Meet Fiona Maria, MS

A few months later, I was in a bike accident that led to a traumatic brain injury and profoundly changed my relationship with nutrition. I wanted to recover and return to the bike, but I felt there was little guidance on how nutrition could support that process. I began applying what I knew about nutrition much more intentionally, thinking about recovery, eating enough of the right things, healthy dietary fats, micronutrients, phytonutrients, particularly anthocyanins from tart cherry juice, sleep, rest, and all the little things influencing the TBI healing process so I could ride again.

As I recovered, I became stronger on the bike, began racing, and discovered what could happen when nutrition and recovery were treated as integral parts of training rather than afterthoughts. But I also eventually encountered many of the same problems I now see in other endurance athletes: 

• chronic underfueling

• difficulty keeping up with hydration & carbohydrate needs 

• recurring aches & injuries

• performance that begins to plateau despite doing more training

That intersection that exists between fueling, recovery, health, and performance is ultimately what led me to work in sports nutrition.

In my practice, I combine my experience as a cyclist with my education, clinical nutrition training, and research background to help endurance athletes understand what their bodies need, why they need it, and how to translate nutrition science into strategies that work in the context of real training and real life.

I’m particularly interested in helping endurance athletes move away from chronic underfueling and reduce their risk of low energy availability and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs), while building a healthier and more sustainable relationship with food, training, and recovery. Because if you're anything like me, you probably want to be riding your bike for as long as you can!

And ultimately, my goal isn’t for you to need a nutrition professional forever. It’s to equip you with the knowledge, tools, skillset, and confidence to understand your own nutrition and make informed decisions independently.

My work sits at the intersection of sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, public health, and research. I hold both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Health & Nutrition Sciences and am a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor. I'm currently completing my dietetic internship and 1,200 hours of supervised practice requirements as I work toward becoming a Board Certified Registered Dietitian and New York State. 

My research background is in nutritional epidemiology, with a broader interest in how dietary patterns influence health and disease at both the individual and population level. I've also pursued additional training in nutrigenomics, allowing me to further explore the relationship between genetics, nutrition, health, and performance. 

Outside of clinical and research settings, much of my work has taken place directly within endurance-sport communities. After participating in Ride to D.C. as a cyclist, I returned the following year to provide nutrition support for riders across the ~350-mile tour. I've also provided on-the-ground nutrition and meal support for ultra-marathon runners, and delivered educational workshops for cyclists on topics including fueling on the bike, bikepacking nutrition, recovery, injury prevention, and the role nutrients play as biological information.

As both a practitioner and a distance cyclist, I bring those perspectives together at FSNL: the science, the clinical reasoning, and an understanding of what it actually means to fuel while doing the work.