How diet and nutrition fuel BYU’s drive for excellence
BYU performance nutritionist shares 3 driving principles to keep athletes — and non-athletes — well fueled and on the right path.
Rachel Higginson, BYU's associate athletic director of performance nutrition, meets with a BYU athlete on the May 7, 2026. | Aaron Cornia, BYU Photo Sitting in her BYU office, Rachel Higginson overheard a conversation in the hall that she just couldn’t believe. A football player was describing to his friends how he had eaten an entire chocolate cake for dinner the night before and he was feeling sick.
This was too much for the new nutritionist to bear. “I went outside my office and said, ‘Come on, you have got to come in and talk to me. This is unacceptable.
This is not how a Division I athlete is going to eat! ’” Higginson told the Y’s Guys livestream show this week. “I pulled him into my office and gave him some tips.
” BYU has come a long way since that encounter in 2006 — both in successes on the field and at the dinner table. Higginson sees a direct link to both. “I think that is a testament of how far we have come.
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