Here you can find a glossary for various training/nutrition terms, with brief explanations and example. This is here to provide a quick, simple and easy to use resource for the fundamentals of strength.
Supplements for Strength Training: What I Actually Use
Supplements can be useful, but the clue is in the name.
They supplement your nutrition. They shouldn't be the foundation of it.
Over the years I've tried plenty of different supplements. Some have good evidence behind them. Some might be useful in particular circumstances. Others have incredibly good marketing and not much else.
After around two decades of strength training and more than 15 years of coaching, my approach has become increasingly simple.
Get the fundamentals right first: train consistently, eat reasonably well, consume enough protein, recover properly and get as much good-quality sleep as you realistically can.
Then supplements can fill in some of the gaps.
These are the ones I currently find most useful, what the evidence actually says about them, and what I'd look for when buying them.
1. Protein
Protein isn't really a supplement in the same way that something like creatine is. Protein powder is essentially a convenient food.
If you're strength training, getting enough protein supports the repair and growth of muscle.
For most people who exercise regularly, somewhere around 1.4–2.0g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day is sufficient for building and maintaining muscle, although individual requirements vary.
You don't need protein shakes to achieve that.
Chicken works. Eggs work. Fish works. Dairy works. Beans, lentils, tofu and other plant foods work.
Protein powder is just extremely convenient.
What I use: Huel Black Edition
I generally start my morning with Huel Black Edition.
A slight correction to how I used to describe this: Huel Black isn't actually a protein powder. It's a nutritionally complete powdered meal.
Two scoops provide 400 calories and 40g of plant-based protein, primarily from pea and brown rice protein, alongside carbohydrates, fats, fibre and micronutrients. It's vegan, so there's no lactose to worry about, which suits me as I'm mildly lactose intolerant.
I have no affiliation with Huel. Nobody is paying me to recommend it.
I just find it incredibly convenient.
If I want a conventional milk-based protein powder, I've also used and liked Bulk products. For competitive athletes particularly concerned about contamination with prohibited substances, their Informed Sport range is batch tested under that programme.
But don't get too hung up on the brand.
Your total protein intake matters considerably more than having the world's fanciest protein powder.
2. Creatine Monohydrate
If somebody asked me which sports supplement has the strongest case for a strength trainee, this would be the obvious one.
Creatine monohydrate is one of the best-supported sports supplements we have.
Creatine increases muscle creatine stores, helping with rapid energy availability during repeated bouts of high-intensity work. There is substantial evidence that supplementation can improve high-intensity exercise capacity and support increases in strength and lean mass alongside resistance training.
And there's no compelling reason for most people to buy exotic forms of creatine.
Creatine monohydrate is the form with the evidence behind it. More expensive alternatives haven't been demonstrated to outperform it.
How much?
A simple approach is:
3–5g every day.
You can load creatine at roughly 20g per day, split into several doses, for around 5–7 days and then move to a maintenance dose. That saturates the muscles more quickly.
But you don't have to.
Taking a few grams every day will gradually get you there anyway.
I normally chuck mine into my morning shake.
Which brand?
Again, the important words are creatine monohydrate, not the logo on the packet.
I like a straightforward product without an enormous proprietary blend attached to it.
One particularly well-controlled raw ingredient is Creapure, a German-manufactured creatine monohydrate. For example, Bulk sells Creapure creatine monohydrate as well as standard creatine monohydrate.
But don't misunderstand that recommendation: you do not need Creapure for creatine to work.
Plain creatine monohydrate from a reputable manufacturer is absolutely fine.
3. Caffeine
This one definitely works.
Caffeine can improve alertness and attention, but it also has a substantial body of research behind its effects on exercise.
Benefits have been found across endurance exercise and, to varying degrees, muscular endurance, strength, sprinting and other high-intensity activities.
Research commonly finds performance benefits around 3–6mg/kg of bodyweight, although lower doses can work and individual responses vary considerably. Going substantially higher doesn't necessarily improve performance and increases the likelihood of side effects.
And this is where I'd apply some common sense.
If you weigh 100kg, you don't automatically need to throw 600mg of caffeine down your neck because a paper says 3–6mg/kg.
Use the lowest amount that gives you the effect you want.
What I use
Mostly coffee.
If I want a known amount without buying yet another coffee in Deptford, I'll occasionally use caffeine tablets.
I'm not particularly bothered about the brand. I'd rather have a simple product with a clearly stated dose than a mysterious "pre-workout matrix" containing caffeine plus seventeen other ingredients.
There's also a major downside to caffeine:
sleep.
Caffeine can interfere with sleep, and individual sensitivity varies.
Ruining tonight's sleep to squeeze a tiny bit more performance out of this afternoon's workout isn't necessarily a good trade.
4. Omega-3
I also take an omega-3 supplement.
The important components of marine omega-3 supplements are EPA and DHA.
