About
Lisa McDowell is Love.Life's Sports and Performance Nutrition Advisor. She is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics and a Diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, with decades of work across elite sport and clinical nutrition. Her roles include Detroit Red Wings performance dietitian, Team USA Olympic Hockey nutrition support, Trinity Health Michigan lifestyle-medicine leadership, and founding work on The Farm at St. Joe's, one of the country's early hospital-based farm programs.
What to Know
Signature approach
McDowell brings a performance-through-lifestyle lens. Her work connects fueling, recovery, metabolic efficiency, body composition, culinary genomics, and whole-food patterns. At Love.Life, that background supports the sports and performance side of nutrition programming more than routine member dietetics.
What sets them apart
- Elite-sport credibility. Red Wings, Team USA Hockey, Olympic and pro-team history give her serious performance depth.
- Lifestyle-medicine credential. DipACLM connects sports nutrition to chronic-disease prevention and reversal.
- Hospital food-as-medicine work. The Farm at St. Joe's makes the food system part of her clinical story, not a side interest.
Before You Book
- Advisor role. Day-to-day member nutrition is more likely handled by Emily Mitchell and the integrated care team.
- Care focus. performance, recovery, metabolic efficiency, and athlete-style fueling.
- Location. Her primary work is Michigan-based, so Love.Life access is advisory rather than a normal appointment focus.
Expertise
Focus areas
Patient types
Credentials
Education
BS, Undergraduate Nutrition / Dietetics
Michigan State University
Dietetic Internship, Clinical rotations across New York City and New Jersey
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
MS, Nutrition / Dietetics
Graduate program (institution not publicly stated)
Board certifications
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN)
Commission on Dietetic Registration
The credential that authorizes a dietitian to provide medical nutrition therapy in the United States.
Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD)
Commission on Dietetic Registration
The recognized US specialty credential for working with athletes and active populations on performance, recovery, and body-composition nutrition.
Diplomate, American College of Lifestyle Medicine (DipACLM)
American College of Lifestyle Medicine
Specialty credential for practitioners trained to use nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress-management as primary tools for chronic-disease prevention and reversal.
Certified Nutrition Support Dietitian (CNSD)
National Board of Nutrition Support Certification
Specialty board cert for clinical nutrition support - IV/tube feeding, ICU and hospitalized-patient nutrition.
Additional certifications
Certified Specialist in Sports Nutrition Coach (CSNC)
Sports nutrition certifying body
Sports-nutrition specialty coaching credential.
ISAK Anthropometry
International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry
Body-composition assessment certification used across elite and Olympic sports.
Culinary Genomics
Culinary Genomics training program
Training in matching dietary patterns to genetic variants relevant to nutrient metabolism.
Advanced Metabolic Efficiency Training
Metabolic Efficiency Training
Endurance-and-performance-nutrition methodology focused on training the body to use a wider range of fuel sources.
Affiliations
Dietitian
Thought Leadership
Media Appearances
- Elite Athletes Try a New Training Tactic: More Vitamin D · Wall Street Journal · 2016-01-25
- Is There Such a Thing as Eating Too Much Protein? · Vogue · 2026-01-16
- Tigers Women's History Month honoree Lisa McDowell · MLB.com · 2022-03-23
- TD10 - 10 Dedicated Dietitians Who Are Making a Difference · Today's Dietitian · 2011-03
- A love of fresh food produces a career in clinical nutrition · Crain's Detroit Health Care Heroes · 2011
Notable Collaborators
- Detroit Red Wings · Performance dietitian - pro hockey nutrition program
- Team USA Olympic Hockey · Performance nutrition support for Team USA
- The Farm at St. Joe's · Founding member of the first hospital-based farm in Michigan
- University of Michigan Medical School · Lectures on nutrition and lifestyle medicine
Other specialists at Love.Life
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