Relative energy deficiency in sport
RED-S, or relative energy deficiency in sport, occurs when calorie intake is insufficient to meet the physical demands placed on the body.
To put it very simply, RED-S occurs when you do not eat enough food to fuel the amount of exercise you are doing. This under-eating may be intentional or unintentional.
Over time, this can negatively effect both short- and long-term health and athletic performance.
Research has found that high school athletes with poor eating habits or disordered eating patterns are 2x more likely to develop an injury than those without disordered eating. Building off that, a whopping 41.5% of females in an aesthetic sport like running, swimming and cheerleading report disordered eating habits, making them 8x more likely to develop an injury than their counterparts in non-aesthetic sports like soccer and basketball.
High intensity training, poor fueling habits, intentional restriction of certain foods or food groups and lack of nutrition education in school can put young athletes on a dangerous path towards RED-S and the associated health consequences. At Nourished Performance, we seek to raise awareness about RED-S and educate young athletes on how to properly fuel their bodies to promote long term health and athletic success.
"This emphasis on reducing body weight/fat to enhance sport performance can result in weight pressures on the student-athlete from coaches (or even teammates) that increase the risk of restrictive dieting, as well as the use of pathogenic weight loss methods and disordered eating."
Nutrition education is lacking in our schools, putting young athletes at risk for developing poor fueling habits and endless injury cycles that can plague them throughout their athletic career. Nourished Performance is a 100% online, video module-based program designed specifically for young athletes to reduce the risk of RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sport) and promote long term health and athletic success.
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