Fuelling Your Body: Nutrition for Training, Health and Life

If you listened to absolutely everyone on the internet, eventually you'd have nothing left to eat.

Carbohydrates make you fat.

Fat makes you fat.

Sugar is addictive.

Meat is killing you.

Plants are trying to kill you.

Processed food is poison.

Breakfast is essential.

Breakfast is unnecessary.

Eat six times per day.

Don't eat for sixteen hours.

Head = explode.

Nutrition is complicated enough without turning it into a collection of tribes.

There are legitimate discussions to be had about health, food production, ethics and different dietary approaches.

But those conversations can quickly become simplified into:

“I eat this way, therefore you should too.”

That's not how I approach nutrition with clients.

What you eat is ultimately your decision.

My job is to help you understand your choices and build an approach that supports what you're trying to achieve.

Food Isn't a Moral Test

I don't particularly like describing somebody as being “good” because they ate a salad or “bad” because they ate some chocolate.

Likewise, you haven't “cheated” because you went out for dinner.

You ate dinner.

Food choices can move you closer to or further away from particular goals, but that doesn't need to become a judgement about you as a person.

That's one reason I prefer thinking in terms of:

Better or worse for the situation.

Rather than:

Good or bad.

Context matters.

What Does “Fuelling” Actually Mean?

Your body requires energy and nutrients to function.

Food provides both.

It supplies the energy required for everything from keeping you alive to walking, thinking and training, while also providing protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre and other nutrients.

For someone who trains, nutrition can also support:

Training performance

Recovery

Muscle growth and maintenance

Body composition

General health

But good nutrition doesn't require a flawless diet.

It requires an approach that provides what you need consistently enough to support your goals.

There Isn't One Perfect Diet

People can eat successfully in remarkably different ways.

One person might eat plenty of carbohydrates.

Another might prefer fewer.

One might eat meat.

Another might be vegetarian or vegan.

Somebody might enjoy three large meals.

Someone else might prefer smaller meals throughout the day.

Those approaches can all potentially provide good nutrition.

The question isn't:

“Which diet has won?”

It's:

“Does this way of eating provide what this person needs, support their goals and work within their life?”

That's much more useful.

The Two Big Things: Quality and Quantity

I simplify nutrition into two broad areas:

QUALITY

What are you eating?

Does your diet provide enough protein?

Fruit and vegetables?

Fibre?

Essential fats?

Vitamins and minerals?

Is there a reasonable variety of nutritious foods?

Do you actually enjoy eating it?

Food quality is about making sure your diet contains enough of the things your body needs.

QUANTITY

How much are you eating?

Energy intake matters.

If you consistently consume more energy than you use, bodyweight tends to increase.

If you consistently consume less, bodyweight tends to decrease.

If you're trying to build muscle, lose body fat or fuel a large amount of physical activity, the amount you eat becomes particularly relevant.

But neither quality nor quantity works particularly well when considered completely in isolation.

You could eat an extremely nutritious diet and still consume considerably more energy than your goal requires.

You could also lose weight on a nutritionally terrible diet simply because you ate very little.

We want both sides working together.

Food Should Support Your Training

If you're asking your body to perform, you need to give it something to work with.

That doesn't mean you need a complicated pre-workout nutrition protocol before every gym session.

For most people, the basics matter considerably more:

Eating enough overall.

Getting sufficient protein.

Including carbohydrates appropriate to your activity and preferences.

Getting enough fruit, vegetables and fibre.

Staying reasonably well hydrated.

Then we can get more specific if your training demands it.

Someone preparing for an endurance event may need a different approach from someone training twice per week for general strength.

Someone trying to gain muscle may eat differently from someone trying to lose body fat.

Again:

Your nutrition should reflect your goal.

Your Diet Also Has to Fit Your Life

This is where theoretically perfect diets often fall apart.

You have work.

Family.

Social events.

Travel.

Budgets.

Preferences.

Cooking ability.

Time.

Sometimes you get home late and the beautifully prepared meal you saw on Instagram isn't happening.

That's normal.

Good nutrition involves learning how to make useful choices within imperfect circumstances.

What can you make quickly?

What can you keep in the cupboard?

What can you buy when you're travelling?

What's a reasonable option when you're eating out?

How do you eat when you're incredibly busy?

Those skills matter.

A diet that only works when life is perfect isn't a particularly useful diet.

Better, Not Perfect

This is one of the most important principles in how I coach nutrition.

You don't need to overhaul everything tomorrow.

Maybe breakfast needs more protein.

Maybe you could eat another portion of vegetables.

Maybe you need to drink more water.

Maybe your portions have gradually become larger than you realise.

Maybe you simply need to have some decent food available when you get home late rather than relying on whatever you can find.

Identify something that could be better.

Improve it.

Make it normal.

Then look for the next thing.

The perfect thing you don't do will never be as good as the decent thing you actually do.

The BearWolf Approach to Nutrition

The starting principles are broadly similar for most people.

We look at things like:

Food quality

Food quantity

Protein

Fruit and vegetables

Fibre

Hydration

Your goal

Then we look at the person.

Because that's where things become individual.

Your working hours.

Your training.

Your food preferences.

Your family.

Your budget.

Your social life.

Your previous experiences with dieting.

The objective isn't to make your life revolve around nutrition.

It's to make your nutrition work within your life.

The Bottom Line

Food has an enormous role in your health, training and body composition.

But you don't need to join a diet tribe to eat well.

Understand what you're trying to achieve.

Eat enough of the things that support it.

Manage the quantities appropriately.

Choose foods you actually enjoy.

Build an approach you can sustain.

And don't panic when every meal isn't perfect.

Better, not perfect.

That's fuelling.