food strategies & tools to help you achieve a lean, athletic physique
Physiques are not made in training, they're made in the kitchen and dining room. A lean, muscular, performance-orientated body is the result of every choice you make when it comes to food. In a world that values instant, easy solutions to food, you can be one of the physique-elite, simply by making better decisions and eating a human-appropriate diet.
“What about the sustainability of low carb nutrition?” It’s the response from almost any registered dietician and many lay people when low carb comes up. Table of Contents 1Introduction21000’s of Anecdotes3Would You Like a PDF Version of This Article4Common ObjectionsYou’re Excluding a Whole Food Group/MacronutrientThe Weight Just Goes Back On When You StopIt’s Just Water
Read MoreMuch of what we hear about healthy nutrition is simply wrong. The diet that humans are eating today is not the food that we're designed to eat. The result is weight gain, muscle loss and a host of diseases.
“What about the sustainability of low carb nutrition?” It’s the response from almost any registered dietician and many lay people when low carb comes up. Table of Contents 1Introduction21000’s of Anecdotes3Would You Like a PDF Version of This Article4Common ObjectionsYou’re Excluding a Whole Food Group/MacronutrientThe Weight Just Goes Back On When You StopIt’s Just Water
Read MoreNutrition research could, for the most part, be described as an exercise in creative writing from which we gain little useful insight. Table of Contents 1Introduction2Would You Like a PDF Version of This Article3Anecdote4Hierarchy of EvidenceAnecdoteConsensus Statements and Expert OpinionEpidemiologyRandomised Controlled TrialsMeta Analyses of Randomised Controlled Trials5Healthy Human Course Launching Soon!6DO YOU WANT TO BE
Read MoreLow carb workout nutrition is a much-debated subject. Can you even train or compete effectively without eating carbohydrate foods? Table of Contents 1Introduction2Why Might You Want to Limit Carbs in Training?HealthPerformance3Healthy Human Course Launching Soon!4DO YOU WANT TO BE IN BETTER SHAPE AT 70 THAN MOST PEOPLE ARE AT 20?5Why Might You Want to Include
Read MoreThere are good reasons why you should investigate becoming a low carb athlete. These reasons include long-term health as well as improved performance. Table of Contents 1Introduction2Would You Like a PDF Version of This Article3Reasons to Become a Low Carb AthleteLong-Term HealthImproved Performance4Let’s Talk About KetosisWhat is ketosis?Is ketosis the goal? Or is it something
Read MoreSupplements are intended to add things to your diet that are missing. If you're eating a nutrient-rich human-appropriate diet, you should very rarely need supplements.
Should you use food supplements? How important are food supplements? Can you be healthy and perform at your maximum without them.IntroductionI was on my way to Manchester the other day. Considering I live in North Devon, it’s a long drive and that’s a good thing because I get to do a lot of thinking. Not
Read MoreLearning some simple cooking skills, saving your favourite recipes and using these makes food preparation quick, easy and makes sure you get the nutrition you want.
Introduction This Italian-style Meatloaf recipe results in a meal that’s high in protein with the concentrated flavour you’d find in many Italian dishes. We’ve long made a very simple meatloaf with turkey mince, but I’ve always found it a little bland and dry. The fact that it’s quick and easy to make has kept it on
Read MoreIntroduction This Katsu Chicken recipe is my take on this dish, inspired by reading the horrid ingredients list on a store-bought ready-meal. This Katsu Chicken recipe came about when my wife brought home a Katsu ready-meal for herself one evening (I refuse to eat “processed food slop”, so I wouldn’t even be offered a mouthful
Read MoreIntroduction This easy frittata recipe offers a simple, quick and delicious protein-rich meal when you’re pushed for time or ingredients. We all have days when we simply don’t feel like cooking a full meal. Perhaps it’s been a tough day which has left us mentally drained, perhaps we’ve run short of time or even we simply
Read MoreIntroduction Sometimes, in hot weather, you just can’t face eating whole food. In such situations, this protein iced coffee recipe is a useful, occasional alternative. I make no bones about the fact that you really shouldn’t drink your food (my nutrition rule #6 plainly says, “Do not drink your calories.”). Generally speaking, drinking your food allows you
Read MoreIntroduction This simple hollandaise sauce recipe is the result of my search for an easier way to make a sauce to go with my poached salmon. Early attempts at making hollandaise sauce using the classic method, where you melt the butter and drizzle that in, while avoiding the addition of the milk solids, were all a
Read MoreA focus on nutrients rather than calories yields far better results, in body composition, satiety and health.
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Optimum nutrition is a very complicated subject. At least, it is if you believe everything that dieticians and nutritionists would have you believe.
Really, it's not difficult at all. What makes it difficult is an attempt to make our modern, 21st century western diet fit into some sort of healthy template.
Once you come to understand the shenanigans and vested interests that have contributed to the way we eat today, you have the opportunity to simplify your nutrition plan and focus on what really gets results.
The basis of optimum nutrition is getting back to the foods that support human health.
Contrary to what dietary guidelines and various pressure groups have sold us since the 1970's and 80's, the foods that provide the greatest amount of nutrition and, therefore, best support human health are animal foods.
These foods provide us with a high level of very absorbable protein. Nothing in nature provides protein at those levels without potential negative effects. For example, the only food that comes close to animal foods for bio-available protein is soy. But soy also comes with a number of potential negative effects. One can argue all one likes about the levels and effects of phytoestrogens, but they're there and I don't like the potential risk. No other plant food comes close on the levels of bioavailable amino acids as there are in animal foods.
Also, leucine, the amino acid most important for muscle growth is far easier to get from animal foods.
Another factor to consider is the sheer amount of plant food you need to eat in order to get optimal amounts of nutrients. In contrast, you can get almost all the nutrients you need from 250g of beef!
Finally, there are at least 15 nutrients that you cannot get from plant foods. The most prominent of these is vitamin B12, but vitamins A and K, carnitine and creatine are found almost exclusively in animal foods.
Almost any vegetarian athlete who has supplemented with creatine has seen huge performance improvements.
Optimum nutrition matters more than all the training you do. You cannot outrun a poor diet.
