176. Peak Performance Nutrition: Understanding Carb Loading, Hydration + GI Issues with Meghann Featherstun

Female Athlete Nutrition

This episode of the Female Athlete Nutrition podcast is with sports dietitian, runner, and mom of two, Meghann Featherstun. As well as helping other athletes with their fueling, Meghann is a rockstar athlete in her own right with multiple marathon finishes. We talk about how she uses her professional knowledge to help her own performance, leading to her best races aged 40 after having kids. We dive deep into marathon and endurance nutrition, focusing on pre-race nutrition. Meghann gives listeners great travel nutrition tips, as well as advice for dealing with gastrointestinal (GI) issues. Meghann and I talk all about carbohydrate loading: the what, why, when, and how. We then focus on understanding your hydration needs by measuring your sweat rate, and the importance of replacing sodium losses, avoiding over- and under-hydrating. We bust some myths around sodium fears, weight gain during a carb load, and emphasize the reality that athletes likely need more carbohydrates than they think. To better understand your unique carbohydrate and hydration needs, Meghann has some amazing resources: Meghann’s quick carb calculator and sweat rate/ hydration calculator.

TOPIC TIMESTAMPS:

5:50 Meghann’s dietetics and running story

10:30 Marathon running and pursuing athletic goals for fun

15:50 Meghann’s nutrition philosophy and fueling performance

18:25 Nutrition travel tips and pre-race fueling

24:00 Carbohydrate loading 101

28:30 How many carbs do you really need?

31:20 Carb loading myth busting: gaining weight and water retention

34:40 Rebalancing meals: prioritizing carbs over proteins and fats

37:50 Hydration needs and tech for calculating sweat rate

48:00 Debunking a fear of sodium

49:30 Under-hydrating vs over-hydrating

54:30 Dealing with GI issues and gut symptoms

58:45 End of the podcast questions

Check out Meghann’s website: https://www.featherstonenutrition.com/ and her podcast: Fuel for the Sole

Follow Meghann on Instagram @featherstonenutrition and me, your host Lindsey Cortes, @female.athlete.nutrition

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