Arm Yourself with Knowledge: Sports Nutrition

After my battle with hyponatremia at the NYC marathon this fall, I am forever humbled by the science of sports nutrition and the chemistry of our bodies. My knowledge base is in exercise physiology, biomechanics, injury prevention and treatment so when I get questions from patients and runners about sports nutrition, I defer to the experts. 

Sports nutrition is ever changing and is complicated by being quite personalized so it has an art to it as well. Not only is the science changing (we no longer gorge ourselves on pasta), but so is your body chemistry as you age. What worked for you five years ago, may not be what works for you today.

So who do we turn to for advice? If you are having a lot of trouble or issues, it is a good idea to have a consultation with a sports certified nutritionist. Sally Berry is local and has lots of experience with area athletes. A good source for all things sports nutrition is Nancy Clark's blog. She recently posted a blog about Sports Nutrition Information: Websites You Can Trust. It contains a lot of resources for you to check out! Learn more about Nancy here. 

While the jury is still out on what initiated my personal bout with hyponatremia, I am certain that learning more is the key to prevention of a recurrence. Arm yourself with knowledge!