Para Sports Nutrition

E7 Caffeine with Ben Desbrow

Associate Professor Ben Desbrow is a sports dietitian and academic at Griffith University (Qld, Australia) who has undertaken research across 2 decades in sports nutrition related topics, including caffeine. He is a co-author of the book Caffeine and Sports Performance. Ben talks to us about how caffeine influences sports performance, the ideal doses, sources of caffeine (including energy drinks) and potential side effects. The discussion includes some of the limited research on caffeine in Para athletes.

E6 Mitch Gourley Para Alpine Ski racer

Mitch Gourley is a 3 time Paralympic Alpine ski racer who has a congenital lower arm 'amputation'. Mitch talks to us about his experiences in using nutrition to support his training across his career to date, and outlines some of the complexities in doing that while traveling to train and compete along with the solutions he's found.

E5 Lisa and Jake Czechowski Goalball

In this episode we talk Goalball with Lisa and Jake Czechowski. Lisa is a 6 time Paralympian with a vision impairment, and Jake is the USA National Womens' goalball coach. Goalball is a uniquely Paralympic team sport for athletes with a vision impairment. We discuss the sport of goalball, how it has changed over time, and what Lisa focusses on in her nutrition both at home and when traveling.

E4 Joanne Mirtschin Multiple Sclerosis

Jo Mirtschin is a sports dietitian who has worked as the food service dietitian at the Australian Institute of Sport for the past 12 years. Jo represented Australia in shot put at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Soon after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Jo talks about her experience of that diagnosis and how that has impacted on her over the past 10 years.

E3 Liz Dunn Wheelchair Rugby player

Liz Dunn is a member of the USA National Wheelchair Rugby team. Liz is also a registered dietitian. Liz talks with us about her entry into wheelchair rugby and the National team, how she eats and trains, and what strategies she uses to cool her body since she doesn't sweat due to her impairment.

E1 Protein recommendations for athletes

In our inaugural episode A/Prof Nick Burd (University of Illinois) discusses some background on research into protein recommendations for athletes. We explore why there is so little research specific to Para athletes, and his current interest around how whole food may be a better option than the isolated protein sources (like whey, casein or amino acids) that are used in research.

E2 Susannah Scaroni wheelchair racer

Susannah Scaroni is a 3 time Paralympic wheelchair racer who recently won the Gold medal in the T54 5000m, bronze in the T54 800m and 6th in the wheelchair marathon at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Susannah is currently completing her dietetic internship program after completing her masters degree with Nick Burd (E1). Susannah shares with us her nutrition journey and specifically how she's changed her focus on protein intake for training.

E1(bonus) Protein needs for athletes

For the more technically minded or interested in how protein research is undertaken, this bonus episode provides the rest of the interview with A/Prof Nick Burd. Nick outlines his journey through researching protein needs in athletes and describes how the research is undertaken in the laboratory.