Plant-Based Sports Nutrition Expert Fueling Strategies for Training Recovery and Performance

Enette Larson-Meyer, PhD, RD, CSSD, FACSM, is a professor at Virginia Tech and is a well-respected researcher in the area of sports and exercise metabolism. Her research centers on how nutrition influences the health and performance of active individuals at all stages of the life cycle and at all levels of performance--from the casual exerciser to the elite athlete.

Larson-Meyer is the author of Vegetarian Sports Nutrition (Human Kinetics, 2007) and has also authored over 80 scientific journal articles and book chapters. She served on the 2011 International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sports Nutrition Consensus Panel and on the IOC Consensus Panel for Supplementation in the Elite Athlete. She is a board certified specialist in sports dietetics, is a former sports dietitian for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is active in SCAN (the sports, cardiovascular, and wellness nutrition practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) and the American College of Sports Medicine, where she serves as an associate editor for medicine and science in sports and exercise. She is also a past chair of both SCAN and the vegetarian nutrition (VN) practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Personal interests include trail running, flat water kayaking, Irish step dancing, yoga, and being the number-one fan of her one semi-vegetarian and two vegetarian children.

Matt Ruscigno, MPH, RD, is a leading expert in plant-based nutrition and has followed a vegan diet for more than 20 years. He has a nutritional science degree from Pennsylvania State University, a public health nutrition master's degree from Loma Linda University, and certification as a registered dietitian. He is a coauthor of the No Meat Athlete book with Matt Frazier and Appetite for Reduction with Isa Moskowitz and is lead author of Cacao, Superfoods for Life. He is the past chair of the vegetarian nutrition (VN) practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and currently is the chief nutrition officer at Nutrinic, a start-up health-care company using plant-based nutrition for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Recreationally, he has raced ultramarathons, Ironman races, and 24-hour mountain bike races, and he has bike toured over 15,000 miles. He is a long-time resident of Los Angeles, California.