the world of sport nutrition. If you guys are interested, I'd love to give you my email as well. It's emily.keeley at gmail.com. And we have some really exciting projects coming to launch by this summer. So if you're interested in getting on that list for being updated on these sport nutrition mentorship uh projects, I'd be happy to update you. If you're trying to get in the sport nutrition world, we have the program for you. And then I also love precepting. Um, I love taking on interns. So a lot of my weeks are filled with that as well. I really, really enjoy and it really fulfills me as a sport dietician to give back to our up-and-coming, you know, sport dietitians and to give them insight into the world. So that's kind of where I'm leaning towards too in my work.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

I love that so much. But if people want to work with you, should they just email you? Do you have another website or social you want people to follow you?

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Website is under um construction right now, and you can absolutely feel free to email me at emily.kayley at gmail.com for any kinds of inquiries. Amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time today. Thank you so much, Natalie.