For years, pork has been wrongfully sidelined by many in sports nutrition. While most people associate pork with bacon and sausage, many lean cuts like tenderloin and sirloin roast are incredibly low in fat and high in all nine essential amino acids required for muscle synthesis, tissue repair and recovery.
Alyssa Chritz, a former collegiate basketball player, wants to put pork back in the lineup where it belongs in her role as the inaugural Penn State Sports Nutrition Fellow. In this unique partnership between Penn State Athletics and the Pennsylvania Pork Producers Council, Chritz will put her master’s degree in clinical nutrition at the University of Michigan to work helping top-tier athletes while highlighting pork as a high-quality source of protein for student-athletes.
“Incorporating different types of proteins helps athletes get more of the micronutrients they need to fuel their performance,” Chritz says. “People are afraid to try new things. I want to come up with ways for them to enjoy their favorite types of food – like tacos – but combine it with pork instead.”
Fueling the Nittany Lions
Chritz will work alongside Carly Orlacchio, a registered dietitian and former Division I collegiate track and field athlete. Orlacchio’s career spans clinical dietetics at Yale New Haven Hospital, a sustainable food systems rotation in Montana, and sports nutrition at Dartmouth. When she heard about the unique first-of-its-kind role at Penn State’s brand-new Greenberg Performance Kitchen and serving as the performance dietitian for cross country and track and field, she applied immediately because of her passion to help athletes develop healthy, sustainable relationships with food.
The performance kitchen is like a dining hall for athletes only, but Orlacchio says it’s definitely different. All athletes at Penn State have access to the performance kitchen where they will find grill stations, flat-top stations, pizza stations, pasta stations and offer special sandwiches and electrolyte drinks of the day.
Variety is important when planning the menu for athletes who have a higher calorie and protein goal to meet each day.
“Getting a variety of nutrients is really important,” Orlacchio says. “You don’t want to eat chicken every single day for dinner because pork offers nutrients that chicken doesn’t have and vice versa. We also don’t want to stick to one protein source because it gets boring. Athletes need to fuel so much that the last thing we need is for them to be sick of food.”
A Winning Nutrition Strategy
Nutrition for an athlete is drastically different than nutrition for a regular person.
“When it comes to protein especially, a lot of these athletes are still growing and may not be at their peak bone density yet,” Orlacchio says. “We want to help them meet their protein needs so they can build adequate muscle and avoid injury.”
In her role, she uses a performance plate in her coaching strategy. The plate varies every day depending on their training schedule.
“Protein is the anchor of the plate,” she says. “It will stay the same amount because it’s based on weight and height unless you are actively trying to build lean muscle mass. The carbohydrate amount fluctuates. The harder the training or the longer the training, the more carbohydrates.”
Orlacchio recommends athletes include both protein and carbohydrates in their post-training meals.
“Post-training is a great opportunity to incorporate complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, to help replenish glycogen stores and restore energy used during training,” she says. “Because these foods tend to be higher in fiber, they may not be ideal immediately before training when athletes are looking for carbohydrates that are easier to digest. Pairing these carbohydrates with a quality protein like pork also provides the amino acids needed to support muscle rebuilding and repair, making it a great combination for recovery.”
In addition, pork is a great option for the anchor of the plate because it’s an excellent carrier food. With over 110 flavor nuances, research shows that pork drives people to eat more fruits and vegetables.
“In our dining facility, I’ve noticed that when athletes have a familiar protein option like pork available, it can serve as an easy starting point for building a more balanced plate,” Orlacchio says. “Athletes will often pair their protein with carbohydrate-rich options like whole grains or potatoes, along with fruits and vegetables.”
Supporting Local Farms and Combating Food Misinformation
Chritz and Orlacchio are also excited to showcase local farmers in the performance kitchen.
“Athletes are more likely to grab something if it’s locally sourced,” Orlacchio points out. “Partnering with PA Pork and sourcing pork from local farms will be a great way for our athletes to achieve this goal. They want to know that they are buying pork from someone who treats their animals well and is from this area.”
To help find new ways to show off pork, they also plan to play off national food days like National Pulled Pork Day on Oct. 12. Chritz believes this will go over well with the college-age population and encourage them to try new things.
“Eating enough meat in general is not talked a lot about, especially in high school,” Orlacchio says. “With diet culture and social pressures, there’s a lot of misinformation out there.”
As former female college athletes, they understand it’s confusing. They both want to help all athletes, and especially women, recognize the valuable role of meat in their diets.
Follow Alyssa’s work at PA Pork on Facebook or Instagram @whypapork. She will also be sharing about pork on Instagram @FuelPSU.
