Every time I fly on a plane, I get this song stuck in my head: "I'm leaving, on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again.."
Well, except, in this case, I know when I'll be back.
Tomorrow, I'm flying to Ohio to speak at the University of Akron's sports nutrition event, on Monday Feb 23rd, entitled "New Directions in Sports Nutrition" . I'll be back Monday night.
I was invited by Lonnie Lowery, PhD, RD, who's a good friend and great colleague. I've known Lonnie now for 7 years (we met at Sports Nutrition Event in Chicago in 2002), and discovered we both have a secret love for the science of dietary fats. I guess it's not so secret anymore..... :)
The title of my talk is "Food, Exercise and Your Period". I'm touching on the serious and widespread condition known as the Female Athlete Triad. In my talk, I'm bringing more attention to the fact that athletic menstrual disturbances affect more than 5% of college women, with most of those women being college athletes.
The reason why menstrual problems are such a problem is because they are a sign of low estrogen, excess stress and energy deficiency. These issues then lead to other more serious problems such as low bone mass, increased risk of cardiovascular problems, and clinical eating disorders. All of these things are not what any woman needs, athlete or non-athlete.
Thus, making more women aware of this cluster of metabolic disturbances will help them to prevent it. And, it is highly preventable with an energy sustaining diet and proper stress management.
For more information on this topic, please visit this great site: The Female Athlete Triad Coalition
Also, if any of you are in the Akron area, try to attend the event if you can. It's on a Monday from 8 to 5pm on the UAkron campus.
Have a great week!
