Christina Anderson MS, RDN, CSSD-The Gymnast Nutritionist®

💬👇🏼 comment “VIP” below to learn more about The Balanced Gymnast® Program If you have a level 5-10/elite gymnast who has BIG goals + dreams… This is for YOU! ✨Early enrollment is OPEN and over the next 3 months I’ll teach you my proven method that has helped over 1,000+ gymnasts and parents learn to use food to unlock that next level of performance and longevity in the sport 🥑🥩🫐🍊🍚🍫⬇️ Most gymnasts never learn how to really use nutrition to leverage their best performance ❌ and this often leads to them struggling with injury, setback, or just falling short of their big goals and dreams 😭 It’s not your fault, this sport still does a terrible job educating parents on just how much and what kind of nutrition a competitive gymnast needs to stay healthy and perform their best 🥇 I didn’t get this right as a gymnast (and my parents didn’t know how to help), but I’ve got your back! 💗 ✅You can learn to fuel your gymnast without the food fights ✅You don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen making weird “healthy” stuff your gymnast won’t eat ✅You don’t have to keep googling nutrition info hoping it will work for your gymnast *this time* I teach you EVERYTHING you need to know inside The Balanced Gymnast® Program for female level 5-10/elite gymnasts + parents! I created ✨TBG® Program 🤸‍♀️ so that I could help gymnasts and parents avoid the struggles of not knowing how to fuel and the setbacks, heartbreak that can cause inside the ✨TBG® Program✨, I’ll teach you everything you need to know in a simple and easy to implement way! 🙋🏼‍♀️ think of me and your nutrition-bestie 👋🏼 who spells it all out in a super easy to follow method that your gymnast can do 🧠🙋🏼‍♀️❓want to learn more about how to fuel your gymnast and leverage the power of performance nutrition for🔥: ⚡️🔋more energy 🚫💥 🎭 happy hormones 🦴 ✨ strong bones 🙂🫶🏼 stable moods (no hangry gymnasts) 👋🏼 🍩🍟 balance with ALL foods 👙 optimized body composition 🤸‍♀️✅ health + longevity in this crazy sport? 🤸‍♀️comment VIP to chat about your gymnast and how we can help her crush this next competition season🥇 👉🏻 /program

✨There’s long been a cultural obsession with what elite athletes eat… (comment said on a collegiate broadcast, not Olympic trials or any other elite comp ☺️) Why? Bc it’s human nature to think “if I eat like them, I’ll be like them”. FALSE Nutrition is just ONE of the many factors that goes into elite athlete success… And the only person who should decide what goes in their mouth is THE ATHLETE Even as a sports dietitian who works with elite gymnasts (vying for a spot in Paris)… 
It’s my job to GUIDE them with the latest research and practical application. But WHAT they eat is up to them ☺️ GONE are the days where gymnasts are on strict diets that only allows chicken + veggies. Gymnasts NEED all the foods—carbs, protein, fat, color, and calcium 💪🏻 And to achieve the level of difficulty required in the sport today AND stay healthy… It’s a LOT more nutrition that most think (which totally allows for “fun foods” like movie popcorn, sweets, etc)😉 A friendly reminder that athletes are humans too and hear/see your comments about their bodies, food, etc and it’s just not your business 🩷 We want to keep it focused on PERFORMANCE and that’s exactly what our best did last night at Olympic Trials 🤸‍♀️ If you want to start learning HOW to fuel your gymnast like the elite… 🎙️Comment “SECRET” to listen to Fuel the Routine, our (free) private podcast for parents of competitive gymnasts!

Oh heyyyy… ✨It’s @the.gymnast.nutritionist , your fave carb-loving “instagram dietitian” whose mission is to re-write the script of all yet BS 💩 nutrition “advice” our gymnasts have been given by… 👉🏻Old-school, outdated “experts” who are stuck in the 1980s when gymnasts were starved and everyone looked the other way 🙄😳🥵 If you’ve been told gymnasts should eat protein snacks during practice, that ain’t it. For 3-4.5 hour workouts, carbs are 👑 (for upper level gymnasts where the intensity warrants Intraworkout fuel) *sometimes* I recommend a LITTLE fat/protein Intraworkout, but only when a 5-6+ hour workout. ✨If your gymnast is HUNGRY, during a workout (no matter if their compulsory or Sr Elite)… That means they didn’t fuel ADEQUATELY prior to the workout 🩷 There is still a LOT of fear and misinformation around nutrition in this sport. Following credible resources like myself and @thegymnastrd is a great place to start 🩷 PS… if you watch closely, you’ll see the best of the best using their Intraworkout carbs mid-competition 😉

