Podcasts Sports The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast TBP 151 :: Neely Quinn and Alyssa Neill on Body Image and Disordered Eating in Climbers

TBP 151 :: Neely Quinn and Alyssa Neill on Body Image and Disordered Eating in Climbers

Published: July 15, 2020, 7:13 p.m.

About Neely Quinn and Alyssa Neill

In this episode, I had a conversation with my friend and fellow nutrition practitioner, Alyssa Neill, about body image and disordered eating behaviors in climbers. We both have experienced negative body image and have worked with client on body image and disordered eating behaviors. We discuss candidly our own experiences with it all and provide tips on how to balance your diet to get all the nutrients you need while maintaining your optimal, healthy body composition.

We talk about common behaviors we see in our clients that sabotage their performance and health goals, and how to improve those behaviors. And we provide mental/emotional tools to help deal with negative body image/body dysmorphia. This discussion was a very vulnerable one for me, and I discuss some personal things I\u2019ve never talked about on the podcast before.

Our hope with this episode was multifaceted: 1) we want to bring body image issues more into the open, 2) we want people to learn how to eat in order to avoid common emotional eating pitfalls, and 3) we want people to start re-thinking the \u201coptimal body type\u201d for climbers, and realize that extreme leanness is not the end all be all of climbing hard. It\u2019s also incredibly important to be healthy and happy.

Lastly, if you believe you have an eating disorder or are suffering with disordered eating behaviors, we encourage you to seek help. Whether that\u2019s from a therapist, a nutritionist, a doctor, or all three, there are many resources out there for you. I did an interview with\xa0Kate Bennett, who is a therapist who specializes in eating disorders among athletes and she sees clients remotely.\xa0Alyssa\xa0is also currently taking clients remotely.

Interview Details
  • Our personal stories
  • Common behaviors we see in clients
  • Common signs and symptoms of disordered eating
  • Mental/emotional tools that have helped me
  • How limiting beliefs about your weight can affect climbing performance
  • Our thoughts on \u201cIntuitive Eating\u201d
  • How a balanced eating routine can help with emotional eating
  • Dilemma of professional climbers
  • How your hormones are affected by disordered eating
\xa0 \xa0 About Me (Neely Quinn, ICNT)

A little about me that you might not know\u2026

After completing my Bachelor\u2019s degree in both Psychology and Zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I completed a 4-year holistic nutrition program called Seven Bowls School of Nutrition, Nourishment, and Healing. I graduated in 2007 as a Certified Integrative Clinical Nutrition Therapist. During my education, I learned about not only nutrition, but Western and Chinese herbs, homeopathy, the psychology of eating, and other alternative practices.

I started practicing nutrition with private clients in 2007, and I\u2019ve been working exclusively with climbers since 2015 to help them optimize their energy levels, body composition, climbing performance, and overall well-being. I was heavily involved in the Paleo nutrition community for a few years, and I was recruited to write\xa0The Complete Idiot\u2019s Guide to Eating Paleo,\xa0which was published in 2012. I\u2019ve led nutrition seminars online, taught at\xa0Bauman College\xa0(a certificate program for nutrition), and taught several community classes in person. I\u2019ve been a panelist at several conferences and festivals, including the International Climbers\u2019 Festival in 2017-2019, and PaleoFX. I\u2019m also an instructor for the\xa0Performance Climbing Coach\xa0seminars with Steve Bechtel et al, and I travel around the country with them to teach people about nutrition for climbers.

Outside of my nutrition life, I\u2019m the owner of TrainingBeta.com and the host of\xa0The TrainingBeta Podcast.\xa0I live in Longmont, Colorado with my husband and co-founder of TrainingBeta, Seth, and our dog, Zala. I\u2019ve been sport climbing for 20+ years and I\u2019ve worked with my diet extensively to figure out proper fueling and recovery for optimal climbing performance\u2013a lifelong pursuit. For more info about who I am as a climber and a person, check out my personal\xa0bio.

About Alyssa Neill, RDN

From Alyssa\u2019s\xa0website\u2026

In addition to her Didactic Program & Nutrition Science degree from the University of Rhode Island, Alyssa completed her 1300 hour Dietetic Internship at the nation\u2019s leading school for natural medicine and whole-food nutrition, Bastyr University, in Washington.

She has over seven\xa0years of personal and professional\xa0experience with holistic nutrition, weight loss, fat loss, women\u2019s health,\xa0hormone balance with diet,\xa0diet and lifestyle\xa0modifications, and supplement support. In addition to NourishMEnt Nutrition, she has worked as a Practitioner\xa0at Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, in the supplement\xa0industry, as a Private Chef, in hospitals, in Naturopathic clinics\xa0and as a Detoxification / Biotransformation researcher at High Tech Health International, Inc.

She also hosts and teaches at Womxn\u2019s Retreats, Womxn\u2019s Circles & gatherings. She loves cooking and creating, and so she occasionally\xa0private chefs for retreats. She leads rituals, guided meditation, writes for Climbing Magazine and for Gnarly Nutrition. She is also a sport climber and a boulderer, and she works with climbers as well as all kinds of nutrition clients.

For more info about Alyssa or to work with her as a client, visit her website at\xa0www.nourishmentnutrition.com.

\xa0 \xa0 Links

Alyssa Neill

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Use code: summer\xa0at checkout for 25% off all training programs from July 15-July 21, 2020.

NOT APPLICABLE for Remote Coaching with Matt Pincus or Sport Psychology Sessions with Dr. Chris.\xa0