Bite Back with Abbey Sharp - "Sports Nutrition: Fueling Performance or Feeding Obsession?” with former Beach Volleyball Athlete Gabby Reece

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

In today’s episode, Gabby and I discuss the following main topics:00:39 - Introduction03:36 - Why Did You Leave the Sport?04:42 - Nutrition Post-Injury and Surgery06:58 - Body Surveillance in Sport10:43 - Swim Suit Sport & the Impact on Disordered Eating12:52 - Young Female Athletes Training Mistakes18:00 - How to Transition from Nutrition for Sport to Eating for Longevity21:01 - How to Raise Healthy Young Athletes who Aren’t Obsessed with Body and Food27:20 - Advice for Young Athletes29:41 - Does Sports Nutrition Always = Obsessive Dieting?Check in with today’s amazing guest: Gabby ReeceWebsite: gabriellereece.comPodcast: The Gabby Reece ShowYoutube: /gabbyreeceInstagram: @gabbyreeceDisclaimer: The content in this episode is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is never a substitute for medical advice. If you’re struggling with with your mental or physical health, please work one on one with a health care provider.If you have heard yourself in our discussion today, and are looking for support, contact the free NEDIC helpline at 1-866-NEDIC-20 or go to eatingdisorderhope.com.  🥤 Check out my 2-in-1 Plant Based Probiotic Protein Powder, neue theory at www.neuetheory.com or @neuetheory and use my promo code BITEBACK20 to get 20% off your order! Don’t forget to Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review! It really helps us out. ✉️ SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTERS ⤵️Neue Theory newsletterAbbey's Kitchen newsletter 🥞 FREE HUNGER CRUSHING COMBO™ E-BOOK! 💪🏼 FREE PROTEIN 101 E-BOOK! 📱 Follow me! Instagram: @abbeyskitchenTikTok: @abbeyskitchenYouTube: @AbbeysKitchen My blog, Abbey’s Kitchen www.abbeyskitchen.comMy book, The Mindful Glow Cookbook affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3NoHtvf If you liked this podcast, please like, follow, and leave a review with your thoughts and let me know who you want me to discuss next!

You know, I was 6'3 at 15. It's sort of like, oh, I'll just maybe no one will see me and notice. And then you start playing sports and you start to realize, oh, wait a second, my body also is a tool. It's not just something to show or for people to look at. It's to do something with. Welcome to another episode of Bite Back with Abbey Sharp, where I dismantle die culture rules, call it the charlatans spinning the pseudoscience, and help you achieve food freedom for good. I am so excited about today's guest and our discussion, because I don't know, I just find it really fun for me at least to kind of talk to and hear from individuals that have real life experiences

that I have never had and probably will never have. And one thing that I admittedly have like little to no personal experience with is sports. I mean, I know I'm kind of like forced to learn about sports a bit because I've got two boys and they love their hockey and their soccer and their basketball, but growing up I did none of those things. I was a theater girly. I was a performing arts major. Like gym teachers made fun of kids like me. And in fact, I have like actual memories of being bullied for my lack of athleticism. I'm still unpacking that in therapy. But yeah,

I guess I was like never great with flying balls. So yeah, I have never really experienced anything that even remotely resembles an athlete's life. So I like to leave that to the experts, including my guest today, Gabby Reese. Gabby is a former professional beach volleyball player, plus a successful entrepreneur and spokesperson, fitness coach, podcast host of the Gabby Reese show, New York times, bestselling author and mom of three. I'm sure I can learn a lot from her general wisdom even if I've long missed the boat on being a college athlete. So we're gonna be talking about common sports nutrition mistakes, body image

pressures and disordered eating in women's sport, the process of transitioning from fueling for performance to fueling for longevity and overall life, and how to raise kids who have a healthy relationship with movement and food. Now quick little disclaimer, we will be talking briefly about disordered eating in a few points in today's episode, and of course my general reminder that this information is never a replacement for personalized healthcare. Also I would love if you would follow or subscribe to the podcast, rate the show, and of course leave me a review because it really

