Identifies root-cause nutrition issues
Kylene Bogden — Co-Founder & Performance Dietitian at FWDfuel
Kylene Bogden is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD), Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist (LDN), Certified LEAP Therapist (CLT), and Integrative and Functional Nutrition Certified Practitioner (IFNCP). As the Co-Founder of FWDfuel and Performance Dietitian for the Cleveland Cavaliers, she combines sports nutrition, functional medicine, and clinical nutrition to help athletes improve performance, recovery, gut health, and long-term wellness through personalized nutrition strategies shaped by her experience as a Division I sprinter, her clinical work at Cleveland Clinic, and years of supporting professional, collegiate, and youth athletes with root-cause nutrition, individualized fueling plans, gut health support, chronic fatigue resolution, healthy body composition, and evidence-based performance nutrition.
Credentials & Certifications
Kylene Bogden holds credentials and certifications across sports dietetics, functional nutrition, food sensitivity care, and licensed nutrition practice. She is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist (LDN), Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD), Certified LEAP Practitioner (CLT), and an Integrative Functional Nutrition Academy-trained practitioner (IFNCP). Her clinical background includes contributing to the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, where she trained and practiced under Dr. Mark Hyman at one of the world’s leading functional medicine institutes.
Kylene is one of the only dietitians in the United States who has transitioned from practicing functional medicine at an internationally recognized clinical institute to serving full-time as a Performance Dietitian and Nutritionist in the NBA. She has maintained her performance nutrition role with the Cleveland Cavaliers for more than a decade, working alongside athletes, coaching staff, and medical professionals to develop evidence-based nutrition strategies that support performance, recovery, gut health, food sensitivities, and long-term athlete health.
Kylene's Story — From Division I Sprinter to Functional Nutrition Pioneer
Kylene Bogden’s story connects personal athletic experience with clinical nutrition expertise. As a former Division I sprinter, she experienced the physical demands of competitive training, recovery, fueling, and performance pressure before becoming a registered dietitian and functional nutrition practitioner. Her own health challenges, including food sensitivities and mold toxicity, shaped her interest in root-cause nutrition and helped guide her work with athletes who face fatigue, gut issues, inflammation, poor recovery, and inconsistent performance.
01
Life as a Division I Sprinter
As a Division I sprinter, Kylene Bogden experienced the demands of high-intensity training, race preparation, recovery cycles, and competitive pressure. This athletic background helps her understand how gaps in fueling, nutrient timing, digestion, sleep, and recovery patterns affect speed, strength, energy, and long-term performance.
02
Struggling with Food Sensitivities and Mold Toxicity
Food sensitivities and mold toxicity shaped Kylene’s interest in root-cause nutrition after she faced fatigue, inflammation, digestive problems, and poor recovery. These health challenges moved her beyond basic meal planning and toward a functional nutrition model that connects symptoms to underlying issues affecting the gut, immune system, and athletic performance.
03
Becoming a Registered Dietitian
The path to becoming a registered dietitian gave Kylene the clinical foundation to combine scientific nutrition training with practical athlete support. Her dietetics background helps her assess nutrition patterns, interpret health concerns, and build structured plans for healthy weight gain, improved recovery, stable energy, and better training consistency.
04
The Turning Point at Cleveland Clinic
Clinical work at Cleveland Clinic exposed Kylene to complex health cases, evidence-based patient care, and nutrition needs that required more than general diet advice. She became sought after for her ability to think outside the box and help improve, and sometimes even reverse, conditions that clients were told by their doctors could not be improved.
05
Discovering Functional Medicine
Functional medicine gave Kylene a root-cause framework for understanding how gut health, food sensitivities, inflammation, micronutrient status, immune stress, and recovery capacity influence athletic performance. This approach supports nutrition plans that address the underlying drivers of symptoms rather than focusing only on surface-level outcomes.
06
Co-Founding FWDfuel
FWDfuel was co-founded to give athletes access to personalized sports nutrition coaching rooted in functional nutrition. Through this platform, Kylene helps athletes address fueling problems, digestive issues, chronic fatigue, weight challenges, and recovery gaps with plans matched to sport, health history, training load, and performance goals.