There's good evidence that EPA and DHA can reduce triglyceride levels. Evidence around prevention of cardiovascular events is more nuanced than some supplement marketing would have you believe, so I wouldn't describe fish oil as a magic "heart health" supplement.
Nor would I sell it to a strength trainee as something that's suddenly going to transform their recovery or muscle growth.
What should you buy?
This is another category where I'd pay more attention to the label and quality control than the brand name.
Look at the amount of EPA + DHA per serving, not merely the amount of "fish oil."
A capsule labelled "1000mg fish oil" does not necessarily contain 1000mg of EPA and DHA.
I also prefer products from reputable manufacturers that provide independent quality testing.
And remember that oily fish is food. If you're regularly eating appropriate amounts of oily fish, your need for supplemental omega-3 may be very different from someone who never eats it.
5. Magnesium
Magnesium is essential for normal physiological function, including muscle and nerve function.
But this is also an area where supplement marketing gets ahead of the evidence.
I previously used ZMA — zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 — and thought it improved the quality of my sleep.
These days I use magnesium glycinate instead.
But I'd be careful about turning my subjective experience into a scientific claim.
A recent systematic review of randomised trials found that the evidence for oral magnesium as a routine treatment for insomnia is inconsistent and generally low or very low certainty.
So:
Magnesium is an essential nutrient.
That does not mean taking extra magnesium is a proven sleep hack for everybody.
Likewise, I wouldn't now make the old bodybuilding claim that ZMA meaningfully boosts testosterone and therefore increases muscle growth. That's not a good reason to buy it.
Which magnesium?
I use magnesium glycinate, largely because I tolerate it well.
I'd choose a reputable manufacturer that clearly states the amount of elemental magnesium, rather than choosing based on extravagant sleep or testosterone claims.
It's also worth remembering that supplements aren't harmless simply because they're minerals. High supplemental magnesium intake can cause gastrointestinal problems, and very high intake can be dangerous, particularly in people with impaired kidney function.
What About Supplements for Sleep?
A fair amount of my thinking around supplementation these days is actually about recovery and sleep.
I don't always get as many hours as I'd ideally like.
That means I'm particularly conscious of trying to improve the conditions around my sleep.
But there's an important distinction here:
Improving sleep quality doesn't completely compensate for not getting enough sleep.
If you regularly only give yourself six hours in bed, no tablet, powder or sleep gadget magically turns that into eight hours.
So where possible, getting enough sleep remains the priority.
There are also a couple of things I use that aren't supplements at all.
Nasal strips
I use nasal strips at night.
These mechanically open the outside of the nasal passages, and I find breathing through my nose more comfortable when wearing them.
I wouldn't claim they're some incredible performance-enhancing sleep technology.
They're cheap, simple, and I personally like using them.
An anti-snoring mouthpiece
I also use an oral device at night to help with snoring.
Certain mandibular advancement splints have legitimate medical applications: NICE recognises customised or semi-customised devices as an option for some adults with obstructive sleep apnoea, particularly where CPAP isn't tolerated or is declined. NICE also notes that professionally customised devices are preferable to generic ready-made versions.
That doesn't mean every mouthguard sold online treats sleep apnoea.
And that's an important distinction.
If you snore heavily, wake choking or gasping, or somebody notices that your breathing repeatedly stops while you're asleep, don't simply keep buying sleep accessories. Speak to a doctor about being assessed for sleep apnoea.
So What Are the Best Supplement Brands?
This is where I'd resist giving clients a definitive shopping list.
Science generally tells us whether creatine monohydrate works, not whether Brand A's packet is scientifically superior to Brand B's.
What I look for is much simpler:
Protein: a reputable manufacturer, enough protein per serving and something you digest well. I personally use Huel Black for convenience and have used Bulk for conventional protein.
Creatine: plain creatine monohydrate. Creapure is a good quality-controlled option, but ordinary reputable creatine monohydrate works too.
Caffeine: accurately dosed coffee/tablets. There's little need for an expensive pre-workout.
Omega-3: clearly stated EPA and DHA quantities and good manufacturing/testing standards.
Magnesium: clearly stated elemental magnesium from a reputable manufacturer; don't buy it because somebody promises enormous testosterone gains.
Drug-tested athletes: look for products carrying genuine third-party batch-testing certification such as Informed Sport, rather than assuming an entire brand is safe because one of its products is certified. Bulk, for example, currently sells a specific Informed Sport range.
That's a much better way to shop than assuming expensive automatically means effective.
The Bottom Line
Supplements interest me. I use them myself, and there are some with very good evidence behind them.
But they're a surprisingly small part of getting strong.
If you want to improve your strength, fitness and body composition, I'd spend far more time thinking about:
Training consistently.
Getting enough protein and overall nutrition.
Sleeping enough.
Recovering properly.
Doing those things for months and years rather than days and weeks.
Once you've got those foundations in place, supplements can be useful around the edges.
For me, that means keeping things relatively simple: Huel for a convenient high-protein meal, creatine monohydrate, caffeine when I want it, omega-3 and magnesium, alongside some non-supplement approaches to improving my sleep.