does help me out as a new podcast to get the word out. All right, let's get into it. All right, well, Gabby, thank you so much for joining me. I know we like just recorded your podcast and now I get to interview you. So it's so nice to continue this conversation. Well thanks for having me. I was like, is that an advantage? I would think it's an advantage to go second. Yeah, you get the warm up over with. Yeah, so obviously you have a hugely impressive CV with some really impressive you know athletic accolades under your belt and beach volleyball is like no joke. It takes an

enormous amount of training and skill. When did you decide to kind of take a step back from professional sport? Well I think it was a combination. I was having some real knee issues that I was not able to solve and continue to play so as easily. And I was also considering starting a family. I know a lot of athletes can do both. One of the actually one of the most accomplished beach volleyball players ever timed her pregnancies around Olympics and she's like incredible. And also to be really direct,

I understood the kind of real limitations of the platform of beach volleyball and I thought, okay, if professionally I'm going to want to do other things, I'm young enough right now at 30, 32, whatever it was, to start to build on something else. Because as you know, everything does take time. Yes. And so it's kind of a multi pronged decision just based on on who I am. I think sometimes we do things like play a sport, for example, and you think I'm just gonna do it until I run myself into the ground. Yeah. And I think there's a lot of options depending on you know, what you're looking for. Right. And so you mentioned

like a knee injury, obviously the wear and tear is so hard and obviously injury is so common in all sports. I read it's like two to five injuries per 1000 hours of play. And unfortunately for biomechanical reasons, like women are a lot more susceptible to injury than men in a lot of cases. So I'm

curious, what was your nutrition approach to recovering from injury and post surgery and things like that? I wish I knew what I know now. I do it very differently. For me personally, what I look to is kind of whole foods, plants and animals, just things that are nurturing that have been supportive of your whole system. Right. Yeah. I think a lot of athletes struggle with fueling themselves enough through an injury because the thinking is always like, oh, well, I'm not exercising right now. I'm just like laying on the couch. So like, I don't actually have to eat very much. Right. But actually your energy expenditure actually can increase by up to like 20% when you're recovering from a severe

injury. And we don't want to be in any kind of calorie deficit which can further contribute to muscle loss which of course we really need to hold on to. So you know needs for protein and carbs and healthy fats like omega-3, those anti-inflammatory omega-3 is so important. These all go up, you know, carbs help to spare our muscle from being broken down, obviously protein for maintaining our muscle, especially if we aren't doing as much movement. So I think that that's a really important thing

for people to realize that if you are operating at that level, rest also requires good nutrition. So I think that people don't realize that all the time, but it is really much true. I want to talk about body image in sport because, you know, even though volleyball isn't necessarily considered a quote unquote aesthetic sport, like maybe dance or gymnastics, you are performing in a small swimsuit for the most part, which obviously opens you up to all sorts of body scrutiny. Not to mention, I feel like a lot of media opportunities and sponsorships tend to be given to, you know,

female volleyball players or athletes that, you know, have that desirable tall lean body type. What was it like for you for your body to be kind of constantly surveilled during such a sensitive time in young adulthood for body insecurities? I think it right in the beginning, you know, I was 6'3 at 15. But when you then start to play sports, especially as you move kind of through the rankings, so high school, college and pros, you have a lot of people like you. So there's one part where you sort of go, oh, this is my tribe, my family. I am very normal average in this particular group. In fact, one year in the league in my position, I was the shortest middle in the league. So a couple of things

happened, which were really powerful for me was when I was younger at 15, let's say, and you're trying to be smaller, less than than because you walk around in the general population in your high school and there's maybe four boys in the school taller than you and pretty much everyone else is shorter, right? So it's sort of like, oh, I'll just maybe no one will see me and notice. And then you start playing sports and you start to realize, oh, wait a second, my body also is a tool. it's an instrument. It's not just something to show or for people to look at, it's to do something with.

So you also start to develop a different narrative with your own body. And also what kind of relationship you'd like to have with it, what you would like it to do, and the experiences it brings you through. And then all of a sudden, you get to the college level, let's say, and there's girls a lot bigger and stronger than you, and they'll eat your lunch.

