The Centre For
Integrative Sports Nutrition

The home of integrative thinkers, where health feeds performance.

The Short Course in Integrative Sports Nutrition, and all CISN specialty modules, are approved by the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT®) to provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits for Nutritional Therapists.

The Certificate of Integrative Sports Nutrition is approved by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists℠ (BCNS℠) to provide Continuing Education (CE) credits for Certified Nutrition Specialists® (CNS®) for a maximum of 30 CE Credits

The world’s first course to bring integrative thinking into sport and exercise nutrition

What is integrative sports nutrition?

In the context of health and human performance, the word ‘integrative’ takes on pivotal meanings. Rather than simply viewing food as ‘fuel’, we must honour the incredible sophistication of nature, and recognise that our day-to-day dietary choices have the power to nourish all of our mind-body systems. Gastrointestinal, immune, detoxification, musculoskeletal, neuroendocrine, bioenergetic, and mental-emotional health all integrate with one another to such a degree that their function is completely inter-dependant.

Another use of the word ‘integrative’ pertains to the interaction of ‘professional perspectives’, meaning that different practitioners can add value to an athletic client’s experience by supporting them in different ways. With this in mind, the Centre for Integrative Sports Nutrition (CISN) teachings draw from a diverse set of clinically experienced lecturers; this team approach is designed to help you to build your own clinical experience and unique perspectives.

Why is integrative health important for physical performance?

The main paradigm that has existed within the academic enquiry of sports nutrition for the past half century has centred around the conviction that macronutrients are required as ‘fuel’ for exercise endeavours. This notion provides an important basis of quantitative nutritional support, but what happens, for example, when your active client lacks adequate digestive health to assimilate these foods, and in the process creates an inflammatory tone in his or her body?

The central thesis of integrative sports nutrition (within all CISN courses and modules) is ‘health feeds performance’.

By consuming highly nourishing foods in a personalised way, your athletic client should experience increased health resilience. By also helping them to manage their life loads, reduce toxic exposure, balance training demands, and carefully choose bespoke supplementation, they can better tolerate demanding performance-focused strategies, and optimise training adaptations.

History of integrative sports nutrition

Integrative and functional thinking in health is not a new notion. It has been visibly incorporated in medicine since the 1980s, and long before this time within traditional practices. How this evolving discipline of integrative sports nutrition came about was that CISN founder, Ian Craig, was asked to deliver a postgraduate sports nutrition module by a nutritional therapy institute in 2007. At the time, he could not find a suitable textbook for the course, so he set about bridging the principles from integrative and functional medicine into conventional sports nutrition teachings. Since that time Ian has developed and delivered an array of integrative courses and conferences, edited the Functional Sports Nutrition magazine, and built up extensive clinical practice. These experiences eventually culminated in the launching of the CISN Certificate of Integrative Sports Nutrition course in 2018, which has since diversified towards our current portfolio of courses and modules.

Learn integrative sport and exercise nutrition

CISN is the first (and currently only) organisation to apply integrative thinking into the context of sport and exercise nutrition.

Our key objective is to train and mentor sport, exercise and nutrition professionals, plus students of these subjects, to embrace the complexity and individuality of an exercising person: to nourish an athlete’s health and performance through an expansive way of integrative thinking.

Within the context of heavy training loads, often alongside significant life stresses, practitioners trained in this way can support the robust health and performance of active individuals in a personalised way. Not only should this approach maximise an athletes’ potential sporting success, but it can extend the length of their athletic careers, plus provide them with tools to maintain active health throughout their lives.

Read more about integrative sport and exercise nutrition, read the article by Ian Craig

What is the Certificate of

Integrative Sports Nutrition?

The Certificate of Integrative Sports Nutrition is a progressive learning experience. We begin with a comprehensive study of integrative (or functional) nutrition within a sporting context. Then we turn our attention to performance-oriented nutrition, examined with a strong integrative perspective. These are our ‘core’ units. Finally, our certification course is completed by selecting and completing two speciality modules that look at cutting-edge concepts and strategies within sports nutrition.

Centre For Integrative Sports Nutrition

What we offer

Our short course provides a great introduction to integrative sports nutrition, and is taught over four weeks. It is ideal for students and practitioners of nutrition and exercise, who follow the ethos that health feeds performance, and who wish to progress their knowledge of integrative sports nutrition.

 

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Centre For Integrative Sports Nutrition

What makes us different

CISN (the Centre for Integrative Sports Nutrition) trains and mentors exercise and nutrition professionals to manage an athlete’s health and performance through an expansive way of integrative thinking.

