For Olympic athletes, eating is part of the job. When they need to know what and how to eat right, some turn to Evanston-based nutritionist Monique Ryan.

Ryan is a sports nutritionist and founder of Personal Nutrition Designs, a company that develops nutrition plans for athletes. She works closely with cyclists, and she also assists with eating disorders and weight management.

Some of the biggest names in professional sports, including Olympic finalists and medalists, have sought the expertise of Ryan, a 22-year veteran of the business. For six years, she tailored nutrition plans for athletes on the Saturn Cycling Team. Locally, she’s worked with Chicago Fire, a professional soccer team.

She’s also had one recent triumph: Seeing former client Clara Hughes nab a gold medal in women’s 5000 meters speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Ryan worked with the five-time Olympic winner as she prepared for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. That year, Hughes won two bronze medals in the women’s cycling events.

“It was a thrill to see her win a gold medal,” Ryan said. “It floors me to see people like Hughes who work so hard and do so well.”

Ryan herself hasn’t been idle. She has written four books on performance nutrition since 2000 and contributed articles to sports magazines.

Ryan, 43, is a Chicago native. Her mother, a homemaker, and her father, a now retired accountant, moved a young Ryan and her two sisters from their Oak Park neighborhood to Montreal, Canada. The experience exposed her to French culture and taught her to view life from different perspectives.

“Moving a lot when I was younger also helped me learn to be flexible and adapt to new environments,” she said. “It likely has been helpful in being an entrepreneur.”

After coming back to the states, she attended Northern Illinois University and Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University, becoming a practitioner soon after receiving her degree. Ryan said she became an avid cyclist in 1989, and as she did more bike riding and road racing, she realized that sports medicine was her passion.

She knew then that working for someone else wouldn’t give her the same satisfaction as being her own boss, so she founded her own company, Personal Nutrition Designs, in 1992.

Writing for sports magazines and working with teams, she quickly built a referral base. An even bigger popularity boost came in 1998, when Ryan wrote her first book, “Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition,” describing different meal and nutrition plans for athletes.

“It’s fun to go on Amazon and read that your book really helped someone get through a marathon,” she said.

Three more books and hundreds of articles later, Ryan is now a nationally respected sports nutritionist, said Dan Larson, the team manager of the Bahamas-based VMG bike racing team. Ryan provided educational sessions for the team during off-season training earlier this year.

“These guys are sophisticated about their diets, so the information she gave is applied to their everyday training,” Larson said.

Ryan works with athletes to come up with specific nutrition plans during and after training sessions. The plans tell the athletes the types of food to eat and when to eat them. In some instances the plans are tailor-made for the athlete’s schedule.

Ironman trainee and Weinberg senior Ashley Mason said she witnessed a change in her athletic performance after talking to Ryan. Ryan introduced her to a secret weapon.

“I called her up, and she introduced me to the bright cheery world of Gatorade,” Mason said

She felt better after the Ironman once she started using the drink, she said.

Ryan’s advice also helped Ironman participant Gaylia Osterlund. In her case, Ryan created a menu that told her what specifically to eat before, during and after each exercise, Osterlund said. With the menu, she was able to maintain a healthy body weight, a necessity for the Ironman.

Once she learned how to eat properly before competition, Osterlund said her times improved and she would no longer get sick during competition.

“In the Ironman Canada, I was coming in a good half an hour faster and feeling better while doing it,” she said. “She’s like our guru.”

Reach Vincent Bradshaw at [email protected].