So you get, you kind of reframe of like, wait a second, if I was more powerful, if I was bigger, maybe that would be to my advantage. And so as hard as it is when you're young, is realizing also, somebody said this to me when I was very young and I thought it was really important, people only see what you project. And if I was comfortable and I seemed confident and I wasn't apologizing for being big in the general population area, of course you're always going to have a knucklehead who comes up and

makes some comment because they're trying to figure out how to talk to you and they're uncomfortable and they say something stupid. But pretty much you go, wait, what a gift to have a healthy body. And for the particular thing I'm trying to do, which for me was play a ball, I actually was given the right body for that and developing a different relationship and also appreciating other people like seeing a very slender, you know, svelte girl who was a size two and being like, wow, she's beautiful too, very different than me and learning to appreciate that as well. Right. I think that's really great is I try to encourage people all the time to hone in on all the amazing things that your body can do at the size that it is right now and the shape that it is right

now because obviously we come in different shapes and body sizes and we are so used to seeing diet culture messaging about thunder thighs or like your big arms or whatever. Well, like you mentioned, depending on what your goals are and what brings you joy in life, like those muscular thighs can run after your children and those like, you know, muscular arms can pick up your kids and, you know, pick up the groceries and lug things around. And so I think that there are so many things that we can hone in on our own bodies to be appreciative of. Now, I feel like we often think a lot about disordered eating and obviously aesthetic sports, like I just mentioned, like dance. But, you know, at least 25% of female athletes across the board

will display kind of disordered eating behaviors. And according to some of the research I've read, this is largely around the pressure of maximizing sports performance and also these body emphasizing uniforms like swimsuits, for example. We know how damaging under-fueling the body can be, you know, especially when you are, you know, trying to perform at an elite level. And for women specifically, this is a recipe for reds or female athlete triad, as we used to call it, which is characterized by losing your period or loss of bone mass and osteoporosis and low energy availability. And this is just such a critical hormonal period for a lot of young people. And basically when you kind of were describing yourself at the peak of your career,

and it can take so many years to undo that damage. So what I am trying to get all women, not just female athletes, to understand is it's just about who we are. Like, no matter if I never ate again, the probably the smallest size I'm ever going to be is an eight. That's just my body type. Yeah. And so it's actually having expanding the conversation out with social media and going, you know what, that's great for them. She's five, two, or her hips are just a certain size is actually getting the narrative to go, huh, what is the best version of me in the ways

that I feel good, that I feel healthy, that I feel energized, that I sleep well, my elimination's good and get them to stop looking at anyone other than maybe a little bit of information or inspiration. It's not just in sport. It's like really getting us to stop looking outside to answer a question that only really lies within us. And I think that that is something if we can do that for our daughters and the girls and women for that matter, it probably would be most supportive.

Totally. Absolutely. And do you feel like there was any big specific nutrition or training mistakes that you made when you were young that, you know, now looking back or you see other, you know, young female athletes are consistently making? Well, it's different because now what they're doing is they're overdoing it, right? So if you have an athlete, they get specialized really early. Like I play basketball and volleyball and a little bit of softball, even, you know, you get thrown on the track team because they don't never have enough athletes. And now what happens is it's so competitive, they go, okay, you're a volleyball player,

you're gonna play volleyball 10, 11 months a year. So, for example, the mistakes I made was I did certain training that wasn't going to be in the long run supportive of my joints. I have very long levers, I'm tall. So there are certain things, unless I was monitored perfectly,

I was gonna do them technically incorrect, which I was monitored perfectly, I was going to do them technically incorrect, which eventually was going to have wear and tear on my body. So those are the mistakes I made. And I also in certain ways was an over trainer because I was always trying to prove myself and earn it and all these things. But what I see now young people doing is they have a lot more information on the lifting and the training that happens off the court. They're way more sophisticated than I was when I was playing at that level. So, they're not making as many of those mistakes, but I do believe they're repetitive trauma, just playing the same, doing the same motions over and over. They're not going from like one sport and then playing

softball or doing something different. I think in the end, not only does it impact your zeal and enthusiasm for your sport, I think it is very, we're not meant to do patterns over and over and over. And that's the part that concerns me for younger athletes. Yeah, definitely. Absolutely true. And you mentioned the overtraining in it. And those overtraining and nutrition do go hand in hand because again, if you are not fueling to meet those, elevated needs and that expenditure, of course you're going to do damage.

