Para Sports Nutrition

Meg Lemon is a WC4 para cyclist with an acquired brain injury who recently won a bronze medal in the time trial at the Tokyo Paralympics. Meg is also a sports dietitian. Meg talks to us about her impairment and how it affects her, the nutrition challenges she has faced and the ways she is working on overcoming those challenges.

Sophia Herzog is a 2 time Paralympic medal winning swimmer with short stature. Sophia talks about her career in swimming and her experiences with changing training programs. She also explains how a change in body weight (increased muscle mass) through training did not suit her in the pool. 

Adam Bleakney is a 4 time Paralympic wheelchair racer and the head wheelchair track and marathon racing coach at the University of Illinois, the most consistently successful program in the world. Adam shares his transition from being an athlete to a coach, how he manages a program involving collegiate through to elite level athletes, and his insight into what has shaped such a truly successful program.

Cannabidiol (or CBD) is a substance often promoted for its potential to relieve pain, reduce anxiety, improve sports performance, aid with sleep, and even improve acne! Dr Danielle McCartney discusses the research that has been undertaken into CBD and its potential benefits and highlights the lack of research in many areas. We also discuss the difficulties faced in relation to WADA regulations for athletes who may want to explore CBD.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.