Your requirements might be completely different.
And that's exactly the point.
Get the big things right first. Supplement where there's actually something worth supplementing.
Hydration for Strength Training: The Simplest Way to Improve Performance
If I could only change one nutrition habit for most new clients, it probably wouldn't be protein.
It would be drinking enough water.
Hydration is one of the most overlooked parts of fitness, yet it affects almost everything your body does. Your energy, concentration, digestion, training performance and recovery all rely on having enough fluid available.
Before worrying about supplements, calorie tracking or nutrient timing, I'd rather make sure you're consistently hydrated.
It's one of the easiest wins available.
Why Hydration Matters
Your body is made up of trillions of cells, and every single one relies on water to function properly.
Water helps to:
Transport nutrients around the body.
Regulate body temperature.
Support digestion.
Lubricate joints.
Maintain blood volume and circulation.
Help muscles and nerves work properly.
Support concentration and cognitive performance.
On average, around 50–70% of the human body is water, depending on age, sex and body composition. If you're carrying more muscle, you'll generally carry more water too.
Because water is involved in so many systems, even mild dehydration can affect how you feel and perform.
What Happens When You're Dehydrated?
You don't have to become severely dehydrated before it starts having an effect.
Research consistently shows that losing around 2% of your body weight through fluid loss can reduce endurance performance and make exercise feel significantly harder. Greater dehydration can affect strength, power, decision-making and concentration.
For someone who weighs 100kg (roughly me), that's only about 2kg of fluid loss.
Signs you might be dehydrated include:
Feeling thirsty.
Dark yellow urine.
Dry mouth.
Headaches.
Feeling unusually tired.
Reduced concentration.
Feeling your workout is harder than it should be.
A lot of people live in this slightly dehydrated state every day and simply assume that's normal.
It isn't.
Don't Wait Until You're Thirsty
One thing that surprises people is that thirst is a late signal.
By the time you're noticeably thirsty, you're already beginning to replace water you've lost.
That doesn't mean you need to constantly force water down your neck.
It simply means it's better to drink regularly throughout the day than to realise at 7pm you've had one coffee and half a bottle of water.
Think of hydration as something you maintain rather than something you catch up on.
How Much Water Do You Actually Need?
The old "everyone needs 2 litres" advice is a decent starting point, but it's not a rule.
A better guide is:
30–40ml of water per kilogram of body weight each day.
A rough guide
60kg1.8–2.4L
70kg2.1–2.8L
80kg 2.4–3.2L
90kg 2.7–3.6L
100kg 3.0–4.0L
These figures include water from drinks. Food contributes some fluid too, particularly fruit and vegetables.
You'll Need More If You...
Increase your intake if you:
Train for long periods.
Sweat heavily.
Exercise in hot weather.
Drink lots of caffeine or alcohol.
Are recovering from illness.
A hard strength session or long HYROX workout can easily require another 500ml–1L+ depending on how much you sweat.
What Should You Drink?
The vast majority of the time:
Plain water is perfect.
Tap water is absolutely fine
If you live in the UK, tap water is safe, inexpensive and a great option.
Filtered or mineral water is also perfectly good if you prefer the taste, but don't feel like buying expensive bottled water is going to transform your results.
Tea and Coffee Count
This surprises people.
Tea and coffee do contribute towards your daily fluid intake.
Caffeine has a mild diuretic effect, but regular caffeine drinkers still gain hydration from coffee and tea.
So yes—your morning coffee counts.
It just shouldn't be your only drink.
When Are Electrolytes Useful?
Most gym sessions don't require electrolyte drinks.
They're useful if you're:
Sweating heavily.
Training for over an hour in the heat.
Doing long endurance sessions.
Losing lots of fluid through repeated exercise.
For a typical hour-long strength workout in Deptford, water is usually enough.
How I Recommend Building the Habit
Don't suddenly jump from one glass of water a day to four litres.
Build it gradually.
Choose the smallest target you're confident you'll complete.
Level 1 — Beginner
Drink one extra glass of water every day for one week.
Level 2 — Most People
Drink an extra 500ml every day for one week.
Level 3 — Bigger Lifters / Hot Weather
Drink an extra litre per day if your training and body size genuinely justify it.
The goal isn't perfection.
The goal is consistency.
Simple Ways to Drink More Water
These habits work far better than relying on willpower.
Drink a glass of water when you wake up.
Have a glass with every meal.
Keep a large water bottle with you at work or in the gym.
Refill it as soon as it's empty.
Drink before, during and after training rather than all at once afterwards.
The easier you make hydration, the less you have to think about it.
A Quick Way to Check Your Hydration
One of the simplest daily checks is urine colour.
Pale straw colour: You're probably well hydrated.
Dark yellow or amber: You probably need more fluid.
Completely clear all day: You may actually be drinking more than you need.
It's a simple guide—not a perfect scientific test—but it's useful for day-to-day life.
