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

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.

Links :

•  Jill’s Website: https://jillmerkelrd.com/
•  Follow Jill on Instagram

Other Announcements:

•  Please show your support by leaving a rating and/or review on Apple Podcasts 
•  Music Credit: Joseph McDade
• Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - eatforendurance@gmail.com.

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