Student Corner Interview

Lauren Gasparo Anton
MS Candidate, Nutritional Sciences
Coordinated Dietetic Program
California State University, Los Angeles

Tell us about your education, background, and current interests.

I received a BA in English from Cornell University and an MFA in Acting from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After acting professionally in theatre and commercials for several years, I decided to go into the field of dietetics. 

Currently, I am interested in the prevention of eating disorders in athletes.  I strongly believe that sport-specific nutrition education, if integrated into the training regimen at the beginning of the athlete’s career, can significantly decrease the incidence of disordered eating and, ultimately, full-blown eating disorders.

As far as sports, I’ve been running for over 20 years, having completed three marathons, two half-marathons and numerous 5 and 10K races. Recently, I bought a road bike and hope to start doing triathlons.

How did you become interested in nutrition and sports nutrition, in particular?

When I was acting, I decided to become certified as a personal trainer since I loved working out so much and it offered the flexible schedule that I needed for auditioning. I found out that I really enjoyed fielding the nutrition questions that would come my way from my personal training clients.  I loved looking up nutrition information, reading about it, and I wanted to know how to tweak a client’s food intake to reach his/her goals. But the more I educated myself on nutrition, the more I realized how little I truly knew!  Right about that time, I met a gym member who happened to be a Registered Dietitian. Talking with her helped me make the decision to go back to school to become a Registered Dietitian myself. (By the way, we’re great friends to this day!).

How has your experience in sports influenced your choice of a thesis project?

During my many years in running, I saw both teammates and friends fall victim to eating disorders, both clinical and sub-clinical. I also noticed that the eating disorder started with the primary goal of being a better runner, with thinness being merely a “by-product” of that goal.  The same characteristics it takes to compete at one’s best -- dedication, focus, drive, intensity – can unfortunately, become pathologically obsessive and play into the development of eating disorders. 

My thesis project will examine the effects of sports nutrition education on adolescent female cross country runners in a controlled pilot study. My hypothesis is that if athletes are taught early on about the importance of nutrition on sports performance, disordered eating habits will significantly decrease.

Your thesis involves high school cross-country runners and the incidence of disordered eating. Tell us about your plans and something you have already learned. 

As part of my research I conducted a focus group in February 2009. I will use what I learned to develop the sports nutrition curriculum I’ll use in my study. The focus group consisted of 12 female high school cross-country runners. The goals of conducting the focus group were to determine the following:

• level of knowledge in terms of sports nutrition
• current eating habits
• feelings regarding disordered eating/eating disorders
• topics they would like to see in a sports nutrition curriculum. 

One of the overall themes that struck me was their excitement regarding nutrition. The girls were incredibly interested in the topic. They displayed some basic knowledge regarding nutrition, but wanted to know more such as: what food does when it enters the body, what foods they could eat to improve their performance, portions sizes, and what foods are “healthy.”  

Regarding disordered eating/eating disorders, when asked for a definition of disordered eating, answers varied from, “Having bad body image,” to “Not knowing how to lose weight.”  As a group, they seemed interested in learning how to approach other people who had an eating disorder, although they gave no indication that they themselves had any problems. In fact, there seemed to be a sort of pride when it came to how much they reported they could eat. They said that many of their non-running friends frequently referred to them as “skinny” or made comments regarding “how thin” they were despite eating “so much.”

I will start the sports nutrition education this coming cross-country season (August through December) with the experimental group. I’m really excited to see the results!

What are your professional goals? Once you become a registered dietitian, what kind of work do you want to do?

I would love to eventually work with athletes of all levels, working as a team with other health professionals and coaches. I would also like to continue educating young athletes about sports nutrition as they start their athletic careers. 

Is there anything else you would like to share with other students?

I would encourage students to share their ideas with other students and dietetics professionals.  I’ve been really impressed with how supportive the members of this profession are – really willing to help each other. Also, getting involved with my local professional organization (the Los Angeles District of the California Dietetic Association) as the President-Elect Student Mentee this past year has been amazing, as well. It was a great opportunity to meet some fantastic people, network and just see what it’s like outside of the classroom. Of course, volunteering has been a great way for me to explore different areas of dietetics – I’ve even gotten a couple of paying jobs from my volunteer experiences!

 
6/19/09