The Bottom Line
Hydration isn't exciting.
It won't sell as many supplements as a flashy pre-workout.
But it's one of the highest-return habits you can build.
If you're consistently hydrated you'll generally feel better, recover better and give yourself the best chance of performing well in training.
Before worrying about the finer details of nutrition, make this one automatic.
Carry a bottle. Drink regularly. Stay hydrated.
Food Quality: How to Build a Better Diet Without Eating “Perfectly”
This section is all about improving the quality of the food you eat.
Not making your diet perfect.
Not banning chocolate.
And definitely not giving you a list of foods you're never allowed to eat again.
Instead, we're looking at how you can gradually make your normal diet more nutritious, more filling and better suited to your health and training goals.
The important word there is gradually.
The perfect thing you don't do will never be as good as the decent thing you actually do.
What Does “Food Quality” Actually Mean?
There isn't a single scientific score that divides everything you eat into high-quality and low-quality food.
Generally, though, a higher-quality diet contains plenty of foods that provide useful amounts of things such as:
protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and essential fats, alongside an appropriate amount of energy.
That usually means building much of your diet around foods such as:
Fruit and vegetables
Whole grains
Beans and pulses
Nuts and seeds
Fish
Eggs
Lean meats, if you eat them
Dairy or appropriate alternatives
Minimally processed foods that provide plenty of nutrition
That doesn't mean everything else is suddenly forbidden.
Your overall diet matters much more than whether an individual food is “good” or “bad”.
Food Quantity Still Matters
Food quality and food quantity aren't competing ideas.
Both matter.
If fat loss is your goal, energy balance matters. Consistently consuming fewer calories than your body uses will result in weight loss over time.
But that doesn't mean two diets containing the same number of calories are necessarily equivalent for health, hunger, training or nutrition.
In an extreme example, somebody could lose weight eating a very low-calorie diet consisting largely of sweets.
They'd still be in a calorie deficit.
But they'd probably struggle to obtain enough protein, fibre, essential fats and micronutrients, and an excessively restrictive intake could compromise health, training and recovery.
So rather than asking:
“Will this food make me gain or lose weight?”
It's often more useful to ask:
“What is this food contributing to my diet?”
Forget “Good Foods” and “Bad Foods”
I don't particularly like describing foods as good or bad.
Nutrition is rarely that black and white.
Take a chocolate bar.
If somebody is trying to reduce their calorie intake and is hungry, a piece of fruit and some yoghurt might be a more useful choice because it provides more nutrition and may be more filling.
Does that make the chocolate bar bad?
No.
It's chocolate.
You can eat it.
Likewise, nuts are highly nutritious. They provide fibre, unsaturated fats, protein and various micronutrients.
They're also energy dense.
Someone trying to gain weight might find that extremely useful. Someone trying to lose weight might simply need to be more conscious of portion size.
And, obviously, somebody with a severe nut allergy shouldn't eat them at all.
Context matters.
Think “Better”, Not “Perfect”
This is the approach I generally prefer with clients.
Rather than asking whether a meal is healthy or unhealthy, ask:
“How could I make this slightly better?”
If breakfast is currently a pastry and coffee, you don't necessarily need to replace it tomorrow with an elaborate collection of organic ingredients you've never eaten before.
Perhaps you add some fruit.
Perhaps you find a breakfast containing more protein.
Perhaps you keep the coffee and pastry but add some Greek yoghurt alongside it.
That's progress.
The same applies everywhere else.
White bread doesn't need to be banned. But wholegrain bread will generally provide more fibre.
A takeaway isn't a disaster. But perhaps there's an option containing more vegetables and protein.
A frozen pizza isn't evidence that you've failed your diet. Maybe you have some salad or vegetables alongside it.
Improving nutrition doesn't always mean removing things. Quite often, it means adding something useful.
Protein
If you train regularly, protein deserves particular attention.
Protein provides amino acids that your body uses to maintain and build tissue, including muscle.
Good sources can include meat, fish, eggs, dairy, soy foods, beans and pulses, alongside protein powders when convenience is useful.
Rather than obsessing about finding the single "best" protein source, aim to consume a variety of appropriate protein-rich foods across the day.
For someone strength training regularly, getting enough total protein is considerably more important than arguing about whether chicken, whey or tofu is superior.
Fruit and Vegetables
This is another boring recommendation that survives because it's a very good one.
Fruit and vegetables provide fibre and a wide range of vitamins, minerals and other beneficial compounds.
In the UK, the familiar public-health recommendation is at least five portions of varied fruit and vegetables per day.
If you're currently eating one portion, though, don't read that and decide you've failed.
Try two.
Then three.
Remember what we're trying to do:
better, not perfect.
Fibre
Fibre is another area worth paying attention to.
UK guidance recommends adults aim for around 30g of fibre per day.
Whole grains, vegetables, fruit, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds can all contribute.
Rather than immediately trying to calculate every gram, an easier starting point is simply to increase the amount and variety of plant foods in your diet.