07
Performance Dietitian for the Cleveland Cavaliers
In her role as Performance Dietitian for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kylene applies sports nutrition and functional nutrition principles in a professional athletics setting. This work reflects her ability to support elite athletes with nutrition strategies that meet performance demands, recovery needs, body composition goals, gut health, and consistent energy throughout a competitive season.
Media Features & Recognition
Kylene Bogden’s media presence reflects her work as a functional sports nutrition expert, Performance Dietitian and Nutritionist for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Co-Founder of FWDfuel. Her expertise has been featured across FWDfuel’s YouTube educational content, Inside Sports Nutrition, Best Food Facts, Vogue, Women’s Health, STACK, U.S. News & World Report, O, The Oprah Magazine, TIME, Prevention, The Huffington Post, CBS.com, and other health and fitness platforms. Through these media appearances and expert contributions, she shares evidence-based nutrition strategies connected to athlete fueling, food sensitivities, gut health, recovery, injury prevention, whole-food nutrition, and sustainable performance.
Real Results from Kylene's Athletes and Clients
Pierce Cumpstone
“Easy communication, friendly, enthusiastic help, and a sense of comfort from the get-go – my experience with FWDfuel was all positive. Not all experiences are identical, but I can assure you that you’ll see progess with whatever your goals are…There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. With an aspect as critical as nutrition is to sport and athletic performance, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not pursuing it. While the internet is a great tool, it can quickly lead to information overload, overthinking, and ultimately additional and unnecessary stress (it happened to me). FWDfuel helped cut through all the misinformation I ingested when I was doing my own Google searches.”
Stacy Tidmore
“I’ve been fortunate to work with top-tier individuals in functional medicine, and their confidence in Kylene is immense. Her ability to analyze lab reports, physician’s notes, and our own comments to create recommendations that are actually compassionate and do-able always amazes me. She juggles so much information when she does this, and I realize her deep training and experience allows her to view the role of nutrition in a way I’ve never encountered with others in the field. I also love that she works with athletes and understands how to help us meet our exercise and performance goals.”
Harold C.
“Gaining a knowledge in proper nutrition helped change my life in a positive way. It somewhat changed my life. Before Kylene showed me how to eat properly and nourish my body I felt very sluggish after practice or a workout. I feel I have gained an edge because I have more energy then ever before. I now view my body like a car. Without the proper gas, my car will never last ! If you never fuel your body with the correct nutrients it will never last over the course of the season. Thanks Kylene for helping me maximize my potential as a collegiate football player!”
Sam K.
“Following a structured nutrition program FINALLY gave me that extra edge I was always looking for in my athletic career. It helped me perform at the best of my ability physically and mentally for the entire game, practice, lift, etc.”
Rachel K.
“After seeing numerous GI physicians without any success, I finally decided to take a functional nutrition approach. For the first time in years, I was able to run without GI distress! Thank you Kylene for helping me to compete in college and beyond!!”
based on 100+ reviews
How Kylene Works With Athletes
How does Kylene Helps Athletes Reach Peak Performance?
Kylene helps athletes reach peak performance by identifying the nutrition factors that limit energy, recovery, digestion, strength, and training consistency. Her approach combines functional medicine and sports nutrition to find root-cause issues, design personalized fueling plans, correct gut health imbalances, resolve chronic fatigue, guide healthy weight gain, and coach athletes through one-on-one programs. This method helps athletes integrate food intake, nutrient timing, digestive health, recovery habits, and performance goals into a single clear nutrition plan.
Designs personalized fueling plans
Corrects gut health imbalances
Supports natural detoxification
Resolves chronic fatigue
Ensures natural weight loss by supporting detox pathways, WITHOUT calorie counting
Guides healthy weight gain
Bridges functional medicine and sports nutrition
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Connect with Kylene Bogden
Athletes, parents, coaches, and health-focused readers can connect with Kylene Bogden through FWDfuel to learn more about personalized sports nutrition, functional nutrition coaching, and athlete fueling support. Her work helps clients address nutrition challenges such as gut health issues, chronic fatigue, recovery gaps, healthy weight gain, and inconsistent performance through targeted coaching built around the athlete’s health history, training demands, and performance goals.
