Being a college athlete is a daunting task. Athletes juggle practice, classes, competitions, homework and a social life. There is little time for them to do anything else.

Now imagine you are an All-American athlete and a leader on a high-caliber team, and you’ve discovered you have an immune deficiency called celiac disease. Celiac disease is an immune deficiency where the body can not properly digest gluten. These are the pressures Andie Cozzarelli faces everyday.

Cozzarelli , a senior in Civil engineering, is one of the senior leaders on the NC State women’s cross country team, which looks to compete for an ACC title.  Cozzarelli earned All-American status in the 10,000 meters during track this past spring, after discovering she has celiacs . Cozzarelli was suffering during last year’s cross-country season and could not figure out why. She continuously felt ill and even though she was training harder than ever, she was not racing up to her standards.

“My freshman year I was tired a lot, my iron levels were not very good so that was a problem,” Cozzarelli said. “My runs killed me and I hated them. I started gaining weight so my times were worse than they were in high school and I didn’t know why.

“I was frustrated that I didn’t know what was wrong.”

After talking with the team nutritionist, Cozzarelli realized she was a celiac. After spending nearly a week gluten-free, her symptoms begin to clear and she began to feel better on her runs. It was not easy for her to change eating habits over night. Since she can’t have any gluten, she can’t simply walk into a dining hall and expect to eat. She has learned what type of gluten-free pastas and foods she can eat and has to cook most of her meals at home. 

Also when the team travels to races she has to be aware and careful of what she eats. If the team travels to a race then she has to let the restaurant know of her dietary needs.

“I’ve become a lot more structured with my eating, it’s made me a lot healthier” said Cozzarelli , “Because I’ve been focused on eating some sort of vegetable, grain, and a fruit with every meal. Having a more balanced meal has actually helped me.”

Having celiacs can be a strain on athletes, especially runners, considering carbs from pastas are a big part of their diet. As was the case with Cozzarelli being a celiac and not knowing it can have serious consequences on one’s health and limit the performance of an athlete.

“Celiacs disease can negatively affect the attitudes of people towards physical exercise” Brad Moore, a senior in Sports Management and an ACE personal trainer, said. “The symptoms such as fatigue, malnutrition, muscle weakness, weight loss or gain, etc. will inhibit exercise. This will make it very difficult to train at a competitive level.”

Since Cozzarelli has realized what was causing her decrease in performance she has quickly returned to elite levels achieving All-American status in the 10,000 meters and is one of the top runner’s on this year’s women’s cross country team.