If your current diet is low in fibre, increase it gradually and make sure you're drinking enough fluid too.
What About Processed Food?
“Processed” isn't synonymous with unhealthy.
Freezing vegetables is processing.
Turning milk into yoghurt is processing.
Tinned beans are processed.
Protein powder is processed.
None of those facts automatically tell us whether the food is useful.
There is, however, good evidence linking diets high in ultra-processed foods with poorer health outcomes, and experimental research has found that an ultra-processed diet can encourage people to consume more calories than a minimally processed diet.
That doesn't mean you need to eliminate every ultra-processed food from your life.
It means that if the majority of your diet comes from foods that are highly palatable, energy dense and relatively low in fibre or micronutrients, there's probably room for improvement.
Again:
Don't think prohibition. Think proportion.
Don't Fall for the “Perfect Diet”
Nutrition attracts extremes.
Low carb.
Low fat.
Carnivore.
Vegan.
Paleo.
Fasting.
Keto.
Some approaches can work extremely well for particular people and particular goals.
That doesn't make any one of them the universally healthiest diet for everybody.
Be particularly cautious when someone tells you they've discovered the one food, nutrient or dietary approach responsible for everybody's health problems.
Human nutrition is considerably more complicated than that.
A good diet is one that provides appropriate energy and nutrition and that you can actually sustain within your life.
A Simple Way to Improve Your Meals
You don't need to completely rebuild your diet.
Look at the meals you already eat and ask whether you can regularly include:
A useful source of protein.
Some fruit or vegetables.
A source of fibre.
Enough food to support your needs without routinely consuming far more energy than you require.
That's already an excellent starting point.
You can refine things later.
Your Food Quality Challenge
Pick one change.
Not six.
For the next week, you could choose something like:
I'll eat one additional portion of fruit or vegetables every day.
I'll include a useful protein source with every main meal.
I'll swap one regular low-fibre food for a higher-fibre alternative.
Pick whichever feels almost ridiculously achievable.
Then actually do it.
Once it's normal, you can build on it.
The Bottom Line
Calories matter.
Protein matters.
Vitamins and minerals matter.
Fibre matters.
Food quality matters.
But none of those things require a perfect diet.
Most people would benefit far more from making their existing diet 10% better and sustaining it for years than following the supposedly perfect diet for three weeks.
So don't ask:
“Is this food good or bad?”
Ask:
“Is there a slightly better choice I could make here?”
Then make that choice often enough that it becomes normal.
The perfect thing you don't do will never be as good as the decent thing you do.
Digestion: How to Look After Your Gut
Nutrition can become very focused on numbers.
Calories.
Protein.
Carbohydrates.
Fat.
Fibre.
Vitamins.
Minerals.
They're all useful things to understand.
But there's another fairly obvious consideration:
How does the food you eat actually make you feel?
Are you regularly bloated?
Constipated?
Running to the toilet?
Getting reflux?
Experiencing stomach pain after particular foods?
Most of us don't need to spend our lives trying to “optimise our gut.”
But digestion matters, and persistent digestive problems aren't something you should simply accept as normal.
What Do We Mean by Digestion?
Digestion is the process your body uses to break food down into components that can be absorbed and used.
It starts before food even reaches your stomach.
You chew.
Food travels through your digestive system.
Proteins, carbohydrates and fats are broken down.
Nutrients are absorbed, predominantly through the small intestine.
Water and electrolytes are absorbed.
And eventually the stuff you don't need leaves through the other end.
It's an extraordinarily complicated system that, thankfully, you generally don't need to micromanage.
For most healthy people eating an adequate diet, nutrient absorption isn't something they need to constantly worry about.
There are medical conditions that interfere with digestion or absorption, but those aren't problems to diagnose yourself through a fitness website.
What Can Affect Your Digestion?
Lots of things.
Your overall diet.
The amount and types of fibre you eat.
How much you drink.
Individual food tolerances.
Stress.
Alcohol.
Some medications.
Illness.
Changes to your routine.
Physical activity.
Even simply eating considerably more food than usual.
And people respond differently.
That's important.
Something being “difficult to digest” doesn't automatically make it a poor-quality food, and something marketed as being fantastic for “gut health” isn't automatically going to agree with you.
Your individual response matters.
Stress and Your Gut
Your brain and digestive system communicate with each other.
That's one reason stress can sometimes show up physically as digestive symptoms.
Perhaps you've experienced it before an exam, interview or competition.
Suddenly your stomach has opinions.
Stress can affect things such as gut movement and digestive sensations, although the response varies considerably between people.
That doesn't mean digestion simply “switches off” whenever you're stressed.
But if you notice that your digestive symptoms become worse during particularly stressful periods, that relationship may be worth paying attention to.
Training and Digestion
Exercise is generally a very good thing.
But strenuous exercise can sometimes cause gastrointestinal symptoms, particularly during prolonged or intense activity.
Running is a classic example.
