138: Olympic Champion Talks Food + Body Image Concerns

In this episode of the Female Athlete Nutrition, I speak to the 2020 Olympic Champion in the pole vault, Katie Moon (née Nageotte). She touches on her bumpy build up to the Olympics, overcoming food poisoning and underperformance before winning gold. Katie details her steady progression in the pole vault from high school beginnings to NCAA D2 success and into her professional career. College was a big transition, and Katie opens up about the fear and anxiety that she’s dealt with for years. She explains how going back to the basics and focusing on the process allowed her to reach higher heights.

We dive deep into Katie’s relationship with food and body image, something she’s had to work on throughout her career. From unflattering pictures, social media comparisons, observing other athletes, and competing in a bikini, Katie talks about handling these triggers by focusing on her body’s strengths, feeling good in training and competition, and learning that lighter is not better: to reach higher heights, Katie has had to gain strength, and yes, that meant gaining weight! We can all learn from how Katie has improved her body image, by caring more on performance and what the body can do rather than on what it looks like. Katie now embraces weight fluctuations and body changes throughout the year, and enjoys eating without restrictions. We discuss the impact of coaches and culture on nutrition and mindset, advocating for a healthy environment and support team that cultivates good habits around food, weight and training.

Follow Katie on Instagram @ktnago13 and me, your host Lindsey Cortes, @female.athlete.nutrition 

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In this episode we talk about:

3:30 Winning an Olympic gold medal in the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics

9:00 Falling in love with pole vaulting 

11:20 NCAA Division I vs II athletics experiences

12:30 Dealing with mental blocks and fear

19:30 Overcoming failures, underperformances, and unexpected challenges

23:00 Katie’s relationship with food and body weight

26:50 How body weight impacts pole vaulting 

31:50 Body image insecurities and comparisons among elite athletes

41:55 Coaches’ and culture’s influence on nutrition and mindset 

45:40 Improving body image; Embracing weight and body changes

53:20 End of the podcast questions