The Equestrian Athlete

Whether you’re an elite or recreational athlete women are at high risk of under-fuelling. Unfortunately these stats currently focus on the gender binary. This risk increases hugely when athletes are in sports where there is an asthetic component or being at a lower weight is considered beneficial for performance (or animal welfare - I’m looking at you equestrians).

The good news is athletes who have been underfuelling notice a difference in energy and performance quickly when they start working with me.

For all the equestrians who are following me, I am still working with riders. This will always be a passion of mine. You can now see me face to face or via telehealth!

I am so excited to share that I am now part of the incredible team

I’ll be working from the beautiful and cosy clinic on Friday afternoons and every second Saturday morning to support clients who:
💚 Live with an eating disorder
💚 Experience disordered eating or want to improve their relationship with food and their body
💚 Want to make changes to their eating patterns to support their health, wellbeing or performance without the obsession

Appointments are available both in person and via telehealth.

I’ve been having a lot of conversations with my clients recently about body image. Something that I think is important to acknowledge in these conversations is that it makes sense that for folks to desire weight loss.
We live in a culture where we are taught that our value lies in our appearance and those who live in larger body’s face stigma and discrimination. This is distressing and weight loss feels like a way to greater safety and acceptance.

The problem is that we also know that weight loss does not work in the long term, and is harmful AND that body image is an inside job. We can support positive body image in so many ways that have nothing to do with weight loss.

Collectively, those of us who are able to need to push back on weight stigma and discrimination to create cultural change where the value of folks lies in who they are as a person, not the way they look.

Happy New Year! A recent post from got me thinking about resolutions/goals/intentions (be sure to pop over and take a look at her post it’s truly beautiful as well as providing very helpful considerations for how you frame intentions this year, and every year after).

If you would like help in working on your relationship with food and your body and doing so in a way that supports your physical and mental health and performance DM me.

I here people describe themselves so frequently as being lazy, and they never are.

If you are struggling to find the time to do things like exercise, grocery shop and cook I’d invite you to take a moment to pause and reflect.

Are you lazy or is there another reason why doing these things feels hard for you?

Acknowledging that cooking every night is hard when you are busy feels very different than labelling yourself as lazy. It also opens up the ability to find solutions.

If you struggle with things like cooking and shoping, let me know 👇

Hi Riders,

I’m finally back after a long stretch of radio silence. After realising I was dealing with ongoing burnout thanks to a number of factors I knew I needed to take a step back from this work.

A lot has changed for me, including welcoming a new family member 🐩, taking a step back from riding, starting aerials and starting a new job. I am now practising face to face

But I am back and ready to go, with a few changes… the focus of my work is pivoting to ALL athletes. I absolutely will still work with riders, but am also enjoying working with triathletes and cyclists and am keen to work with many other athletes.
As such the name is changing! We are now .dietitian_

In case you need to hear this you are an athlete…
👉

As a sports dietitian I want to know that the foods you eat on show day are going to sit well in your stomach when you are riding. Just like you wouldn’t ask for a flying change for the first time on the day of a show, you shouldn’t try a new food on the day of a competition.

While it’s not going to do you harm, the risk you run is that you’ll experience digestive symptoms which aside from being uncomfortable, can make it hard to focus and ride at your best. This can be exacerbated by show day nerves so it’s best to know that the foods you plan to eat on show day will sit well in your stomach.

I’m so excited to be teaming up with Natasha The Eventing Physiologist and Gracie Equine Athlete Physio to be bringing a unique clinic to riders and horses in South East Queensland on the 20th of May. The clinic will run at Netherfield equestrian centre in beautiful Mount Cotton.

This will provide riders with the opportunity to work on themselves and support their horses.

We can’t wait to see you there

Giovanna Donnithorne-Tait
Natasha Gunston
The Saddlefitter

Spreading protein rich foods across the day is important not just for building muscle but also for helping prevent muscle wasting if you’re sidelined with an injury.

In Western cultures, it is common to ‘back end load’ the day with protein, ie having at best a small amount of protein at breakfast, a small amount at lunch and a huge portion at dinner.

Aim to include 20-30g of protein at least four times per day.

Intuitive eating + sports nutrition for equestrians
💫a series💫