Of course you're gonna be in a state of low energy availability and put yourself at risk of injury if you're not getting in the calories and the protein that your body needs to recover. You're not giving yourself rest days. These things are so critical. I think we can say this not just for athletes, but for literally everybody who's listening right now. There's this hustle culture that is so toxic. Of course, when you're dealing with type A, hardworking athletes, young athletes who want to succeed, they're driven by this kind of hustle culture, this grindset. And unfortunately,

when we look at long-term health, it's driving people into the ground, it's driving people into burnout. And that's how you get injured and eventually cannot perform and have to retire early. So I think that that's definitely something that we need to just reevaluate our relationship with work and rest, more importantly. And I'll add to that conversation, which is something I didn't have to deal with until I was already a professional athlete, is the phone, is blue light, is weird dopamine hits from outside sources that I don't know that we understand yet the impact on people and especially young people. And the other part of this is I want to encourage people, if they are having a, quote, rest day, that what we've really seen show up over and over that's very supportive is a couple things,

one being active recovery. So whether it's stretching or taking a meditation class or doing something to actually kind of boost your recovery versus, oh, I'm just going to sit on the couch, that you could do things like sauna or things that kind of help really accelerate that opportunity for all recovery of your nervous system, of your muscles, your tissue, all of these things, I think is very, very important for people to embrace. It feels like, oh, well, that's not doing anything. What's shown up is that also if we can quiet that nervous system and finally encourage people to, especially if you're an athlete that's in a gym,

is when can you get outside? When can you get out in a little bit by a tree, get in sunlight? These are the things that are hard to measure, but we know over a long period of time really can give you some buoyancy and support to your system. Yeah, 100%.

We have to consider the whole package, and that includes sleep and stress reduction and joyful movement and social health, really, just being with other people and being in nature and all that, it's just so important. I kind of want to talk about your approach to nutrition and wellness now. Because obviously, you know, we mentioned like athletes obviously do have more specific

nutrient needs and hopefully are getting some kind of counseling from a, you know, an expert like a dietitian if they're in competitive sport. How is it for you transitioning out of kind of competition or performance nutrition mode into eating for longevity and eating for overall health? It's the same diet because I did get it dialed towards the end of my career. It's just less calories. I don't need the calories. Certainly because I'm not doing the workload, but also I'm a little bit older. So I need a

different type of calories also. So for me, I was eating a solid 5, 5,500, 5,200 calories or so a day. I don't need that many calories now. I probably eat anywhere from 2,700 because I'm still pretty active. Sometimes 3,000 calories. Also, I honor that time. I sell my cycle that time of the month where you know you want that extra 250 calories or so to be supportive. I don't ignore that anymore. I used to be like, oh my God, what's wrong with me? So again, plants and animals, I usually make, you know, I'll make vegetables sort of the focus, but I'll listen because I'm a person who's very, very low in iron. I'm almost anemic, even though I eat a ton of animal protein.

There is some data suggesting that foot striking athletes, there's some weird thing with iron and foot striking athletes, your ability to absorb iron. So there's something interesting there, because I could never figure out why I was always low on iron given I eat a healthy amount of red meat. So what I do, though, is I still listen to my body. Like, if I'm not really hungry just because it's dinner time, I just make sure to get the right stuff on my plate, the right healthy fat, some protein, and some fiber. If I'm really hungry, then I'll eat a lot.

