Brittany Bowman, MS, RD, CSSD
Getting to Know…
Brittany Bowman, MS, RD, CSSD
Dietetic intern Regina Santana is interested in learning more about sports nutrition and was able to interview Brittany Bowman, MS, RD, CSSD, a Performance Dietitian at UCLA Intercollegiate Athletic Department. Brittany provides realistic insight and more!
Regina Santana: What is your philosophy on sports nutrition?
Brittany Bowman: I believe that meeting my athletes where they are at is important for trust, buy-in, and compliance. There is not a one-size-fits-all diet for athletes, so it is important to be flexible when it comes to helping them meet their needs. When you consider an athlete’s sport, position, training intensity, dietary preferences, school schedule, body composition goals, finances, etc, there is no way for each athlete to eat the same!
RS: How does an athlete's age have an impact on the type of nutrition services that they are offered?
BB: I think their age can go hand-in-hand with their level of nutrition knowledge, so I do not think their age changes the type of services provided necessarily, but more so how I approach them in individual consultations. For example, if an athlete is a senior in college and has met with a performance dietitian in the past, I might be able to skip the basics of what a carb is and get more specific with my recommendations. Compared to a college freshman student-athlete who has never worried about their diet, I might want to start with the basics of sports nutrition. However, it is important to get a baseline understanding of an athlete’s habits and preferences, no matter the age, to best help them going forward.
RS: I see that you work with different types of sports offered at UCLA. Do you work with all the sports and with both males and females? Which sports segment is most challenging?
BB: I am currently working with men and women’s soccer, gymnastics, baseball, track and field, and cross country, so I have a good mix of both men and women that I work with. Each sport has its own challenges, but I think for me, sports like gymnastics and track/cross country have been the most challenging due to the influence body composition and body image has on the sport. Nutrition and body image are largely interconnected, and can impact with the way athletes fuel themselves. If an athlete has a poor body image, as a result they may not fuel properly for their sport. In these cases, it can be challenging to tackle the nutrition portion without first improving their body image concerns.
RS: What are two challenges about this job? Please share a successful story with an athlete.
BB: One challenge that I think many performance dietitians experience is finding enough time to provide equal attention and quality care to all teams. I currently oversee 200+ athletes, and last year I oversaw 300+, which is a lot of athletes to remember and keep track of! I always want to do everything for all my teams and athletes, but it is important to be realistic about what I want to be done versus what needs to be done. Another challenge about this job is keeping up with all the misinformation in social media. Athletes sometimes forget that they are athletes, and that much of the information shared online does not apply to them. There is also a lot of information that is misconstrued and cherry picked to create a narrative that may not be completely true. It is important to stay informed on these topics because no matter what type of dietitian you are, you will always be asked these kinds of questions!
The success story that comes to mind is one of my athletes who wanted to change body composition by fueling less, but overtime started to fuel more and wasn’t as worried about his body composition This athlete came to me wanting to lose body fat because he was told that he was too big for his sport. He was eliminating carbohydrates throughout his diet, and he was always hungry during practice. He was very interested in nutrition, but he was always told that carbs were bad for you and the lighter he would be the faster he would be. It took time to change his mindset, but since he was so interested in nutrition, I was able to figure out that educating him more in-depth on how the body utilizes carbs, especially for his sport, was effective in getting him to understand why he needs to be eating more to be faster. He was able to put together that when he ate more carbs, his energy improved during practice. Eventually, he was able to place 2nd in the conference for his event.
RS: What experience is necessary before applying for a job like this?
BB: I think for collegiate athletics specifically it is important to have some experience in the collegiate environment, even if it is just volunteering. The collegiate environment is not for everyone, with working long hours, weekends, holidays, etc, it can be easy to burn out. I think once you are able to experience this firsthand, then you can get a better understanding if you want to do this as a career. I always encourage new RDs to apply to a fellowship before applying to a full-time role. During my fellowship, I learned a lot about not just the profession, but also my strengths and weaknesses as a dietitian. Your supervisor is also there to guide you throughout the experience, so they can help you tackle any situations that you have not had experience with yet.
RS: Please share a recent memorable meal or snack. Why was it the best?
BB: My friends and I recently shared a mochi cake for our friend's birthday last Sunday! My friend made it from their Trader Joe’s box mix and added matcha powder to it, which was so good. On Sundays we play in a beach volleyball league, so after our games, we hung out for a while, sharing the cake and other snacks we all brought. It was a great way to end the week, especially after winning our last game!
Brittany Bowman is currently a performance dietitian for UCLA. Previous to this position, she was the Gatorade SNIP fellow for the University of Pittsburgh, working with their football, baseball, and women’s lacrosse teams. She attended Ohio State University from 2020 to 2022, earning her Master’s in Medical Dietetics while also completing her dietetic internship as a graduate sports nutrition intern. She graduated from the University of Florida in 2020 with her Bachelor’s in Dietetics. In her free time, she enjoys playing beach volleyball, working out, and trying out new restaurants around LA.