Expanding the Arena - September

SCAN’s Expanding the Arena - SCAN Sport RD Interview Rubric:

Our September interviewee, Kim Feeney, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS, is an experienced sports dietitian within the military realm. If you’ve ever had an interest in tactical sport nutrition, read on! Kim shares helpful insights for both RD’s and RD’s to be. Her enjoyment and passion in her career are evident, and we are so excited she is sharing her knowledge with us.

1. What is your name, job title, and main job duties?

I work as a Sports Performance Dietitian for the 353rd Battlefield Airmen Training Squadron, an organization that oversees the training of Tactical Air Control Party Airmen. My primary duties involve assessing the nutrition needs of our trainees and instructors, providing appropriate group and individual interventions, working on an interdisciplinary Human Performance Optimization team to improve performance, and liaising with the dining facilities. I develop and manage programs to include classroom fueling stations, hydration testing, and a nutrition education curriculum.

2.             What is your educational background and how long have you been an RD? Do you have any additional credentials relevant to your position?

I completed a BS in Nutritional Sciences through Penn State and a combined MS/DI

through the U.S. Military Baylor Graduate Program in Nutrition. I have been a dietitian

for just over 7 years and have also become a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD).

3.              How did you achieve your position/ how did you get started with your current position?

I served a total of just under 7 years in the Army. I had some great jobs in the military but wanted to focus more on sports nutrition so I decided to resign from service. I had the opportunity to complete an 8-month sports nutrition fellowship at Arizona State University, and near the end of my experience, my current job was posted as a brand new position. Although the position is with the Air Force, the trainees I work with often go on to embed with Army units so the combination of my experience in a collegiate setting and my time with the Army made the position a great fit.

4.              What key areas of knowledge/experiences did you need to have before this job?

My job requires knowledge of fueling strategies for both individuals and teams to include individual and group interventions, menu and supplement reviews, and experience with fuel stations. The ability to read and apply research is critical in my job, as it is with many sports jobs, where everyone wants cutting-edge information and interventions. I need to be confident in what I know and comfortable with getting answers to the things I do not know. My familiarity with military customs and courtesies as well as military regulations has also been very helpful.

5.              What is a typical day for you?

Every day is different! Depending on the morning, I may watch physical training sessions or just go straight into my office. I try to go down to our fueling station most mornings to supervise the trainees picking up their snack for the day as well as stop by the dining hall during lunch at least once a week. Most of my hours are spent working on projects, supervising fueling, teaching classes, and seeing patients. My population has busy schedules so the majority of my individual appointments are on a walk-in basis when they get free time. I also plan around certain course milestones, such as focusing on carbohydrate fueling strategies as they start marching longer distances and spot-testing hydration during field training exercises throughout the course.

6.             What advice would you share with an RD (or RD2be) that is interested in a similar career path?

I would encourage anyone who is interested in being a sports dietitian to give adequate attention to their clinical and food service rotations – a solid foundation in both of those areas can make a good sports dietitian even better. Many of the tactical positions I see posted are looking for a CSSD with 5+ years of experience. Taking the time to get experience in a collegiate or professional environment helps a lot – my performance at work would not have been as strong without my experience at Arizona State. Finally, stay humble, work hard, and have a fun with your job.

7.             What are some of your interests outside of work?

I enjoy cooking, baking, hiking/trail running, needlework like crocheting, and gardening.

8.             Why have you decided to work with athletes or similar groups?

I played several sports growing up and appreciate the competitive nature and dedication to fitness many athletes have. Working in sports nutrition is an opportunity to provide some of the knowledge and resources I wish I had as a young athlete to others. Additionally, I find exercise physiology fascinating.

9.             How do you deal with the daily stresses presented to you in your career?

I appreciate using humor to deal with stress or difficult situations. Fortunately, that is common within the culture of my current workplace so we have some very entertaining moments.

10.          Prior to getting your credentials, did you have any experience in nutrition (ie. food service, volunteering, etc.)?

I had a few food and nutrition-related summer jobs/experiences: working in a deli, completing a National Association of College and University Food Service summer internship, two summers as a cook at a school for children with many allergies and food restrictions, and a semester working for the university dining halls. I also volunteered with a private practice dietitian, helping create content for her website and working at a booth at the American Diabetes Association conference one year.

11.          What do you love about your career/job?

I love that I can have fun at work. My population is very competitive so we do several nutrition-related games/activities to get them engaged. I also appreciate the job that these service members volunteered to do and find it very fulfilling to help those who volunteered for something most of our country couldn’t or wouldn’t do.

