As more athletes recognize the impact nutrition has on athletic performance, the field of sports nutrition continues to grow. Sports nutrition involves advising athletes on proper nutrition, including the delicate balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat that are required for optimal strength, endurance and overall performance. Proper nutrition is needed to adequately fuel athletes before, during and after training and competitions. An intense training regimen places enormous demands on the body, which is why refueling properly makes all the difference in protecting your muscles and avoiding injury.

The schedule of an athlete is demanding. From training, practice and back-to-back games with travel, access to quality nutritional care is not always a possibility. With telehealth platforms, like Healthie, however, nutritional tools and resources are available at an athlete’s’ fingertips, on the go! Healthie allows for easy communication between athletes and their nutritionist, even when they are thousands of miles apart.

Here are 5 Ways the Healthie Platform Supports Your Client Athletes:

1. Accountability for athletes

When you hold your clients to the highest level of accountability, they are more likely to reach their nutrition goals. Healthie’s secure patient app allows for increased communication at your fingertips, which increases engagement between providers and their clients. Athletes understand the value of working with a coach and often perform best based off of that guidance. As a nutritional coach for your client, you help your clients stay on track to ensure they fuel their bodies to boost their performance.

2. Video conferencing for convenient nutrition sessions

HIPAA-compliant video conferencing is a great way to closely communicate with your clients, no matter their location. Easy, convenient and routine check ins further enhance the level of care you provide your clients, increasing the likelihood they reach their goals. Whether it is for a full counseling session or just a quick check-in, face-to-face counseling from miles away can ensure that you’re answering any questions your athletes may have.

3. Photo food logging for real-time nutrition guidance

Traditional food journaling is tedious and time consuming — something that doesn’t quite fit with an athlete’s rigorous schedule. Instead, Healthie’s photo food journaling feature allows athletes to quickly snap a picture of their meal right in the patient-friendly app. Providers have the option to customize the metrics they wish for their clients to record in the Healthie app, such as hydration, grams of carbohydrates or protein consumed, stress level, perceived healthiness of the meal. Providers find that having their clients track these metrics helps teach athletes nutrition fundamentals, so they can be more successful long-term!

4. Fitbit integration to track athlete activity

Athletes that use Fitbit can now sync their device to the Healthie app so all of their metrics are in one place. This creates a complete record of their physical activity and can be recorded automatically, without any additional work involved.

5. Promote mindfulness with nutritional intake

Rather than carelessly eating and not focusing on the food in front of us, Healthie’s optional food logging system allow clients to become more aware of what they are eating and how they are feeling, which many sports nutrition providers find is especially important for athletes. Every time a client logs their food, they have the option to rate their level of pre-meal hunger, post-meal satiation and emotions surrounding the meal. These metrics allow the client to become more in-tune with how their emotions correlate to their food intake.