A moment for the 🐐🚀 (And a reminder to make sure your gymnast FUELS before their workouts 🤸🏻‍♀️) Follow @the.gymnast.nutritionist for more 🩷

What I wish my parents had known about nutrition 👇🏻 The #1 killer of a gymnast’s career is… 🚨Unintentional underfueling🚨 Here’s the deal… Nutrition is LITERALLY the foundation of everything your gymnast does in and out of the gym. ✨And just because they “feel fine” or seem healthy does NOT mean that things are good underneath the surface. Everyday we see gymnasts, often level 7-9 around ages 10-14 with MAJOR MAJOR injuries related to years of underfueling, often starting at level 4/5. -Back fractures -Stress fractures (hips, feet, wrists, legs, etc) -Knee/Elbow OCD (essentially, bone death) -Growth plate inflammation injuries (partially from overuse, but also related to underfueling and poor recovery) And these injuries don’t just take 2-4 weeks to heal. They often ruin entire seasons and derails gymnasts from reaching their big goals and dreams. ✨The tough thing is that a LOT these are preventable, but you have to take EARLY action if you want prevention. 💗This is why we start TBG® Program at level 5 (and will make exception for level 4 to join if they’re training enough). Even when you think it’s “too low level” or “not that intense”… Your gymnast is probably not getting enough fuel to support their bodies and longevity in the sport. So what are you supposed to do as a parent? Learn to fuel them 🩷 Make sure they’re eating enough. Learn to have convo’s around food and what it means to fuel your body for performance even if “not hungry”. Need support? 🩷 Comment “SECRET” to listen to our private podcast Fuel the Routine to start learning today ✨

✨Sometimes the “healthiest” snack isn’t the best snack… 🇺🇸I LOVED watching Team USA’s men crush some fruit snacks in the ~15 min they had between warm up and comp. 🤸‍♀️Many of them KNOW how to leverage their nutrition to get the most out of their performance… And it showed last night⚡️ 🤸🏻‍♀️Fueling for competition is about STRATEGY… 🚀And there are only so many options for a quick-energy boost. Some of the gymnast’s faves? 🍯Honey 🍓Fruit leathers 🍭Fruit Snacks 🧪There are MARGINAL difference re: nutrition in these choices (gram for gram), so it’s really about what the gymnast likes the best and can get down in time to use as FUEL. 🧪Here’s some science for you: It takes 15-20 min for pure sugar (no added fat, protein, fiber, etc) to hit the bloodstream. It THEN has to get to the muscle and brain to be used as FUEL (which takes MORE time) 🧠💪🏻 (How do I know this? In another life I was a Certified Diabetes Educator working in Peds/Adult Endocrinology and worked with lots of athletes who had Type 1 Diabetes which is what finally convinced me gymnasts needed carbs🤣) 🤸‍♀️If you’re first up on the event after warm ups and march in… 😳Eating something with fat/protein/fiber right before you compete ain’t it. But, there’s always nuance to this… I may want my gymnast to have a *slightly* slower carb source between warm ups and comp depending on these factors: ✅What time the last meal was pre-comp ✅How well the gymnast went-fueled into the comp (could we eat normally or riddled with nerves and didn’t do well with food that day?) ✅What time do they compete in that first rotation/how many gymnasts are before them (and how long will it take) This is why working 1:1 with a sports dietitian can be a huge asset to your gymnast learning to fuel can be one of the most strategic ways to help them perform their BEST (and not give tenths away for fatigue-related mistakes) 🩷 ✨Comment “SECRET” to listen to Fuel the Routine, our provide podcast about fueling your competitive gymnast 🎙️