12.          Is there a course you took in undergrad or grad school that has helped you in your current role?

My graduate degree in general was very help for this role. Although I did take a sports nutrition class, the experience I received reading, analyzing, and writing scientific papers throughout the whole program has been invaluable for keeping up with the constantly advancing landscape of performance nutrition.

13.          What are some of the unique nutritional considerations you must consider for the group(s) you work with?

There are a few considerations I keep in mind:

1.    Regulations and policy – much like the NCAA has rules about collegiate athletes, the military has rules to follow. There on limitations on how we spent money for nutrition-related items (food, equipment, etc); there are rules on menu items that must be in dining facilities and how food is provided, how we interact with vendors, etc.

2.    Energy expenditure – during some of their training events, students may be burning upwards of 4500 calories a day so we must work around time and appetite limitations to optimize their nutrition.

3.    Access to food – military members spend time deployed and also train in environments that mimic deployment. Trainees will go several days at a time where the only food they have access to are military rations – no gels, chews, pre-mixed sports drinks, or other common fueling products.

4.    Nutrition skills – Military members typically do not have daily access to a sports dietitian. During deployments, they could potentially go months without ready access to one. As a result, they have to learn to make their own food choices. Therefore, the nutrition interventions I perform are designed to prepare them to independently select appropriate foods in any type of environment.

Expanding the Arena Initiative - August Edition

My name is Laura Moretti, and I am the Clinical Nutrition Specialist for The Division of Sports Medicine and the Female Athlete Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. I am also the owner/founder of Laura Moretti Nutrition, LLC, the Consulting Dietitian for the Boston Ballet Company, and an Instructor at the Institute for Rowing Leadership.  

At Boston Children’s Hospital and the Female Athlete Program, I specialize in treating all types of athletes from childhood, Olympic, Collegiate, Elite, Professional, and Masters level (we see adults in our division at Children’s Hospital).  In the Female Athlete Program, we specialize in the health and wellness of female athletes, with a special focus on treating Low Energy Availability, Disordered Eating, and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Through my private practice, I also see much of the same population. 

As the Consulting Dietitian for the Boston Ballet Company, I have in house clinics several times a month. I meet with dancers individually for nutrition related questions/issues. I also am also responsible for nutrition lectures to the company as well as to the Pre-Professional program at Boston Ballet School. I have a separate clinic dedicated to the care of the school dancers as well. 

2.     What is your educational background and how long have you been an RD? Do you have any additional credentials relevant to your position? 
   
I completed my DPD and Masters in Clinical Nutrition at New York University, and my Dietetic Internship at New York Presbyterian. I actually pursued nutrition as a second career. I initially graduated from Rutgers College in 2004 with a BA in Economics, and, after spending a few years on Wall Street, I decided to make the switch over to becoming a Registered Dietitian. I am also Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD).

3.     How did you achieve your position/ how did you get started with your current position? 

I was working in New York City at a highly reputable Eating Disorder Practice when I met Dr. Kathryn Ackerman (head of the female athlete program at Boston Children’s Hospital) at an Eating Disorder in Sport Conference in St. Louis. Through a long discussion with Dr. Ackerman, I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to relocate to join her team and focus my practice completely on treating eating disorders and low energy availability in athletes.  Through my work with The Division of Sports Medicine, I earned the role of consulting Dietitian for the Boston Ballet Company and schools. 

4.     What key areas of knowledge/experiences did you need to have before this job? 

I focused the initial years of my practice on laying a strong foundation in eating disorder treatment. I had an incredible mentor at the New York City practice for whom I was previously working. She provided me with weekly supervision and close guidance around every one of my patients. I learned to strengthen my counseling skills and how to best treat this specialty population in a highly collaborative manner. This was an invaluable experience to me and my practice, and I owe a great deal of my success to this work.  I also began learning as much as I could about sports nutrition. I took a course in my Master’s Degree at NYU in sports nutrition and began doing a great deal of reading and research on my own. I knew that when I went back to school to become a Dietitian, I also wanted to pursue my CSSD credentials. I capitalized on every opportunity to connect with Sports RDs in the community. I practiced with lectures to local teams and would attend any conferences that were available. As an endurance athlete myself, I also learned a great deal by trial and error in my own training and by helping out my teammates. 

7.     What advice would you share with an RD (or RD2be) that is interested in a similar career path?

I would encourage anyone looking to work with a specialty population to find a mentor and obtain supervision on all of their cases. While supervision is essential in all of our practice, it is particularly essential if you want to work a more specialized area. In my experience, too many young RDNs graduate school and want to dive right into specialty work open without proper guidance, supervision, and expertise. I encourage young RDNs or RD2be to gain experience in both sports nutrition and eating disorders before trying to tackle the duel diagnosis. If you are able to find a job at an eating disorder treatment center or even an inpatient unit at a hospital first, that will help you build a strong foundation.  You can then also work on building sports expertise, but leaning the basics/essentials of eating disorder treatment (which are not so basic) is necessary to have success in this work. 

