Trisha Stavinoha is an Army Veteran, Dietitian and elite endurance athlete. We discuss her journey into the military, hydration myths, sports drinks, fluid replacement in tactical athletes, relief aid in third world countries and much more.

Trisha retired in 2018 after a 20-year career as an Army Dietitian, the last 12 years serving in a performance nutrition capacity. She earned her BS in Nutrition from Texas State University in 1998, then joined the Army through their dietetic internship program. She was selected to attend a Sports Nutrition Master’s program at Long Island University, graduating in 2006, then earned her CSSD and CSCS. Since retiring, she added lifeguard, masters swim instructor, and TSAC-F to her list of credentials.

Trisha was one of the first Army RDs to earn both her CSSD and CSCS and uses the knowledge as a competitive athlete and on competitive athletes. She specializes in performance nutrition for a variety of sports to include endurance, strength, military tactical, and combat sport in neutral and extreme environments. She has been on 10 All Army Sport teams and was a walk on for the cross country and track teams during graduate school. She coached and trained with the installation Army 10-miler team and Bataan Death March teams.

Trisha developed the performance nutrition service for the Center for the Intrepid, the military’s premier rehabilitation center for our wounded tactical athletes and advises the local adaptive sports program. She had the grand opportunity to work with the Army’s esteemed World Class Athlete Program, helping combat sport and track athletes reach their fullest potential to qualify for a spot on the Olympic team.

Trisha currently works as a nutrition consultant for Cera Products, Inc., a rice-based hydration manufacturer specializing in products for individuals with unique hydration conditions. This affords her the opportunity to work with a variety of clients to include firefighters. She continues to work with the military, educating on executing a proper hydration plan based on the environmental conditions and workload. She closely follows two principals. 1) Hydration for tomorrow occurs today; hydration for today occurred yesterday. 2) A sports drink alone will not prevent dehydration and athletes must first address baseline hydration with food and water.

While Trisha does work for a hydration manufacturer, she is a dietitian first and her primary goal as a retired Army dietitian is always to educate based on research and not marketing gimmicks.