137: Chef Kelly Newlon on Performance Food + Feeding Athletes

In this episode of the Female Athlete Nutrition, I talk with runner, chef, and founder of Real Athlete Diets (RAD), Kelly Newlon. We both share our entries into the food industry, watching cooking shows on TV, and gaining experience in different food settings growing up. Kelly shares her training and education pathway through culinary school to become a chef, before we explore the wide variety of career options in the food industry: from working in fine dining restaurants and bakeries, feeding sports teams and catering events, to cooking on cruise liners or working as a private chef, the opportunities are endless! Kelly highlights the importance of gaining different experiences and the skills each setting teaches. 

With over 20 years working in restaurants alongside hundreds of hours of nutrition courses, Kelly founded Real Athlete Diets (RAD), a catering company that creates delicious, performance-oriented food for active people. Based out of Boulder, CO, Kelly shares how she helps athletes fuel, navigating unique nutrition requirements and dietary restrictions. Kelly and I chat about building out balanced plates that support athletes’ unique needs. We reconsider traditional American meal composition norms and encourage listeners to add toppings to their plates: tune in to hear about how Kelly tops her breakfast salad with eggs!

For more on Kelly and Real Athlete DIets (RAD), check out her website http://www.radboulder.com/ and follow on Instagram @radboulder 

Follow me, your host Lindsey Cortes, on Instagram @female.athlete.nutrition 

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In this episode we talk about:

2:45 Kelly’s path to becoming a chef and its intersection with running 

6:20 Understanding food to meet your body’s needs

11:50 Career options in the food industry: the importance of different experiences 

23:00 The merging of cooking and running

27:00 Real Athletes Diets (RAD): a catering company that focuses on feeding athletes

29:50 What is performance-oriented food and how do elite athletes eat?

33:30 Feeding elite athletes, building plates and navigating dietary restrictions 

39:25 The importance of fats and adding toppings to food!

43:40 Rethinking balanced plates and meal compositions

56:15 End of the podcast questions