In a past post, “Eat More Fat, Burn More Fat: Myth, Magic or Metabolic Advantage?”,  I talked about why carbohydrates do not cause you to gain fat, unless there is caloric surplus. Similarly, a diet that is low-carb but too high in calories will also lead to weight gain. So it is a calorie issue for sure. But what most people miss is that calories in affects calories out. The example I gave in that post was from an examination of overfeeding studies. Time and time again, when subjects consume a calorie intake in excess of their maintenance intake, we …

Refeeds, cycling carbs and spiking calories are all part of today’s sexiest protocols. And why not? I mean, they sound pretty cool, don’t they? I’m sure at this point you’ve came across various dietary approaches or protocols that are non-linear in nature, through “cycling” either calories, macronutrients or both. There are endless numbers of people who anecdotally report success on using macronutrient cycling, refeeds, fasting or simply using different calorie and macro set-ups based on whether they are training or not. But the question I want to try to answer in this post is not whether these non-linear protocols can work …

Throw your eyes back to that title. It’s important and I want to clarify why. First, you’ll notice the word “simple”. Dieting should  NOT be complex, complicated or need insane amounts of willpower. In fact, one way to guarantee you fail is to base your plan solely on willpower. Second, notice the word “sustainable”. In a world where rapid, extreme, insane, or super-speed-mega-hyper results are revered, sustainable approaches are often rejected by dieters. They aren’t sexy enough. They don’t get amazing results in even more amazing time frames. This is a critical distinction between what I advise people on as opposed to …

You know, I’ve been thinking an awful lot lately about the difference between the terms “most nutritious” and “most healthy”. When it comes to diet, are these simply synonyms or are they in fact completely different? So the question is… Is the diet comprised of the absolute “best” foods (i.e. most nutrient-dense or “nutritious”), in the correct amounts, necessarily the healthiest way to eat? Seems like a bit of a silly question on first glance, right? But taking the time to delve into it reveals an awful lot more. For a long time I was notorious for only focusing on biochemistry, nutrient …

Enjoy this article? Click here to share on Facebook I’m sure you’ve probably came across that slogan before. If you eat more fat, you’ll burn more fat. Now, I’m all for people including plenty of fat in their diets. In fact, I’ve spoken many times about the problems that arise from “fat-deficient” diets. So please don’t go avoiding dietary fat.. However, telling people that they should “eat more fat to burn more fat” may be misleading. Not because you won’t “burn more fat” on a high-fat diet but because the practical implications of this are different to what most people will think of …

Tracking our food intake is now incredibly simple thanks to food tracking apps that are freely available and simple to use. Such apps provide a breakdown of calorie and macronutrient intakes (carbohydrate, protein, and fat) for the meals you eat. Often, in order to improve your healthy or body composition through dietary changes, you don’t need to track calories but instead focus on building better habits and consistency with eating an overall healthy diet pattern. However, in many cases, tracking intake can be incredibly useful. Doing so even for a relatively short period of time can allow you to learn things …

For quite some time I was the most unhealthy “healthy eater” there is. On paper, I had constructed a set of rules that made my nutrition flawless. And while some made a tremendous positive difference, the problem was that the list was never finished. More reading and researching led to more potential problems I could counteract by creating a new rule. It started as a healthy principle of generally eating plenty of whole foods: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, as well as some minimally processed dairy like butter. The very starting point I get everyone to consider with their …

We all used to think fat was evil. Something ingrained in us by the bombardment by the promotion of low-fat dietary guidelines, low-fat branded products and “fat is bad” marketing campaigns. We fell into a low-fat diet trap. But thankfully the tide has started to turn. I think it’s become clear that dietary fat is not “bad” per se. The after-effects of the scaremongering around fat intake means that many people need to actually increase their fat consumption. And science-driven coaches, nutritionists and researchers are warning people not to buy into the “anti-fat” dogma. Many people now realise fat isn’t the …

In what seems to be an increasingly common occurrence, I am seeing popular nutrition trends emerging, following something I can only describe as the “hipster pattern”. You know, the “get-on-it-now-because-its-the-opposite-to-everyone-else” thing. And once everyone else starts doing it, it’s no longer cool. One perfect example right now is carbohydrate intake. We were being erroneously told that eating most of our calories from carbohydrates was a good idea. Only to realise that this in fact is probably not all that helpful for a large number of people. With this, the low-carb scene exploded when the word got out. And at first …

What’s the perfect diet? I’ve said many times before that there is no single diet that is perfect for everyone. I hope that is clear by  now. But even beyond that, there is no single diet that is perfect for one specific person, all of the time. Goals, circumstances and requirements change. One of the biggest determinants of what diet is right for you is your focus. There are three primary areas of focus for nutrition: Health Body composition Athletic performance The Triangle of Focus Obviously it would be great if we could eat and live in a way that …

Buy the book: Making Weight – The Ultimate Science-based Guide to Cutting Weight for Combat Sports This is part II of a 4-part series. You can catch part I here. Can a fighter get lean without absolutely tanking performance in the gym or making themselves feel dreadful throughout the leaning out process. Without doubt, YES! But to do so there are things that need to be considered. Cutting Weight vs. Losing Weight One thing to clear up for those of you who aren’t involved in combat sports and perhaps not familiar with cutting weight is the difference between cutting weight …

Buy the book: Making Weight – The Ultimate Science-based Guide to Cutting Weight for Combat Sports In early 2014 I started working with a professional Muay Thai athlete, Cian Cowley. Cian is an insanely talented fighter, and at the time was on a winning streak and was already lean. However, after digging into what Cian had been doing nutritionally up to this point, we needed to implement some extremely important changes into his diet. He had been falling into some of the same traps a lot of fighters out there are falling into. Over the course of this four-post series, …

Health. We hear that word all the time. Improve your health by… [doing “X”/not doing “Y”] Consider the term “health & fitness”. There is often the simplistic black and white view that we take care of the fitness portion by moving more and the health portion by “eating healthy” (whatever that means). But health is not solely about nutrition and exercise. It’s not the absence of illness. It’s not how we look or how we move. It’s not even hitting perfect numbers on all the endless biomarkers we can use to assess health (cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, CRP, etc.) And …