Nutrition Services
About TOA’s Nutrition Services
What you eat matters for overall health and quality of life. Food is responsible for providing the body with energy and nutrients to support the body's growth, development, and maintenance, starting from birth. Throughout aging, nutrition plays a significant factor in chronic disease risk and management. About 70-90% of chronic disease risk is determined by nutrition and lifestyle, while about 10-30% is determined by genetics. This means that nutrition can be utilized as a tool to either significantly increase or decrease the risk of chronic disease. Due to socioeconomic factors, medical nutrition needs, lifestyle, food preferences, and cultural and religious influences, nutrition should be highly individualized, and there is no one-size-fits-all diet.
For more information, email us at NutritionTeam@TOA.com.
Sports Nutrition
Whether you’re a student-athlete, professional athlete, or weekend warrior, high performing individuals have higher nutrient and energy requirements than the average person due to increased energy expenditure. For high performing athletes, adequate nourishment is key to enhance sport performance, like strength and endurance, and prevent injury. Proper nutrition also helps athletes fend off illnesses, promotes muscle recovery, dictates weight management and body composition, and more. In the world of sports, food is often referred to as the body’s source of fuel. Just as racecars require a special racing fuel, athletes require specialized nutrition to optimize performance and promote overall health. Sports nutrition should always be tailored to the athlete’s sport type, position, performance goals, and individual nutrition needs.
Nutrition for Recovery
Nutrition is an essential part of the orthopedic injury rehabilitation plan. Without adequate nourishment, the body’s tissues would not be able to properly heal and regrow. Nutrition can influence many types of orthopedic injuries, including fractures, breaks, sprains, and strains. What you eat has the potential to either accelerate or decelerate the healing of bones, soft tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments), and even skin integrity with surgical wounds. Food is what provides the body with energy and endurance required for physical therapy sessions and can promote faster recovery in between sessions. Additionally, certain foods with antioxidant properties can reduce pain and inflammation that persists with injuries. There are many reasons to consider improving your nutrition to improve your recovery, and an individualized plan is always best.
Emma Nelson, RD, LDN
Emma Nelson, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Personal Trainer, is a native to Nashville. Emma grew up as a competitive dancer which instilled in her a passion for fitness and performance nutrition. From a young age, she recognized the prevalence of under-fueling in sports, and knew she wanted to become a professional who could help bridge the knowledge gap through nutrition education.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics at MTSU, Emma assisted grant funded research on nutrition interventions for injury rehabilitation in college athletes. She went on to complete the 1200-hour dietetic internship at Lipscomb University where she studied health promotion and wellness with a sports nutrition focus. While at Lipscomb University, she conducted more research in the sports nutrition sector.
Emma’s professional experience varies from long term care, inpatient care, outpatient counseling, sports nutrition, and community nutrition. Additionally, she has worked as a fitness instructor for over six years. Emma finds that having a fitness background helps better serve clients and patients. She enjoys helping an active person learn how to fuel their body, not only for athletic performance, but also to feel their best across all areas of health.
Using an evidenced based approach, Emma hopes to educate and empower individuals to optimize nutrition to meet their goals for overall health and performance. She emphasizes the importance of having a healthy relationship with food in her practice and prides herself on being an empathetic and compassionate clinician.
Contact Emma Below For More Information
Rachel Mullen, RD, LDN
Rachel Mullen is a Registered Dietitian native to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Rachel grew up active, always participating in multiple sports throughout her adolescent years. She grew curious about performance nutrition throughout her high school years, but did not have the resources to learn how to fuel properly, resulting in years of under fueling and sparking a passion for teaching athletes proper sport nutrition.
Throughout Rachel’s education, she has obtained a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a Master of Science in Exercise and Nutrition Science from Lipscomb University. During her time at Lipscomb, she worked as a sport nutrition graduate student assistant at Vanderbilt University as well as completed a 1200-hour dietetic internship with a focus in sport nutrition. Her graduate education included a research study on the effects of caffeine in resistance-trained individuals as well as the opportunity to work interprofessionally with coaches, athletic trainers and strength coaches to collaborate for the best care of each athlete.