I tend not to snack. I tend to listen to my body. But if I have my druthers, I would eat the most in the middle of my day and then have my dinner, try to back it off about three hours before I go to bed. And that overall works. And then I do supplementation, but I cycle it in and out. I don't always stay in those cycles. I try to be true to getting it from my food to the best of my ability. But it hasn't changed. It's just the quantity is less. Right. And I mean, obviously, when you're fueling for sport, your energy expenditure is so incredibly high. So it's very important to be honoring those increased caloric needs. And it sounds like you're able to listen to

and accumulate that data on what feels good to your body. And that changes throughout the life cycle. That changes throughout life. And you have to stay attuned with your body's needs and what it's asking for. Whether it's that time of month in the cycle or you just did a heavier workout and that day you're more hungry, you're going to honor that without judgment. So I think that's, that's great. And you've got three daughters, which man, I've got two boys. And so I have a very, very different like motherhood experience, I'm sure. But I've heard you mention on your podcast that you intentionally didn't force your girls

into sports. And I want to know, what was your philosophy when they were growing up to ultimately raise girls and women with healthy relationship with food and their body and movement? It's not that it's easy, but the easiest pillars to look to are first, be the example, right? Like, I don't talk about, do I look fat in these pants? I just, that isn't what's happening. And I put emphasis on health, not on aesthetic and function and experience versus how the outside world is judging you. So living that in and because kids are watching you, right? They're not listening, they're really watching,

and especially daughters to mothers. So, and of course I never critiqued their physiques when they were young. I have one daughter now who is, you know, she sort of has things dialed in, but certainly right before puberty, she went through a phase where she was a little bigger and she was eating food that was weird

because she was at that weird time in her life. And so just being careful about comments, I've discussed it with my husband too, like, hey, take it easy on the comments. And also this is what we eat in this house. So here's dinner, I make dinner, this is what's available. But I've also simultaneously, especially in their early teenage years,

not made things restrictive. So you can have your weird snacks that you like, because I don't want to make it that you go to someone else's house and now you're freaking out about it. So it's the balance. And it's also weirdly the faith that if you're a pretty good example and you're producing these foods that taste good at your house that are healthy, they're going to get there because they're smart and they're going to be like, I feel better when I do this. I look, my skin looks better when I do this. So for me, that seems to be the most powerful way to influence them in the direction that I at least think will be best for them.

Yeah. I think you're right. Like modeling is obviously so important, modeling that like, you know, a healthy balanced relationship with food, not constantly critiquing your own body. Like kids, even young kids pick up on these things and internalize them from a very, very young age. And I think that, you know, it is important to focus on functionality over aesthetics,

what our body can do and like, oh, it can move in these ways and it feels great. And how, you know, how does our body feel when we eat certain things? And also talking about food in like empowering terms, like fuel and energizing and nourishing, because especially for girls, like we have these weird, society has these weird gendered terms that we associate with foods for girls versus boys. For some reason, men always get the fuel and the energy, but women get light or guilt-free or sinful or whatever.

I think just being mindful of that, especially when we're talking to young girls, is so important to just reset the stage. Because again, they're going to get exposed to all of these kind of diet culture messages through social media and their friends and any other person that they come across in their life. And it's so important that we are the rock. It sells. It sells, right? And also as you get older, you start to go, oh, there they are again, trying to prey upon my tendency to be unsure. And the notion that form always follows function is so true. And my husband said something once we were doing some stuff with a big group of kids and he goes, you know, what's the best vehicle? You know, like,

is it a rocket? Is it an airplane? Is it a, you know, car? And the kids were, you know, like, is it a rocket? Is it an airplane? Is it a, you know, car? And, and the kids were, you know, all had their chimed in and he said, no, it's, it's this right here. And he pointed to his body. He's like, cause we used to joke, we'd say, Hey, you go to the gas station. What do you put in your tank? You put M&Ms in, you put chips. And they're like, no, you put the right fuel. And so we, we used to do that because then this can do all that. Right. It's sort of obvious as it seems is like our health and our bodies really are a miracle. And I don't mean that in any woo woo way.

It's just like when you really think about what the body's able to do and to be not in awe of the miracle, but to at least appreciate the miracle and look at it from all these dimensions instead of like, you know, my nose is big or my eyes are too close together or whatever the million ways we figure out to torture ourselves. Yeah, and I think this really comes back to something I talk a lot about. We've had other guests on the podcast talk about the body positivity movement and things like that. And I think what's important for a lot of folks who feel like, well, there's no way I can love my body all the time. You don't have to love the way your

body looks all the time to respect your body and to appreciate your body and the things that it can do and does do for you every single day. And when you think about, you know, just like, I always go back to like, oh my God, I grew children in this. I fed children with this. Like, I'm picking up those children. I'm, you children. I'm doing all of these things with my body and I would be able to do those things if I was heavier, if my hips were wider. So I'm just appreciative for all the things. And in sports, nothing could be further from that truth. So I think it's something that is a good reminder that regardless of the shape or size of your body, that it is a pretty miraculous thing. So I think that's really great.