We bridge the gap between what has historically been two very separate disciplines: conventional sports nutrition, or performance nutrition, and the integrative/functional medicine or nutritional therapy approach.

At CISN we believe that if an athlete is to achieve their performance goals, they must firstly build a solid foundation of optimal health. This doesn’t just enable them to perform well in one race, one competition, or one season – but to perform well for life.

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CISN Certificate
Natural Sports Cookery

Certificate of Integrative Sports Nutrition

 Originally launched in 2018, the CISN Certification course is our flagship course which has been designed to immerse you fully into integrative and personalised thinking within a sporting context. 

It is tailored to practitioners’ busy work-life schedules, and made as flexible as possible with our online learning options and modular structure.

The Certification course comprises two larger core units, each with eight lectures, plus a choice of two shorter speciality units, each with four lectures.

Within the course, there is the opportunity to take part in weekly workshops and online discussions to support your learning. Our case-study-based assignments will help you put your learning into practice.

Natural Sports Cookery

This unique 5-week cookery course aims to expand your culinary repertoire and your athletes’ health-based performance. Learn the importance of food sourcing and energetics, how to supersize the nutrient density of foods, and how to create a balanced meal composition for an athlete using the language and values of intuitive cooking. This course is designed to be a valuable extension to The Certificate of Integrative Sport Nutrition, but can also be undertaken as a standalone option.

Portfolio of Courses

Short course

Introduction to integrative sports nutrition at accessible price - 4-weeks

Short course

Our Short Course is the perfect way for you to dip your toe into the world of integrative sports nutrition. It is a 4-week course, progressing through the topics of: integrative body systems, performance nutrition, and specialist sports nutrition.

Integrative body systems

A core unit of our certificate course, or a standalone module - 8-weeks

Integrative body systems

Immerse yourself in our fundamental ‘health feeds performance’ ethos by studying the physiological body systems (e.g. gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal), and how they relate to sporting health and performance.

Applied performance nutrition

A core unit of our certificate course, or a standalone module - 8-weeks

Applied performance nutrition

Explore sports nutrition and ‘fuel for performance’ through an integrative lens. Topics include: calories, body composition, macro and micronutrients, nutrient timing, hydration strategies, and overtraining.

Hypertrophy

Specialty module - 4-weeks

Hypertrophy

Explore training and nutrition for hypertrophy, and gain a greater understanding of the importance of body system health (including the ‘gut-muscle axis’), for muscular strength and function.

Gastrointestinal

Specialty module - 4-weeks

Gastrointestinal

Explore the effects of exercise load on GI function, plus nutritional and clinical strategies that you can use to assess and support GI and immune resilience within a sports setting.

Ergogenics

Specialty module - 4-weeks

Ergogenics

Identify appropriate nutritional ergogenic aids to use with athletes, with the aim of improving competitive performance in a safe and healthy way.

Mitochondria

Specialty module - 4-weeks

Mitochondria

Discover how to harness the mitochondrial energy of your athletic clients via interventions that boost antioxidant support, improve microbiome health, and nourish mental wellbeing.

Natural sports cookery

Our flagship speciality course- 5-weeks

Sports Cookery

Our signature sports cookery course will excite your taste buds, expand your culinary repertoire, and increase your confidence in the kitchen, PLUS deliver the very best advice to improve your athletes’ health-based performance.

Practice perspective

Speciality module - 4-weeks

Practice perspective

Intended for practitioners who wish to build their nutrition and exercise practice via interaction with experienced practitioners, who can share perspectives that aim to expand your integrative thinking.

12 month mentoring, case study and study group programme

Get your Certificate of Integrative Sports Nutrition by completing:

1. Integrative body systems, 2. Performance nutrition, plus choosing two specialty modules

Why our approach matters

Centre For Integrative Sports Nutrition

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Between 5% and 18% of athletes reported negative impact of oral health or trauma on performance

(Ashley P, et al., 2018)

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Between 30 and 50% of endurance athletes experience gastrointestinal problems during exercise

(de Oliveira, et al., 2014)

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Prevalence of low energy availability in athletes ranges from 22% to 58%

(Logue DM, et al., 2020)

About us

The Centre for Integrative Sports Nutrition (CISN) represents the culmination and expansion of 15 years of work to bridge the gap between the practical, quantitative approach of conventional sports nutrition and the integrative, body-systems approach of nutritional therapy and functional medicine.

Testimonials

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