Exploring food focus

A successful sporting career as well as mental and physical health can hinge on an athlete’s relationship with food.

Bond University alumna and ironwoman legend Harriet Brown has delivered a workshop on nutrition to the Bond Elite Sports Program’s female athletes, the first of four presentations she will make over the coming weeks.

Brown is a World Ironwoman Champion, Nutri-grain Ironwoman Series Champion , Au s t r a l i a n Team Member and captain and a winner of one of the most gruelling events in sport, the prestigious Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard race.

Along with fellow Ironwoman Lizzie Wellborn, Brown (pictured left with Wellborn) has created the Kamana Community to support and celebrate female athletes and equip them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to overcome obstacles they may face on their sporting journey. “Sport has always been very male dominated and there hasn’t been a lot of information or research that is specific to women,” she said. “What we hope to achieve is to provide young female athletes with information that directly relates to them in an environment where they feel comfortable to talk and ask questions.”

In the workshops for Bond athletes Brown will explore topics such as Body Confidence, Female Athlete Health and Understanding Under the Menstrual Menstr Cycle, Nutr Nutrition for Athletes, let and Performance f Habits H and Mindset. The nutrition workshop was delivered in the Hoog Antink Olympic Torch Room on Wednesday to an audience of swimmers, Ironwomen, rowers, AFL and rugby players and netballers.

Brown drew on an experience from her own past when one coach had conducted skin fold tests and demanded she lose weight on her legs. After noticing she ate more than her friends who weren’t athletes, she began to reduce her food intake in an attempt to lose weight. Her energy levels and training suffered.