Yeah. And to be able to do any sport, I mean, any sport at all, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't mean at a high level. What a wonderful thing. Like you've got this locomotive that moves and, you know, people don't even realize the fact that we can stand and walk on our feet is an active design that sort of goes against all, you know, notions of physics. So even a simple thing like, hey, I'm going to go walk the dog around the block is like, this is awesome. Yeah, totally. And if you could give one little piece of advice to young athletes just about, you know, building a healthy relationship with food or, you know, movement while they are kind of like fueling intentionally for sport. What would that be? I think we put a lot of pressure around everything all the time,

whether it's, you know, to be the best, whether it's to be perfect for yourself, for your parents, for your coaches, whatever. I think to remember that you're doing this because it's fun and it's a game. It is a game, sports are games. And if you can within the process and in the pursuit, enjoy what is challenging about it, because it is, but also don't let the fun not be part of the focus, the playfulness. There's an energy that you get to experience when you're doing a sport that you don't get in so many places in your life. And to be in pursuit, for the pursuit of excellence, not for the pursuit to prove something to somebody or to make someone else happy. But hey, you're just trying to see how good can you be. But hey, you're just trying to see how good can you be and all that you're doing is to support that narrative and in the pursuit of passion, not out of pressure only.

Yeah, that's super, super helpful advice. So thank you so, so much, Gabby. That was so, so great. And you've got so much great content for those of you guys who are listening. Where can they find you? Oh, I'm at All Things Gabby Reese, so R-E-E-C-E, my podcast, which is probably sometimes a little more sciency because I'm trying to learn from all these really great people. But I will say that if we could get the food part, a relationship with that, that works

out, it really does serve us no matter what situation, whether we're in a high-stress job or you're wanting to get pregnant or whatever it is. And what you realize is the rules are the same, right? So whether you're an athlete or a CEO or the hardest job of all, a stay-at-home mom, the principles of food are the same. Now they just will expand or contract based on

what the need is. But that's what's so great. It's not that confusing once you understand what the principles are and what they work for you. Yeah, really, really good advice. Thanks so much, Gabby. Thank you. Such a great conversation. And one that really reminded me about a question that I've gotten numerous times over the years about whether or not it's possible to quote-unquote do intuitive eating while fueling for performance or sport. Because when most people think about the word intuitive eating, they tend to think it's like the eat whatever you want diet, which definitely seems at odds with athletes diets, which often does require some more structure and attention to meal

timing and certain foods. But that understanding of intuitive eating is actually missing a lot of the nuance in the framework, particularly as it relates to gentle nutrition. Intuitive eating isn't just about eating when you're hungry and stopping when you're full. It's not just about that introspective body data. It is about the data that we collect and analyze with our brain as well. So for example, even if an athlete finds that their appetite is suppressed after a really heavy training session, they may have collected enough cognitive data on how their body responds

to recovery fuel to know that they need to eat a replenishing meal. Likewise, collecting data on how different amounts of calories, protein or carbs, or even specific meals affects their training session or performance, and then using that data to inform future choices, is all part of a gentle nutrition approach. Eating intuitively is all about nourishing your body as an act of self-care and combining your innate body wisdom with data you've collected on how food affects you, not just in that moment but in the moments, days and years to follow. So I hope today's episode gave you some valuable perspectives on the complexities and possibilities of fueling your body for sport without falling into the traps of die

culture. A huge thank you to Gabby for sharing her story and expertise. If you enjoyed this conversation and are interested in other discussions on similar topics, please please do follow or subscribe to Bite Back wherever you get your podcasts, leave me a review, and also share an episode with someone that you think would also enjoy it. Your support is really what's going to help keep these conversations going. Signing off with Science and Sass, I'm Abbey Sharp. Thanks for watching guys!