Some people also find that eating a large meal immediately before hard training makes them feel terrible.
That's less about needing to “heal your gut” and more about learning what works for you.
Consider:
How much you eat before training.
How close to training you eat it.
The types of food you tolerate well.
How intense or long the session will be.
If a massive high-fat, high-fibre meal an hour before training leaves you feeling like you're going to see it again, perhaps don't keep repeating the experiment.
Nutrition needs to work in the real world.
POO!
Yes.
We're talking about poo.
Because what happens when you go to the toilet can provide useful information about your digestion.
There is considerable normal variation between people in how frequently they have a bowel movement.
What's particularly useful is noticing changes from what's normal for you.
Your stool should generally be reasonably comfortable to pass and shouldn't routinely involve diarrhoea, severe straining or pain.
There's even a tool used to describe stool consistency called the Bristol Stool Chart.
You don't need to become a poo analyst.
But if something changes significantly and stays changed, pay attention.
1. Eat Enough Fibre
Fibre is the part of plant foods that isn't completely digested in the small intestine.
Different types of fibre behave differently.
Some contribute to stool bulk.
Some hold water.
Some are fermented by bacteria living in the gut.
Fibre is found in foods including:
Fruit and vegetables.
Wholegrains.
Beans and pulses.
Nuts and seeds.
Current UK guidance recommends adults aim for around 30g of fibre per day.
But I wouldn't describe fibre as “nature's internal cleanser.”
Your digestive system doesn't need scrubbing.
And more fibre isn't always better.
If you currently eat very little, suddenly dramatically increasing it can leave you bloated, windy and thoroughly unimpressed with this article.
Increase it gradually and see how you respond.
2. Eat a Variety of Plant Foods
You don't need to count 47 different plants every Thursday.
But eating a varied diet containing fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds can provide different fibres and nutrients.
Variety is generally a sensible nutritional principle anyway.
It also makes eating considerably less boring.
3. Stay Hydrated
Fluids are important for normal bodily function, including digestion.
This becomes particularly relevant when you're increasing fibre.
You don't need to force litres and litres of additional water into yourself in the name of gut health.
Drink regularly, pay attention to thirst and increase fluids appropriately around things such as training and hot weather.
We've covered this in more detail in Hydration.
4. Don't Automatically Blame Caffeine
Coffee makes some people need the toilet.
Sometimes very quickly.
But caffeine isn't simply a universal laxative that everybody with digestive symptoms needs to remove.
Coffee itself can stimulate bowel activity in some people, and individual responses vary.
If you drink six coffees per day and regularly have digestive problems, reducing your intake might be a perfectly reasonable experiment.
If you drink one coffee every morning and feel absolutely fine:
You probably don't need to declare war on coffee.
5. Pay Attention to Your Own Food Tolerances
People tolerate foods differently.
If something repeatedly causes symptoms, pay attention to the pattern.
But be cautious about diagnosing yourself with an intolerance based on one uncomfortable meal—or unnecessarily eliminating entire food groups because somebody online told you they're inflammatory.
If you suspect a genuine intolerance or have persistent symptoms, speak to an appropriate healthcare professional or registered dietitian.
Removing more and more foods isn't necessarily the solution.
6. Move
Regular physical activity can support normal bowel function and has plenty of other health benefits.
That doesn't mean you need a brutal workout every time you're constipated.
Walking counts.
As we covered in Movement, increasing your general physical activity doesn't have to mean spending another two hours in the gym.
Do You Need Probiotics?
Not automatically.
The gut microbiome is a fascinating and rapidly developing area of research, but “probiotic” doesn't mean universally beneficial.
Different products contain different organisms and strains, and their effects can be specific to particular circumstances.
I wouldn't recommend buying a random expensive supplement because its packaging promises to “restore your gut health.”
Start with the boring stuff.
A varied diet.
Enough fibre.
Appropriate hydration.
Regular physical activity.
Then investigate actual problems individually.
When Should You Get Digestive Problems Checked?
Occasional digestive discomfort happens.
But persistent or significant symptoms shouldn't simply be written off as “bad gut health.”
Speak to a healthcare professional if you're concerned, particularly with things such as persistent changes in bowel habits, ongoing diarrhoea or constipation, significant abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss or blood in your stool.
That's beyond the job description of your personal trainer.
The Bottom Line
You don't need to cleanse your gut.
You don't need to detox it.
And most people don't need an elaborate collection of supplements to optimise their digestion.
Start with the fundamentals:
Eat a varied diet.
Get enough fibre.
Drink enough fluid.
Move regularly.
Pay attention to how different foods affect you.
And don't ignore persistent symptoms.
Your digestive system is remarkably good at doing its job without you thinking about it.
The goal isn't to become obsessed with your gut.
It's to give it a reasonable environment to get on with its work.
Metabolism: What Does It Actually Mean?
You've probably heard somebody say:
“I've got a slow metabolism.”
Or:
“He can eat whatever he wants. He must have a fast metabolism.”
