Nutrition for Tactical Athletes and High- Performers and How to Spot Nutrition Misinformation with Dr. Brandon Lee

Written By Stevie Lyn Smith

In episode 56 of the Real Fuel with SLS podcast, I’m joined by with my colleague, Dr. Brandon Lee, to dive into how sports nutrition is growing in the tactical and high-performance field. He also shares practical tips to spot nutrition misinformation, gives his take on the new dietary guidelines, and more!

Brandon Lee, DHSc, RD, CSSD, CCRP, FAND, is a human performance practitioner, researcher, and educator dedicated to advancing athlete health, readiness, and resilience. A Registered Dietitian and Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, he serves as a Dietitian within the U.S. Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) system, providing performance nutrition support to more than 4,000 Soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division. His work integrates evidence-based practice, interdisciplinary collaboration, and applied research to optimize tactical performance and enhance Soldier lethality and recovery.

Brandon’s background spans clinical nutrition, long-term care, collegiate teaching, sports performance, and human nutrition research. He has contributed to high-performance environments, including Minor League Baseball and the Obesity and Metabolism Unit at UC Davis, where he coordinated research on dietary patterns and metabolic health.

An active scholar and speaker, Brandon has published peer-reviewed and professional articles on low energy availability, overtraining, and tactical nutrition, and he presents regularly at national and state conferences. He also serves on advisory boards and has held multiple leadership and service roles within professional organizations.Brandon earned his Doctor of Health Science from PennWest University and is recognized as a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The growth of tactical nutrition

Throughout our conversation you’ll hear about the day in the life as a RD working with our soldiers and how he sees the tactical nutrition space growth as part of the future of dietetics. His work with the Army has a strong emphasis on inter-disciplinary collaboration to support the whole human, which is a common theme across the board with sports nutrition and work with high-performers.

He shares how the concept of the “tactical athlete field is growing, the definitions that are floating around now don't just encompass our service members. They encompass our law enforcement, our firefighters, our EMS, and our armed forces.” He points out that even though these individuals can all be classified as tactical athletes, there are special considerations for each different profession in addition to each individual.

How to spot nutrition misinformation and miscommunication

This episode covers more than just the day in the life as a RD that works with tactical athletes. Brandon has a strong background in nutrition research and shares some practical tips and approaches to cut through misinformation out there. He speaks to his experience with study coordination at UC Davis but also what he has gained through his years of education and experience.

As he puts it “the actual experts take the complex and they make them simple versus charlatans and con men and con people. They take the simple and they make it complex. And so those are the things to look out for as an educated consumer or even as practitioners ourselves when we're looking to other fields.”

For those who want to dive deeper into this, keep your eyes peeled— Brandon has a book coming out on evidence-based practice in 2027. This work is based on the three pillars of evidence-based practice and will have a strong focus on interpreting research to become a more competent practitioner.

Hot takes on the new dietary guidelines from a sports dietitian

While we dive into Brandon’s work, I wanted to get his take on the new dietary guidelines and how it applies to athletes. His overarching message— “you have to be very careful about getting specific in a guideline documents that's meant to just, again, guide, right? Not, not tailored information.“

There are some positive points we agree upon and others we strongly disagree with, like the recommendations are alcohol consumption. But at the end of the day, Brandon summed it up best to use these as a guide, not as specific advice as it does not take in account anything about YOU as the individual.

Top Takeaways

  • Learn more about what is encompassed in the growing field of tactical nutrition

  • Collaboration is key to be a better practitioner and to better support the individual athlete

  • The three pillars of evidence-based practice

  • Hot takeaways from the new dietary guidelines

  • And so much more!

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  • Check out Brandon's professional profile here

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Stevie Lyn Smith
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