💬👇🏼 comment “VIP” below to learn more about The Balanced Gymnast® Program ✨Early enrollment is OPEN and over the next 3 months I’ll teach you my proven method that has helped over 1,000+ gymnasts and parents learn to use food to unlock that next level of performance and longevity in the sport 🥑🥩🫐🍊🍚🍫⬇️ Most gymnasts never learn how to really use nutrition to leverage their best performance ❌ and this often leads to them struggling with injury, setback, or just falling short of their big goals and dreams 😭 It’s not your fault, this sport still does a terrible job educating parents on just how much and what kind of nutrition a competitive gymnast needs to stay healthy and perform their best 🥇 I didn’t get this right as a gymnast (and my parents didn’t know how to help), but I’ve got your back! 💗 ✅You can learn to fuel your gymnast without the food fights ✅You don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen making weird “healthy” stuff your gymnast won’t eat ✅You don’t have to keep googling nutrition info hoping it will work for your gymnast *this time* I teach you EVERYTHING you need to know inside The Balanced Gymnast® Program for female level 5-10/elite gymnasts + parents! I created ✨TBG® Program 🤸‍♀️ so that I could help gymnasts and parents avoid the struggles of not knowing how to fuel and the setbacks, heartbreak that can cause inside the ✨TBG® Program✨, I’ll teach you everything you need to know in a simple and easy to implement way! 🙋🏼‍♀️ think of me and your nutrition-bestie 👋🏼 who spells it all out in a super easy to follow method that your gymnast can do 🧠🙋🏼‍♀️❓want to learn more about how to fuel your gymnast and leverage the power of performance nutrition for🔥: ⚡️🔋more energy 🚫💥 🎭 happy hormones 🦴 ✨ strong bones 🙂🫶🏼 stable moods (no hangry gymnasts) 👋🏼 🍩🍟 balance with ALL foods 👙 optimized body composition 🤸‍♀️✅ health + longevity in this crazy sport? 🤸‍♀️comment VIP to chat about your gymnast and how we can help her crush this next competition season🥇

If your gymnast is constantly injured, sore, exhausted… I promise you their nutrition has something to do with it ☺️ Or, in 99% of cases… Their LACK of nutrition 🥵 Can your gymnast train 30 hours a week and feel good in her body, stay healthy, and make progress in the gym? Yes!!! (But…) They HAVE to stay on top of their fueling. They HAVE to “close the recovery gap” each and everyday. Should all gymnasts train 30 hours a week? No. But are there gyms that do this? Yes. So, while we can’t always change the coaching/practice structure… We CAN make sure our gymnasts have the most resilience possible which comes from ADEQUATE fueling 🩷 I’ve officially opened EARLY enrollment for our 1:1 coaching… Comment “VIP” to learn more or go to /program

Carb is like a 4-letter word in the gymnastics world…😬 For DECADES, gymnasts have been told to cut out bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, etc from their diets to “stay lean” and “control their weight”. I was told this as a gymnast and believed it for YEARS. THANKFULLY, we have science available to us. The science shows that high intensity sports like gymnastics are fueled by primarily carbohydrate. Also, carbohydrate doesn’t in and of itself cause “weight gain”. No one food does this. It’s all about #context . So, what contain carbohydrates (carbs)? 🥯🍠🍚🥪🍓🥖 -Fruit -Grains -Starches (potatoes, etc) -Veggies (small amounts, mostly fiber/water) -Legume (beans, lots of fiber but still provider energy) -Sugars (don’t be fooled, all sugar is sugar…maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, agave, etc) -Dairy products (lactose in milk, small amounts in yogurt, minimal in cheese) You need carbs to fuel your workout. Your brain alone needs ~130g a day to run (about 8 slices of bread). Your muscles use carbohydrate when they contract during exercise. Gymnasts early need 5-7g/kg+ carbohydrate per day, if not more based on the intensity/duration of their workout! Inadequate carbohydrate, especially during workouts, will leave you feeling… ❌slow ❌sluggish ❌heavy ❌….and like everything is all of the sudden more difficult than it should be. 🤯So many gymnasts accept these feelings of fatigue and sub-optimal performance as “normal” and “just part of gymnastics”. YES, gymnastics is an incredibly difficult sport and you will be tired. 💗But you could feel SO MUCH BETTER with adequate carbohydrate at meals, snacks, and in/around training. 🫶🏻My favorite thing I do in practice is help high level gymnasts learn to fuel their workouts (with carbs) which allows them to see just how much their body can do. ✨A well-fueled body is going to work much better for you, I promise. 🤸‍♀️If your gymnast has big goals and dreams AND you don’t want her to struggle with food and her body in life after sport… 💗Comment “SECRET” to listen to our private podcast—Fuel the Routine—to start learning about fueling your gymnast today!

