About the Author

Heather Hedrick Fink, MS, RD, LD, CSSD Heather Hedrick Fink, owner of Nutrition and Wellness Solutions, LLC, is a Registered Dietitian and Board Certified as a Specialist in Sport Dietetics. She completed her undergraduate degree in dietetics as well as her master of science degree in kinesiology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Heather is also certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a Certified Exercise Physiologist. Heather has been providing nutrition, fitness, and wellness programming to individuals, corporations, and athletic teams for more than 20 years. Heather’s interests and extensive experience are in the areas of wellness, disease prevention, weight management, exercise programming, vegetarian nutrition, and sports nutrition, ranging from the recreational to the ultra-endurance athlete. Her sports nutrition practice includes acting as the sports dietitian for the Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis athletic department, as well as working with club teams, individual athletes, trainers, and coaches to optimize their nutrition and hydration strategies. She has appeared on local NBC, CBS, and cable television shows and news broadcasts to educate central Indiana residents on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Heather is also the author of the Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Half Marathon Training. She has been interviewed and quoted in Women’s Day, Ladies Home Journal, and Newsweek magazines. Heather is also an accomplished triathlete, duathlete, and marathon runner who has qualified for and competed in the Hawaii Ironman and Boston Marathon. Alan E. Mikesky, PhD, FACSM Alan E. Mikesky retired in 2016 and is professor emeritus at the School of Health and Human Sciences at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and former Director of the Human Performance and Biomechanics Laboratory. While at IUPUI, he held adjunct appointments with the School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, and served as research associate at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport in Indianapolis. Dr. Mikesky received his undergraduate degree in biology from Texas A & M University and his master of science degree in physical education with a specialization in exercise physiology from the University of Michigan. He received his doctorate in anatomy/cell biology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he studied the adaptations of skeletal muscle to heavy resistance exercise. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and was fitness editor for ACSM’s quarterly newsletter, Fit Society Page. He has served as a member of the editorial board for the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and Strength and Conditioning Journal. He is also coauthor of the sixth edition of Physical Fitness: A Way of Life, a textbook published by Cooper Publishing Group. His past research focused on the functional improvements and physiological adaptations to various forms of resistance exercise. He has investigated the impact of strength training on gait, balance, incidence of falls, joint proprioception, functional ability, and chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis. In retirement, he will continue to consult and collaborate with former colleagues on research projects and pursue his interests in “entomophagia,” which involves the raising and use of insects as food for human consumption.