FREE Professional Webinar: Perfectionism & Performance: Athletes and Eating Disorders
Join us for a dynamic conversation with BALANCE's Director of Nutrition Services, Blake Bittle, author of "Treating Athletes with Eating Disorders" and Founder of Athlete Insight, Dr. Kate Bennett, author of "Finding Your Sweet Spot" and dietitian Rebecca McConville, and Olympic Gold Medalist Samantha Livingstone!
DATE: Friday, March 3rd, 2023
12:00 PM-1:00 pm EST
Participating in sports has tremendous benefits, including cultivating personal discipline, learning teamwork skills, and sharp decision-making, to name a few.
Being an athlete brings on sociocultural pressures related to performance and body shape.
THIS PRESSURE CAN TRANSLATE INTO...
An overachievement for a sport's specific “body types.”
A strong inclination for perfectionism in all aspects, including a “perfect diet.”
Increased fear of failure.
An identity can be tied to performance and appearance.
These elements, compounded with certain character traits, underdeveloped coping skills, and genetic predisposition, can create the perfect storm for an athlete to develop an eating disorder.
It’s all too common that athletes are further along in their struggles with eating disorders before taking life-saving steps toward eating disorder treatment.
13.5% of athletes struggle with an eating disorder.¹
Up to 45% of female and 19% of male athletes struggle with an eating disorder. ²
School teachers, counselors, coaches, trainers, and teammates forge bonds with athletes that positively impact an athlete’s struggle with food, exercise, and body image.
ATTEND THIS CONVERSATION TO HAVE YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY PERFORMANCE EXPERTS WITH LIVED EXPERIENCES AND LEARN...
Common misconceptions of eating disorders.
Warning signs of eating disorder behaviors in athletes
How perfectionism relates to eating disorders and athletes
What is helpful to say and what is not
The long-term effects of an eating disorder on the athlete
How treatment for an eating disorder impacts training
Preventative measures to prevent disordered eating and body image issues
MEET THE HOSTs
BLAKE BITTLE, RDN
BALANCE Director of Nutrition Services (she/her/hers)
Blake is a weight-inclusive, HAES (Health At Every Size) informed registered dietitian-nutritionist. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics at the West Chester University of Pennsylvania before completing her dietetic internship. Before joining BALANCE, Blake provided medical nutrition therapy and group education at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, an in-patient hospital affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center. Blake employs a Non-Diet, All Foods Fit approach to assist clients in rediscovering their internal cues and help them make peace with food and eating. She brings evidence-based counseling principles, health-promoting interventions, and a curiosity for a lived experience into her sessions.
DR. KATE BENNETT
Founder of Athlete Insight (she/her/hers)
Dr. Kate Bennett is a clinical sport psychologist, author, and speaker. As a former athletic trainer, cycling coach, and two-time national track cycling champion, she combines her athletic experiences with her clinical expertise to treat athletes with eating disorders in her private practice, Athlete Insight. Dr. Bennett's practice serves high school student-athletes through Olympic and professional athletes. Dr. Bennett recently authored Treating Athletes with Eating Disorders and has presented on this topic at several national conferences, including APA, AASP, Eating Disorders in Sport, and the Female Athlete Conference, and provided continuing education for USA Cycling and USA Swimming coaches.
SAMANTHA LIVINGSTONE
Olympic Gold Medalist, High-Performance Consultant, and Mental Health Activist (she/her/hers)
Samantha Arsenault Livingstone is an Olympic gold medalist, performance consultant, keynote speaker, and mental health advocate. In 2016, Samantha founded Livingstone High Performance and the Whole Athlete Initiative (WAI) in response to the mental health crisis impacting young people across the globe. LHP disrupts the old-school model of mental toughness as the path to high achievement by providing support to organizations, teams, and individuals to bolster mental well-being and improve performance. In addition to private coaching, Samantha consults with business leaders and teams on wellness initiatives, mindful leadership, emotional agility, and developing healthy, high-performing cultures. In 2022, Samantha + her team welcomed over 350 athletes, and where applicable, their coaches, athletic trainers + athletic admins into the LHP Athlete Academy + Mental Muscle Gym. The Academy + MMG provides the support + structure needed for teams to integrate the often neglected Mental Pillar into their day-to-day lives to cultivate more significant levels of “true mental toughness.” Samantha holds a master's in education and is a certified instructor of Mental Health First Aid and facilitator of Mindful Sports Performance Enhancement. She lives in New England with her husband, Rob, and their four daughters. To learn more about her offerings, go over to www.samanthalivingstone.com.
REBECCA McCONVILLE, MS, RD, LDN, CSSD, CED-S
Sports Nutritionist & Performance Expert (she/her/hers)
Becca McConville is a board-certified sports specialist and an eating disorder dietitian supervisor. In addition to Becca’s private practice at ReNourish she has served as a consultant to the University of Missouri Kansas City Athletics, Kansas City Ballet, and local colleges and previously worked with the Kansas City Chiefs. Becca is also the author of Finding your Sweet Spot- How to Avoid RED-S (Relative Energy Deficit in Sport) by Optimizing Your Energy Balance and RED-Solution mentorship program for clinicians. She co-hosts a podcast called PHIT for a Queen devoted to female athletes. January 2023, she released her workbook on transitioning out of sport at LAST with Dr. Mel Streno.
[1] Ghoch, M. E., et al. (2013). Eating disorders, physical fitness, and sport performance: a systematic review. Nutrients, 5:12.
[2] Conviser, J. H., Schlitzer Tierney, A., Nickols, R. (2018). Essential for best practice: treatment approaches for athletes with eating disorders. Journal of Clinical Sports Psychology, 12.