We tend to talk about metabolism almost exclusively in relation to bodyweight.
Usually when somebody is trying to lose it.
But metabolism isn't simply how quickly you burn calories.
It's much bigger than that.
What Is Metabolism?
Metabolism is the collective term for the enormous number of chemical reactions constantly taking place within your body to keep you alive and functioning.
These processes allow your body to do things like:
Produce and use energy.
Build and break down tissues and molecules.
Maintain your cells.
Support growth and repair.
Process nutrients.
Keep your organs functioning.
All of this is happening continuously without you consciously thinking about it.
So when people talk about having a “fast” or “slow” metabolism, what they usually mean is something more specific:
How much energy does my body use?
What Is Metabolic Rate?
Your body uses energy constantly.
Even if you spent the entire day lying completely still, you'd still require energy to:
Breathe.
Circulate blood.
Maintain body temperature.
Run your brain.
Keep your organs functioning.
Maintain and repair tissues.
The energy required to keep you alive at rest makes up a large proportion of your daily energy expenditure.
But that's not the whole picture.
You also use energy through:
Physical activity and exercise.
Everyday movement.
Digesting and processing food.
Put everything together and we get your total daily energy expenditure.
That's the number we're generally interested in when discussing calories and bodyweight.
Does Having a Bigger Body Mean a Slower Metabolism?
Here's where things get interesting.
People sometimes assume that someone carrying more bodyweight must have a slower metabolism.
That's not necessarily true.
Larger bodies generally require more energy to maintain and move than smaller bodies.
Body composition matters too.
Muscle is more metabolically active than fat tissue, although adding muscle doesn't suddenly transform you into a calorie-burning furnace.
Age, sex, genetics, body size, body composition and activity can all influence energy expenditure.
So the person who describes themselves as having a “slow metabolism” may actually burn more calories per day than a considerably smaller person.
Bodyweight alone doesn't tell us whether someone's metabolism is unusually fast or slow.
What About Genetics?
People do differ.
We're not identical machines.
Genetics can contribute to differences in metabolic rate, body composition, appetite and other factors related to bodyweight.
But the enormous differences people sometimes imagine between “fast metabolism people” and “slow metabolism people” are often more complicated than resting metabolism alone.
For example, people can differ considerably in how much they move throughout the day.
Some naturally walk more.
Stand more.
Fidget more.
Take the stairs.
Generally spend less time sitting still.
Those small differences can accumulate.
And then there's food intake, appetite, environment, sleep, training and lifestyle.
Bodyweight is influenced by considerably more than one metabolic number.
Calories Aren't the Enemy
A calorie is a unit of energy.
That's it.
Calories aren't a substance hiding inside your food trying to make you fat.
Your body needs energy.
You need it to train.
Walk.
Think.
Recover.
Work.
Play.
And stay alive.
If you're trying to lose body fat, energy intake becomes particularly important because fat loss requires an energy deficit over time.
But the objective isn't necessarily:
“Eat as few calories as possible.”
It's to create an appropriate deficit that you can actually sustain while still supporting your health, training and everyday life.
Can Dieting Slow Your Metabolism?
This is another area where things get exaggerated.
When you lose weight, your energy requirements generally decrease.
There's simply less body mass to maintain and move around.
Your body can also adapt to an energy deficit. Energy expenditure may decrease somewhat beyond what we'd expect from the change in body size alone, a phenomenon generally referred to as adaptive thermogenesis.
You may also unconsciously move less when you're eating considerably less food.
But this doesn't mean dieting has “broken your metabolism.”
And it certainly doesn't mean fat loss has become physically impossible.
It means energy expenditure is dynamic rather than fixed.
Don't Crash Diet
This is where I agree with the philosophy behind the original version of this article.
If you're trying to lose fat:
You don't get bonus points for eating the least food possible.
A more aggressive deficit might produce faster weight loss initially, but it can also make training, recovery, hunger management and adherence considerably more difficult.
If a moderate calorie intake is producing appropriate progress, there's no automatic reason to slash another 500 calories simply because you want everything to happen faster.
Use the smallest intervention that produces an appropriate result.
Then adjust when necessary.
Does “Food Quality” Increase Your Metabolism?
Not in the way this is sometimes presented.
Eating more nutritious foods doesn't “nourish your cells” into running a faster metabolism.
But food quality still matters enormously.
Your diet needs to provide adequate:
Protein.
Essential fats.
Vitamins and minerals.
Fibre.
Energy.
And eating patterns that contain plenty of nutritious foods can make it easier to support health, performance, recovery and body composition.
As we covered in Food Quality, quantity and quality both matter.
They're answering different questions.
Does Eating More Protein Boost Metabolism?
There is a small but interesting piece of the puzzle here.
Your body uses energy to digest, absorb and process the food you eat. This is known as the thermic effect of food.
Protein generally requires more energy to process than carbohydrate or fat.
But I wouldn't turn that into:
“Eat protein to hack your metabolism.”