Rachel has professional experience working for multiple Division I collegiate sport nutrition programs, providing individual counseling as well as group education and game day and practice nutrition. She also has experience with inpatient care, community nutrition and outpatient counseling. This experience combined has created her passion of helping active individuals obtain their personal and performance goals while maintaining a healthy relationship with food and their body all while basing her practice on an evidence-based approach.
Contact Rachel Below For More Information
General Nutrition
Sports Performance Nutrition
Rehab Nutrition
What Our Patients Have to Say
I am a Track/XC runner and when I first started running, I lost a lot of weight very quickly. I was in great condition at first. But as the seasons went on (I was playing soccer and running XC, simultaneously for context), my performance continually dropped, and I experienced many worrying conditions following and during races, such as dizziness, brain fog, difficulty breathing, loss of color, etc. After nearly passing out during a race and being unable to get off the ground for 20-30 minutes, we were struggling to find a solution to this mystery problem. We decided to reach out to Rachel Mullen for help. She assisted us tremendously by providing example fueling plans based on my personal needs and gave us guidance on the types of bloodwork to get done in order to determine the underlying problem, an iron deficiency. Since then, using the supplementation and meal plan constructed from my iron issues, I've been able to gradually build speed and endurance again without feeling on the verge of collapse and have noticed the improvement of many symptoms that previously ailed me. I am so thankful to Rachel and the TOA program for their services. This experience and their aid has helped me realize how important proper nutrition is in sport.
So Thankful to Rachel and TOA
I am a Track/XC runner and when I first started running, I lost a lot of weight very quickly. I was in great condition at first. But as the seasons went on (I was playing soccer and running XC, simultaneously for context), my performance continually dropped, and I experienced many worrying conditions following and during races, such as dizziness, brain fog, difficulty breathing, loss of color, etc. After nearly passing out during a race and being unable to get off the ground for 20-30 minutes, we were struggling to find a solution to this mystery problem. We decided to reach out to Rachel Mullen for help. She assisted us tremendously by providing example fueling plans based on my personal needs and gave us guidance on the types of bloodwork to get done in order to determine the underlying problem, an iron deficiency. Since then, using the supplementation and meal plan constructed from my iron issues, I've been able to gradually build speed and endurance again without feeling on the verge of collapse and have noticed the improvement of many symptoms that previously ailed me. I am so thankful to Rachel and the TOA program for their services. This experience and their aid has helped me realize how important proper nutrition is in sport.
Emma reached out to me shorty after I filled out a patient survey after my final appointment with my excellent TOA surgeon. At the end of that survey it asked if I would be interested in a Nutritionist/ Dietitian TOA was providing. I jumped at the chance! I was diagnosed last year as diabetic. I had so many questions. The internet just overwhelmed me with so much information! Then I got the survey. Emma helped me set up my appointment. She was so helpful!! Then I met Rachel, my wonderful dietitian. Rachel is so easy to talk to. She really cares about your health. Rachel is awesome in the fact that she listens, answers all your questions and takes the time to explain things in detail. I love how even after our session ends, she emails me with her professional suggestions. I can email her anytime with my dietary concerns and she responds quickly. I know I am on the right track to a healthier me. I feel so blessed to find someone like Rachel. I highly recommend Nutrition by Emma, a service offered by TOA.
I highly recommend Nutrition by Emma
Emma reached out to me shorty after I filled out a patient survey after my final appointment with my excellent TOA surgeon. At the end of that survey it asked if I would be interested in a Nutritionist/ Dietitian TOA was providing. I jumped at the chance! I was diagnosed last year as diabetic. I had so many questions. The internet just overwhelmed me with so much information! Then I got the survey. Emma helped me set up my appointment. She was so helpful!! Then I met Rachel, my wonderful dietitian. Rachel is so easy to talk to. She really cares about your health. Rachel is awesome in the fact that she listens, answers all your questions and takes the time to explain things in detail. I love how even after our session ends, she emails me with her professional suggestions. I can email her anytime with my dietary concerns and she responds quickly. I know I am on the right track to a healthier me. I feel so blessed to find someone like Rachel. I highly recommend Nutrition by Emma, a service offered by TOA.