Ula Naszynska, Certified Athletic Therapist (AT) and Holistic Nutritionist, approaches wellness by looking at the whole person. Not just physical and movement, not just nutrition, but the way both come together in everyday life.
This integrated view began during her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University. While volunteering at the campus clinic to gain practical experience, she discovered athletic therapy. “There was an amazing group of [Certified] Athletic Therapists there who worked with all the varsity teams,” she said. “I got hooked, really.”
That spark led her to Mount Royal University, formerly known as Mount Royal College, to study athletic therapy, followed by a Master's of Rehabilitation from the University of Calgary. During her time in Calgary, she worked with a junior football team, supported countless hockey teams and gained extensive experience both in clinic and on the field. She even served at the Canada Games before eventually moving three hours north of Edmonton to a small community called Slave Lake.
There, Ula continued treating athletes across multiple sports and transitioned to working at the Arctic Winter Games. Throughout all of her studies and fieldwork, one thing remained constant: her persistent interest in nutrition. “I always loved nutrition. I was very interested in it,” she shared. While the demands of Calgary pulled her away from it for a while, her passion resurfaced in Slave Lake.
It began with a simple question from a hockey team she was working with: “What should we be eating for a pregame?”
She recognized a major gap. While most athletes were doing all the right physical preparation, there was almost no nutritional preparation being implemented for optimal performance. “So that's when I was like, hold on a second, let me start doing this.”
Ula began integrating nutrition directly into her treatment plans. “I started putting more and more nutrition into my athletic therapy,” she shared. With boxers, she emphasized hydration; with the local high school wrestling team, she helped them move away from “Red Bull and instant noodles” and toward eating choices that actually supported their training.
Around that same time, Ula had a baby, further deepening her interest in nutrition. From clean food for infants to health-promoting nutrition for postpartum recovery, she decided to go back to school to formally pursue holistic nutrition. Over the last two years, she has also completed a course in baby and early childhood nutrition.
“I am not crossing from one profession to another,” Ula explained. “If a brand-new mom comes in for athletic therapy, I’m giving her pelvic floor exercises, and I’m also making sure she has the nutritional knowledge to heal and feel her best.”
For Ula, the idea that movement and nutrition exist separately simply isn't true. “You can't have a healthy body just from exercise,” she said.
She sees this disconnect everywhere, even in spaces meant to support health. “Think about the eating establishments in hockey rinks,” she explained. In a high-level sporting environment, there are limited healthy options.
Ula also notices the contrast between how much families are willing to spend on sports and equipment versus how little they invest in fueling athletes’ bodies. Spending thousands on new skates and sticks, “they won’t invest in organic food or teach their child to train properly.”
A major part of Ula’s work as a Certified AT and Holistic Nutritionist is breaking down information so that patients not only understand it but also actually use it. This involves prioritizing basic biomechanics, core body needs, and understanding how nutrition supports all individuals, regardless of age, skill level, or history.
Much like an athletic therapy plan, “Nutritional needs don't change as much as you think,” she explained. “You still need your vitamins and minerals, but look at them situationally. If you’re on a computer all day, you need more nutrients that support the brain and eyes. If you are indoors a lot, you may need more vitamin D. Hydration matters even more in controlled environments.”
She brings this practical teaching style into school classrooms as well. “We talk about lunches, how to make one, what colours to include. I’ll tell the students to pick something from the salad bar they have never tried before and ask them to aim for five differently coloured fruits and veggies.”
A lot of Ula’s clients are parents working over 40 hours a week, juggling sports schedules and grabbing whatever food is easiest, but she meets them where they are.
“Small changes make a huge difference,” she says. “If you’re making lunch for your kids, make your own too. Add two extra glasses of water a day, choose protein products with ingredients you can read, and buy more local goods.”
To avoid overwhelming people, Ula keeps treatment plans simple. Instead of ten exercises, she will assign two: one to do at work and one to do before bed. If all someone can manage is breathing properly at first, she starts there.
This reflects a main pillar of athletic therapy: not only teaching patients about the importance of health-promoting movement and habits, but also making wellness achievable and accessible.
Holistic health, as Ula describes it, is about the whole body and recognizing how deeply connected our systems are. She sees this clearly with chronic pain patients who experience physical issues that lead to mental strain, and mental strain leads to more physical problems.
Helping patients start realistically often begins with turning inward and listening to what the body is asking of them. “Is it proper breathing? Is it getting up every half hour from your desk?” she shared.
“I love helping people move,” Ula explains. Over her extensive career, across cities, sports, age groups and life stages, she has woven together physical health and nutritional health into unified treatment plans. Meeting people where they are, building and implementing solutions to their lives, and blending movement with nutrition, she makes her passion accessible to everyone, not just athletes.
Her work reminds people that health isn't just about one system; it's about the whole person and the whole body. Discover how athletic therapy can help you move better and feel stronger: https://athletictherapy.org/
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