NOW Sports Dietitian Experts
Sports dietitians offer crucial advice to support an athlete’s training and performance through ideal nutrition. Want to up your sports nutrition game? Meet NOW’s sports dietitian partners, who specialize in working with athletes at both the collegiate and Olympic levels, to get expert nutrition tips to maximize performance.
Marie A. Spano, MS, RD, CSCS, CSSD, ISAK 2
Marie is one of the country’s leading sports nutritionists. She combines science with practical experience to help Olympic, professional, and recreational athletes implement customized nutritional plans to maximize athletic performance. Spano is currently the major league nutritionist for an MLB team and the previous sports nutritionist for the Atlanta Braves (including the 2021 World Series team), Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Thrashers, Blackzillians and Chicago Cubs.
She has appeared on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox and CBS, and authored hundreds of magazine articles, trade publication articles as well as book chapters. She is the lead author of Nutrition for Sport, Exercise and Health (Human Kinetics Publishers).
A three-sport collegiate athlete, Spano earned her master's in nutrition from the University of Georgia and her bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG), where she also ran Division I cross-country. Her experiences as a college athlete provide an effective perspective to work with athletes of all levels, especially student-athletes, by providing a first-hand understanding of how the demands of athletics, psychological aspects of injury, and sleep, recovery, and sound nutrition can impact an athlete’s overall well-being and performance.
Kelly Jones, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN
Kelly Jones is a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics and owner of both KJN and Student-Athlete Nutrition. She began her career with nearly a decade as an associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology while building her performance nutrition business and gaining notoriety in the media.
As a nationally recognized nutrition expert, Kelly is regularly featured in outlets such as US News, Runner’s World, Men’s and Women’s Health, Insider, and more. She often appears on broadcast news shows, busting myths and showcasing the ease of incorporating nutrient-dense foods into busy, active lifestyles. Kelly has created medical fitness programs for internationally recognized fitness clubs and consults with organizations such as Major League Baseball, Google, USA Swimming, and New York Road Runners. Additionally, Kelly aids companies with nutrition communications messaging, serves on scientific nutrition advisory boards, and acts as a media spokesperson for like-minded brands.
In individual and group settings, Kelly works with everyone from collegiate and pro athletes to active professionals and families that prioritize fitness. She’s passionate about empowering others to optimally fuel their busy lives and educates by merging well-accepted scientific evidence on physical and mental health with individual needs and experiences. As a board-certified sports dietitian, mom of two young boys, and former division 1 athlete who still loves to compete in races and weight train, Kelly understands the need to implement positive nutrition habits in practical and personalized ways.
Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC
Dana is a registered dietitian, certified athletic trainer, journalist, nutrition and fitness consultant and author of 9 cookbooks.
Dana is the sports dietitian and associate clinical professor of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. She has been practicing as a dual credentialed certified athletic trainer and registered dietitian for nearly 20 years. She is an ambassador for F45 Training in Fairfield, Connecticut, a member of the USOC Sports Dietitian Registry and National Athletic Trainers’ Association liaison to the Sports and Human Performance Nutrition subgroup of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Dana is the nutrition expert for FoodNetwork.com and has served on advisory boards for Verywell, Greatist, Applegate, Chobani and has worked as a spokesperson for Gatorade, National Honey Board, National Mango Board and Cooking Light Magazine. She has made appearances on Good Day Street Talk, Food Network.com, Access Hollywood, ABC Nightly News, NBC Connecticut, GMA Health, New York Live and Better Connecticut.
Dana’s work has been featured on Food Network.com, Verywell.com, Cooking Light.com, Today’s Dietitian, SHAPE, SEVENTEEN, Prevention, Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Maxim.
Dana earned her master’s degree in nutrition education from Teachers’ College-Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in Sports Medicine from Quinnipiac. You will often find her HIIT training or out on her paddleboard; she resides in Connecticut with her husband and 3 daughters.
Reilly Beatty, MS, RD CSSD
Reilly has been a Registered Dietitian and Board Certified Sports Dietitian for over four years. In conjunction with her certifications, she earned a dual master’s degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science in 2017.
As a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, Reilly is one of only 17 dietitians that hold this sport-specific credential in South Carolina. Individuals with this credential have over 2000 practice hours in sports and are the go-to specialists in helping athletes fuel.
After struggling for years on how to fuel her body like a busy D1 student-athlete, Reilly has dedicated her professional career to helping athletes not make those same mistakes.
Over the past nine years, Reilly has worked at high-performing centers and universities in Southern California. From being Director of Performance Nutrition at UCLA, prepping Team USA for international trips, and helping develop the first sports nutrition program at multiple local D1 universities, she has used simple and easy nutrition to make athletes great.
She currently runs RBSN virtually in the Carolinas and works with high-performance teams across the country. Through her private practice, Reilly is the team dietitian for Gotham FC and the United States Performance Center where she works with Team USA Field Hockey and Team USA Taekwondo.