Episode 44: Heidi Strickler on Nutrition for Female Endurance Athletes
by Nikki Parnell — February 19, 2021
This week we have a big resource episode coming your way! We talk with Heidi Strickler, a Registered Sports Dietitian who works with athletes world wide and specializes in female endurance athletes. Her mission is to help women understand how our bodies work, what is happening inside our bodies during our cycles and how to fuel and train through all the changes we experience. Our bodies are drastically different from men so it only makes sense that we start eating, fueling and running based on our own needs and work with our bodies vs. against them!
Here are some of the amazing takeaways from our time with Heidi – but know that this is NOT all we discussed (as I typed out four pages of notes after going back through this episode and I suggest you do the same!)
- Your period is your superpower. It’s a sign that your body is working as it should and there are ways to use your cycle as a tool nutritionally and athletically to perform optimally. The loss of a period is often the first sign that something isn’t right in a woman’s body.
- All food fits. We need to stop labeling food as bad or good which leads to us weighing our food choices in terms of morality. Obviously there are more nutritious foods than others, but you are not morally bad if you eat brownies, just as you are not morally good if you eat broccoli. Food is fuel. And a fueled body is best!
- All bodies are good bodies – let’s shift the narrative of “smaller is faster” and “smaller is better” because it can be but only until it isn’t and it’s a steep cliff to fall from when you’re trying to achieve this societal standard. The goal is to re-establish body trust.
- Oral Contraceptives (OCPs) shut down our natural hormones, don’t allow us to have actual periods (but rather withdraw bleeds) and can mask underlying problems in our body – like warning signs of underfeeding and low energy availability. We also lose some potential exercise adaptations.
- We talk about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) and how that can make us prone to problems with our heart, bone health, menstral cycle, mental health, we have a 4x higher risk of injury, poor performance, etc.
- Stress can play a big role in our body’s health and ability to train.
- We can address, manage and mitigate symptoms during our cycle to feel and perform better. With tracking our body’s natural rhythms we can understand the physiology of what is causing our symptoms and take our power back. Heidi walks us through each phase of the cycle, how our hormones are being affected and tips on the foods we should focus on eating and the types of training that are most beneficial during each phase. It is SO fascinating and enlightening! Example: during phase 1 when we’re on our period, our estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest (we’re most like men here) and so it’s a good time to set a PR and eat foods rich in iron, omega-3s and magnesium to replenish minerals that are being lost!
- Apps for tracking your cycle: Fitr Women – track symptoms, get phase-based nutrition, exercise recommendations and recipes to try for that time of the month! You can work with your RD, like Heidi, as a coach on the app, so they can help make sure your nutritional care is more complete! Hello Clue is also a great resource and tracking app!
- We talk about diet fads and how things like Keto, intermittent fasting and fasted morning training are all male driven practices. The research is done on men, so no ultra running mom is going to be represented in a study like that. Heidi gives us scientific reasoning for why these programs do not benefit women and how much they throw off our hormones and our body’s stress response which ends up producing the opposite results from what we wanted to see.
- For endurance athletes who are also nursing mothers: Heidi recommends “The See Food Diet”, meaning, if you see food, eat it. A fueled body is better than an under-fueled body. You’ll have more energy, you’ll better be able to keep up your milk supply, and your milk will be more nutritious for your baby. Do what you can to pre-plan meals and snacks. Make things in bulk, don’t be ashamed of using easy ingredients like frozen vegetables if that is going to help you get food into your body, make ready-to-eat foods where no utensils are needed that you can just grab and go. Ex: trail mix in bags, breakfast burritos in the freezer at the ready, or bars you like.
- Heidi gives some great pre-run, during run and post run fueling tips too! One thing I loved for people who might have a hard time fueling before a run (mamas who must wake up super early to get their run in, I’m looking at you!) is making a performance coffee – add a little protein powder, sugar or sweetened milk (dairy or non dairy), trying to get in about 150 calories and froth it up! Brilliant.
We ended our conversation talking about how we as moms can build up our kids to love their bodies and have a good relationship with food too. Heidi reminded us to be role models. Notice how we talk about ourselves and our bodies and how we treat ourselves. It’s okay to have hard days and be a messy human but our actions will speak volumes and we want our messaging to our kids to be full of love and respect so that they learn to interact with the world and their bodies with love and respect too! So good!
A huge thank you to Heidi for sharing all of this information with us! Click the link below to listen to this episode or search “Run Hard Mom Hard” on all podcast platforms. Don’t forget to share this one with ANY female athletes you know! Thank you!
Lastly, a HUGE thank you to this week’s sponsor, Cadenshae! Cadenshae is a maternity activewear brand based out of New Zealand that makes medically endorsed maternity, postpartum and nursing apparel such as leggings, shorts, bras and tops! Check out their awesome products at cadenshae.com and use code RUNHARD15% for 15% off your purchase!
Show Notes:
Follow Heidi on Instagram
Email her at hkstrickler.sportsrd@gmail.com
Heidi loves UCAN products (more easily processed by womens’ bodies than other sports nutrition brands!) You can use code UCANINSPIREHS for a discount on products!
Apps to track your cycle:
Heidi’s go-to meals during the week:
- burritos/tacos/fajitas/burrito bowls
- sheet pan meals
- crockpot meals: curry/stew/soup/chili or pulled pork/sloppy joes/pot roast
- burgers (salmon, beef, veggie, etc.)
- breakfast (scrambles, breakfast burritos, pancakes, frittatas)
Example of how Heidi structures her week with food:
Sunday: Coconut Curry with Tofu
- make a big pot of rice
- get protein and/or veggies out of the freezer for Mexican dinner & sheet pan meal
- cook crockpot meal on low for ~8 hours (6-10 range is fine)
- eat curry with rice
Monday: Burritos/fajitas/tacos/burrito bowls
- 30 minutes before dinner I brown some thawed hamburger and sauté peppers and onions. I open up a can of beans, drain it, and heat it up in the microwave. I grate some cheese, and we have large flour and small corn tortillas, salsa, Costco-size Holy Guacamole 3-pack (great price, delicious, AND freezes really well), and the rice leftover from Sunday.
Tuesday: sheet pan meal (last week I did salmon with roasted potatoes and broccoli)
- 45 minutes before we want to eat I preheat the oven to 425F and chop the potatoes. I also season my salmon. ~30 minutes before I want to eat, I toss potatoes in oil and put them in the oven. After 10 minutes I add the salmon and broccoli.
Wednesday: takeout
Thursday: burgers with salad
- we LOVE Costco’s wild salmon burgers (Trident brand). You cook them from frozen, and in the summer we’ll grill them, in the winter we just cook them on the stovetop. Dinner is ready in 15 minutes and we’ll just do burgers and a simple green salad. If we’re feeling fancy we’ll do homemade oven fries, or in the example of this week, could reheat the roasted potatoes from Tuesday if there are any left over.
Friday: Clean out the fridge
- Eat whatever is leftover after dinners and lunches
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