By Jason Huber, Appalachian State Athletics
If you're like me, choosing a snack can be a tough decision. What tastes good? What has good protein? What will be enjoyable?
For student-athletes, the additional factor of finding something healthy and nourishing comes into play.
That tough decision has become a little easier for many Appalachian State student-athletes, thanks to beef jerky.
"Beef jerky is great for sports," App State Director of Performance Nutrition
Marisa Faibish said. "It's a really easy way to get good protein, good sodium and good electrolytes after sweating."
Being so easy to eat and an easy source of protein to take on the go, Faibish made jerky a higher priority when she arrived in October 2017.
Soon after Faibish's arrival, she reached out to Jerky Outpost, a beef jerky company located in Valley Crucis, just a few miles from the App State campus. After discussing a partnership to provide beef jerky for the Mountaineers, App State and Jerky Outpost reached a deal to not only deliver jerky weekly, but also have the App State logo placed on the packaging and on AppFuel stations.
"It's been a great partnership," Faibish said. "Their jerky is nitrate free, not as processed and made in North Carolina. It's a lot healthier. Everyone loves the chew better, and it's not as stale. It was hyped up so much among the student-athletes that it was gone in two days the first time we made it available."
Currently, student-athletes have the choice between original and teriyaki beef jerky, but Faibish hopes to begin switching out flavors monthly.
After spending time as a performance dietetic intern for the U.S. Army Special Forces within the THOR3 program at Fort Bragg, Faibish, who earned her bachelor's degree from Florida State in 2015 and master's in 2017, has made it her goal to improve the AppFuel stations on campus, and teach as many student-athletes as possible about living a healthier lifestyle.
"I want to make sure they have a face to nutrition and understand a little bit more about refueling and staying hydrated, but I really want to actually educate them so they can teach the freshmen when they are seniors," Faibish said. "I want each of them to be a well-rounded person through the whole spectrum, and now they can learn to simply fry an egg or cook something they hadn't before and teach others as well."
Under the leadership of director of athletics
Doug Gillin, Appalachian State has made it a priority for student-athletes to receive all the nutritional benefits they can to help improve not only their performance on the field, but their mental health and growth as a person.
In October 2017, App State announced the hiring of Faibish as the department's first director of performance nutrition. App State became the first and currently only school in the Sun Belt Conference to hire a full-time nutritionist for student-athletes.
"My goal was to start an entire program for nutrition, recovery and education, and I wanted to use my creativity and build the program from the ground up," Faibish said. "It's my first full-time position out of school, so I was looking for a challenge and wanted to challenge myself as well."
Spending time with the student-athletes over the last four months, improvement has already been made at AppFuel stations, which are designed to properly fuel student-athletes and give them a wide variety of food choices, including beef jerky.
Nutrition programs began to grow more in 2014 when the NCAA lifted the cap on how much schools can feed their student-athletes. That is when Gillin invested into the AppFuel stations and an enhanced nutrition program.
As the program continues to build, one thing seems to be becoming the face of the nutrition program, and that is beef jerky.
"I would rather offer beef jerky than some other snacks, because the protein will only help recondition and rebuild muscles of athletes whose bodies are constantly being stressed and broken down," Faibish said. "My main goal is for them to eat healthier, and there are even student-athletes who didn't like jerky before and now they love it."
App State Athletics Performance Nutrition
Mission Statement:
Performance Nutrition will maximize the capability of an athlete and take them to the next level of their sport and provide the knowledge and base to help with their healthy habits for when they graduate.
Purpose:
Our ultimate goal is to fuel and EDUCATE our athletes on healthy habits as well as providing appropriate fuel pre-, intra-, post-workout to aid in optimal performance and recovery for the next training session. When the athletes become seniors, they will have a solid base and foundation on performance nutrition and will be able to provide mentorship for the younger athletes.
