Female Athlete - Menstrual Cycle, Nutrition and training
with Tina Šparovec, PHD(C)
Tina Goršek Šparovec PhD(c)
Nutritionist, mentor and a guide for female athletes
Tina is a PhD candidate at the Medical University of Graz, working in the field of gynecology. With her Masters degree in nutrition and biomedicine, intertwined with the knowledge of female and sports physiology, she is a mentor and a guide for female athletes. Recreational or professional, Tina offers you the support on nutritional level and helps you understand female athlete physiology. Together with your coach she optimizes your training according to your specific female needs in order to perform your absolute best, without compromizing your health.
My guest today is Tina Šparovec, from Human Performance Center in Slovenia. With her Masters degree in nutrition and biomedicine, intertwined with the knowledge of female and sports physiology, she who works with female athletes and women who need help correcting their hormones and menstrual cycle. She also work with female athletes to improve their performance through adjustments in nutrition and training.
We speak about specifics of female physiology and their training and nutrition needs.
We also mention Relative Energy Deficiency, which is a raising problem in endurance and weight class athletes but also in active female population so those women who are not athletes, but love to move and exercise.
To refresh your memory, Relative Energy Deficiency is a state when athlete does not fuel their body properly, knowingly or not. It is especially common among endurance and aesthetic athletes
Symptoms of RED-s are:
-
increased fatigue;
-
decreased recovery and performance;
-
muscle loss;
-
frequent injuries like stress fractures due to lower bone density
-
resistance to fat loss and even fat gain;
-
loss of periods and libido and possibly infertility;
Time Stamps
3:00 Why I have personal interest in RED-S
8:45 Why we need to educate coaches about female nutrition needs.
12:45 Stop comparing yourself with what you see in the social media.
14:45 Prevalence of RED-s, disiturbed hormonal balance in female athletes and general population.
17:25 Yhe signals of hormonal disbalance?
20:45 What to do when you notice some of the symptoms of RED-s.
24:20 The mental side of recovering from RED-s
25:20 Differences between female and male body and how it applies in training and nutrition.
33:45 Intermittent Fasting in females
44:33 Wrap up
Track your menstrual cycle to see changes in your nutrition and performance.
Coaches and nutritionists should lead their female clients to track their menstrual cycle.
The main factors in Relative Energy Deficiency syndrome are:
- Exercise
- Nutrition
- Psychology
To learn more about female specific nutrition and training considerations, read Tina’s articles:
