 In this four-part documentary series, we will dive into the physical and mental pressures of being a student athlete. In this episode, sports nutritionist Suzanne Nelson will discuss physical appearance pressures and the importance of proper nutrition. I think, you know, the athlete mentality is very perfectionistic, very driven, motivated, wants to be the absolute best. So they're always looking for things that potentially can help them. Suzanne, what's your favorite aspect of nutrition coaching? My favorite aspect is really the student athletes. I know maybe that sounds obvious, but I think here at Cal, the athletes are not only really talented athletically, but they're really smart too. So it makes my job a lot of fun because they're really motivated to make changes and they always ask me really great questions and want to do their very best both academically and athletically. So would you say that difference is due to them playing at the professional level as opposed to the collegiate level? In college, they have to be self-motivated to make changes for performance and health. When you're at the next level, you're getting paid to do it. So of course, there's going to be a little bit more invested probably. And also, I think the resources are different as well. In college, you've got fewer resources and also you've got academic studies as well as athletics and then the nutrition piece that has to tie in. On the professional level, that's what you're doing day in and day out. So you're working out, you're fueling your body and you don't have the academic side to take care of as well. So it's a little bit more focused and I think sometimes with more resources available and the ability to focus more on just those two primary things related to their sport, they're able to embrace it a little bit more fully. Would that be kind of like your nutrition game plan? Yeah, exactly. I'm all about individualizing nutrition recommendations to each athlete. As you know, every sport is very different and even positions within a sport are quite different. So the nutrition demands and the nutrition preferences of that athlete vary as well. And also the goal for that athlete, if they're trying to lose weight or gain weight or maintain weight, all that has to be considered. And so the nutrition game plan takes into account what they need from a performance standpoint in terms of their energy needs and their carbohydrate and their protein and their fat and their vitamin and mineral needs and then how do athletes time that during the day to meet those needs around their training and around performances. So for an athlete in college, that requires them to fuel throughout the day in between classes, before and after practice, they're getting up really early, going to bed really late. So I have a template that literally the athlete writes down their schedule and then we build a nutrition plan around their schedule so that they can fuel throughout the day. I think that there are certainly in sports certain stereotypes that fall out in terms of body type and body composition and what potentially is going to be successful for performance. I mean, if you're five feet tall, you're probably not going to be a great center in basketball. Vice versa, a center in basketball isn't going to be a terrific gymnast. So I think that for someone who is trying to get to the top, they are looking at different aspects of how they can change their training to get to that next level. I think sometimes you have to remind athletes to just look at themselves and to work with what they're given. It's kind of like picking your parents wisely. You don't get that option. So your body shape and size is your genetics and what can you do with that to maximize what you have? There are certain things you can't change. I think that the different performance enhancing substances out there are that quick fix. I think in society today, in general, athletics aside, we're looking for that quick fix. Well, I think about having to change behavior. Nutrition change is behavior change. It's hard work. And if you can take a pill or take a swig of a drink or a powder and make it all better, why not? That's always, as you indicated, a sensitive topic because who wants to be told they have to go see someone because they're supposed to lose weight. I think particularly for women, we don't care to hear that. And we immediately tend to take it personally versus the way the coach more than likely really means it and that's from a performance standpoint. So they're suggesting to the athlete, well, hey, if you lost a little bit of weight, your performance may improve. Sometimes we have to remember what the athlete hears versus what we say. The athlete may hear you're not good enough, you're fat. Join us next week for part two, gaining weight.