164. How A Pro Athlete Fuels Performance, Motherhood + the Olympics with Betsi Flint

This episode of the Female Athlete Nutrition podcast is with Team USA volleyball player Betsi Flint. Betsi talks about her path to playing professional volleyball, from high school standout to competing in both indoor and beach volleyball at the NCAA DI level. We discuss Betsi’s journey with nutrition, and how criticism from a coach led her down a path of restriction and disordered beliefs about healthy eating, appearance, and body weight. Betsi shares the negative effect this had on her performance, and how focusing on her performance and strength over appearance made her a much better athlete! 

A new mom, we discuss how Betsi balances motherhood with elite athletics; managing sleep deprivation, competition and practice schedules, and the mental and physical energy required to care for her daughter requires Betsi pays plenty of attention to her nutrition. We talk about specific performance nutrition strategies, fueling before, during, and after workouts, and eating when traveling. Betsi shares her hopes to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in beach volleyball and her path to get there, before we finish with the usual end of the podcast questions.

TOPIC TIMESTAMPS:

10:45 Betsi’s path to professional volleyball 

12:25 Betsi’s nutrition background: unhealthy habits and obsessions 

16:05 Rethinking “eating healthy”, tracking, and performance nutrition 

24:20 Betsi’s sports nutrition approach: electrolytes, big breakfasts, carbohydrates 

27:10 Fueling for performance over appearance 

32:40 Balancing motherhood with athletics 

36:35 Managing sleep deprivation and high activity levels as an athlete 

44:30 Path to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games

46:00 End of the podcast questions 

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

Find Betsi online at https://betsiflint.com/ 

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