I also encourage all RDs to join specialty organizations. If you wish to work with athletes, you need to be current on research and keep up to date on new developments. I have found that my own knowledge base continues to expand as I attend more conferences, do more reading, and as I make more professional connections. Never stop learning!

9.     What are some of your interests outside of work?

I love to be outdoors and active! In the winter, you can usually find me hitting the ski slopes, and in the summers, I enjoy being out on the beach and in the water. I started learning how to sail last summer!  I am also a triathlete and marathon runner, so much of my free time is spent on my bike, in the water, or out for a run. Traveling, cooking, finding new restaurants, and spending time with my nieces are also favorite activities! 

10.    What aspect of sports nutrition (or any other area of dietetics) interested you to pursue it as a career?

When I decided to pursue a second career in nutrition, I knew I wanted to work in the specialized area of treating athletes with eating disorders/disordered eating. I felt that this was a unique area of the work that was a little-known specialty at the time. Growing up as an athlete and still competing as an adult, I saw many friends and teammates struggling with their own nutrition. It was really my own personal struggles in this area that drove the true passion. When I was working in financial services, I was not feeling the personal fulfillment that I was seeking in a career path. I felt that nutrition and dietetics could enable me to truly make a difference in other people’s lives. A career in dietetics truly felt like my passion and calling as opposed to simply just my job/career. I have not looked back since I made the career change!  

11.     How do you deal with the daily stresses presented to you in your career?

Working with eating disorder patients is extraordinarily intense work, and the stress levels can be high from day to day. I am a huge advocate of self-care and have a few ways that I try and keep that a priority. Sleep is something that I feel very strongly about; I try to get 8 hours every night.  I also see a psychologist to make sure I have somewhere to process some of the stressors that result from my work with my patients. I put a great deal of time and effort into building relationships with my patients; therefore, it is sometimes hard to leave this type of work “at work.” My teammates at Boston Children’s in the Female Athlete Program are absolutely incredible, and I can honestly say I would not be able to do this type of work without them. We are very close knit, and someone is always willing to listen. Sometimes, just making sure we talk things out before we head home for the night is very helpful. Dr. Ackerman and I have our nightly chats on our way home from work to make sure we debrief before we walk into the door to be with our families/significant others. I also find that getting myself out for a run or some fresh air is helpful to clear my head. 

12.     Prior to getting your credentials, did you have any experience in nutrition (ie. food service, volunteering, etc.)?

I worked as a nutrition research assistant and practice manager for a practice in New York City. Through this work, I learned the inner workings of running a nutrition practice. It also helped me to keep current on new research that was being published. 

13.     What do you love about your career/job?

First and foremost, I absolutely love connecting with so many different people on a daily basis. As mentioned earlier, I prioritize building relationships with my patients which I think strengthens my work as a clinician. There is nothing more rewarding than helping a patient meet their goals, whether these are health or sports related.  It makes all the difference to know you are making a difference in someone’s life. I also love that all of my days are different and provide new and exciting challenges. My career has also brought me some of my closest friends and brought me to places near and far. I recently had the opportunity to travel to Australia!

14.     What are some of the unique nutritional considerations you must consider for the group(s) you work with?

I think it is important to understand the athlete mindset when working in this population. Athletes are used to pushing beyond their comfort zones and persevering through pain and discomfort. Extra workouts and additional training are characteristics often found to be things that help an athlete succeed.  Although this can be helpful when an athlete is healthy and fueled, it is very dangerous trait when they are struggling from an eating disorder.  I always try to help an athlete channel that drive into their recovery.

In my work with dancers, one of the most common issues that comes up is adequate nutritional intake to support the volume and intensity of their training. I also treat the many issues that can occur often as a result of the low energy availability, such as menstrual irregularities, iron deficiency, gastrointestinal issues, and bone stress injuries. Dancers are aesthetic athletes, which means there is a delicate balance between maintaining a strong body and supporting the aesthetic ideals of the profession. My role is to help these dancers achieve both. I am constantly educating my dancers on the importance of fueling consistently throughout the day, particularly the professionals, as their schedules are very demanding, and they often do not have time to sit down for full meals. I work closely with them to help customize energy dense meals to optimize performance and promote proper recovery.  During periods of more intense training and performances, I find myself working double time to help keep the dancers strong and injury free.

I was once told that my specialty was unique since it involves blending the often black and white world of sports nutrition with the often very gray area of eating disorder treatment. Striking the balance between these two worlds is what enables a clinician to be most effective in working in this population of patients.