BuT yOu DoN’t EvEn CaRe about healthy eating!!! Ya’ll, social media is WILD. I say it’s OK for a gymnast to enjoy a cookie, and there’s an uproar about how I’m “poisoning children”… I say that goldfish are AN OPTION to use intraworkout as a quick carb snack and the ‘gram explodes with “how tOxIc” they are… Do I care about what your gymnast eats?! Of course!

I want all our gymnast to eat a well-balanced, nutrient dense diet. BUT, the first priority is ALWAYS adequacy. Anndddd…we have to fuel with the right foods at the right times (fueling vs snacking); a handful of almond intraworkout ain’t it. The fact is that some goldfish during practice aren’t going to kill your gymnast. But, you don’t HAVE to give your kid goldfish. I personally don’t love them bc once I was allowed to eat all foods with no restriction… I was able to realize they just weren’t that great. But, your gymnast going into a workout underfueled or not using anything but water during a 5-6+ hour workout are more of a problem than any ingredient in the goldfish (unless they have celiac disease and can’t eat gluten). Ya’ll know am NOT a fan of just telling gymnast to “eat clean” as we often see this create massive issues around fueling, restriction, then binging, etc and that defeats the whole purpose of trying to get a gymnast or athlete to eat healthier…  What most people don’t know is I’m actually trained in functional nutrition with a focus on GI health. So of all sports dietitians, I 100% care about what your gymnast eats.  

 BUT, I also know that the healthiest, cleanest, most nutrient dense diet that doesn’t provide sufficient nutrition won’t save your gymnast.  Adequacy FIRST, then we can work on the “advanced strategies” like improving nutrient density, etc. I deep dive into this on today’s podcast episode (Ep 104 of The Gymnast Nutritionist® Podcast): * Defining nutrient density, clean eating, and healthy eating * What foundation needs to be in place before utilizing the advanced nutrition strategies * Best practices for fueling and supporting a healthy relationship with food Comment “PODCAST" to listen 🩷

✨About 4% of gymnasts make it to Level 10… These numbers aren’t perfect, but how many level 10s are at your gym? Most clubs have 1-2, maybe 3-4, or if you’re at a big elite club you may have 10+ but that’s an exception to the rule (and people move across the country to train there). And yet, how many times have you been asked this about your kid by non-gymnast friends and family members? “Are they going to the Olympics?!” 🏅🏅 The sport of gymnastics is SO TOUGH👀. Your gymnast can put in hours, miss out on a lot of life, suffer through pain, etc and still not reach her big goals and dreams. And most drop out by 14-16 years old if not sooner… Why? Often unintentional underfueling, which leads to... A. Injuries B. Training Struggles, Burnout C. All of the above The good news is that “unintentional underfueling” is 100% fixable, you just hope it’s not too late for your gymnast. And this is VERY different than “just feeding her healthfuly”. But, at the end of the day, regardless of how far your gymnast goes in the sport... They learn life skills like discipline, dedication, overcoming fear, work ethic...the list is endless. I talk a lot about getting gymnasts involved in the kitchen at a young age because being able to prepare your own meals is a life skill that transcends this sport. 📈 ✨How awesome would it be for your gymnast to make their own balanced breakfast? ✨To know how to build their meals and snacks, whenever with whatever, so you’re not stressing over whether or not they make “healthy” choices? ✨Especially during summer when schedules are wacky, kids are home more, and it feels like all you’re doing is making meals and cleaning up, times 10! ✨A kid you can trust to fuel themselves with all the food groups...isn’t that unicorn territory? 🦄🦄 And how reassuring would it be to know your gymnast will thrive as an adult with all these characteristics, plus know how to take care of themselves and their families when the time comes? If you want to learn HOW to fuel your gymnast and help them unlock that next level of performance that you KNOW they’re capable of… We’re BTS 🎬 early enrolling into the next cohort of TBG®️ Program 🩷

POV: Your gymnast just did the biggest ✨GLOW UP✨ and proved that older, post-puberty gymnasts can still make huge progress in the gym… Swipe to see how 🤸🏻‍♀️🙌🏻👉🏻 Comment “VIP” to chat about our 1:1 nutrition program 🩷