Protein is useful for much better reasons—particularly supporting muscle growth and maintenance and helping with satiety.
The thermic effect is simply part of the bigger energy-expenditure picture.
What About Strength Training?
Strength training is fantastic.
You probably don't need much convincing of that from me.
Building and maintaining muscle can contribute to your energy requirements, but claims that adding a little muscle will massively increase your resting metabolism are exaggerated.
That's not why you should lift.
Lift because being strong is useful.
Because muscle matters.
Because training can improve physical capacity.
Because you enjoy it.
And because maintaining muscle becomes particularly valuable when you're losing weight and as you get older.
You don't need to pretend every benefit of lifting comes from burning more calories.
Can You “Boost” Your Metabolism?
This phrase sells an enormous number of supplements.
Usually the promised solution is:
A particular food.
A tea.
A supplement.
A spice.
A detox.
A secret morning routine.
The boring answer is that there isn't a useful metabolic switch that transforms your body into a dramatically faster calorie-burning machine.
Instead, concentrate on things that actually matter:
Be physically active.
Strength train.
Eat enough protein.
Build a nutritious diet.
Sleep appropriately.
Avoid unnecessarily aggressive diets.
Use a sustainable calorie deficit if fat loss is the goal.
Those things aren't as exciting as a metabolism hack.
They're considerably more useful.
Metabolism and Fat Loss
If fat loss is your goal, I like this general principle:
Don't automatically eat less than you need to.
We need an energy deficit.
But if you're steadily losing fat while eating 2,000 calories, there isn't necessarily a benefit to immediately dropping to 1,500 simply to make the process faster.
We want enough food to support:
Your training.
Your recovery.
Your nutrition.
Your lifestyle.
And your ability to stick to the plan.
Fat loss isn't a competition to discover how little food you can survive on.
The Bottom Line
Your metabolism isn't simply “fast” or “slow.”
It's the enormous collection of chemical processes that keeps your body functioning.
When we're discussing bodyweight, we're usually talking more specifically about energy expenditure.
And that's influenced by things including:
Body size.
Body composition.
Activity.
Food intake.
Age.
Sex.
Genetics.
And adaptations to changes in bodyweight and energy intake.
You don't need to hack your metabolism.
You don't need to cleanse it.
And you probably haven't broken it.
Eat appropriately for your goal.
Move.
Lift.
Recover.
Be patient.
Then adjust your approach based on what actually happens.
Portion Sizes: A Simple Guide Without Counting Calories
You can understand protein, carbohydrates, fats and vegetables perfectly well and still have one fairly important question:
How much of them should I actually eat?
There are lots of ways to manage food intake.
You can weigh everything and track calories and macronutrients. That can be extremely useful when accuracy matters, but not everybody wants to spend their life entering tablespoons of olive oil into an app.
At the other end of the spectrum, you can simply eat according to hunger and appetite.
For many people, something in the middle works brilliantly.
One method I've used with clients for years is hand portions.
Your hands are always with you, they're roughly proportionate to your body size, and you don't need to take a set of kitchen scales to a restaurant.
THE HAND PORTION METHOD
As a simple starting point:
PROTEIN = 1 palm
Think meat, fish, eggs, tofu or other protein-rich foods.
VEGETABLES = 1 fist
A fist-sized serving of vegetables or salad.
CARBOHYDRATES = 1 cupped hand
Think rice, pasta, potatoes, oats and similar carbohydrate-rich foods.
FATS = 1 thumb
Think oils, butter, nut butters and other concentrated sources of fat.
These aren't precise measurements.
That's the point.
They're a quick way of estimating portions without weighing and tracking everything you eat.
HOW TO BUILD A MEAL
A perfectly reasonable starting point for a main meal might be:
1–2 palms of protein
1–2 fists of vegetables
1–2 cupped hands of carbohydrate
1–2 thumbs of fat
Notice the ranges.
There isn't a universal "male portion" and "female portion".
A large, highly active woman may require considerably more food than a small, sedentary man. Your requirements are influenced by your body size, activity, training, goals, appetite and the rest of your diet.
So rather than trying to find the perfect portion from a chart, start somewhere sensible and adjust.
PORTIONS AREN'T CALORIES
Hand portions can help you manage how much you're eating, but they're not a particularly accurate way of determining calorie intake.
Two thumb-sized portions of different foods can contain different amounts of energy.
The same applies to palms of protein and handfuls of carbohydrates.
That's fine.
If you need precise nutritional information—for example, you're deliberately targeting a particular calorie or protein intake—tracking food more accurately may be useful.
But many people simply don't require that degree of precision.
The most accurate method isn't necessarily the most useful method if you hate doing it and stop after four days.
ADJUST FOR YOUR GOAL
The initial portions are only a starting point.
Give them enough time to see what happens and then adjust according to the outcome.
If your goal is fat loss
Fat loss requires an energy deficit over time.
If your body weight and measurements aren't changing over a meaningful period, you may need to reduce your overall energy intake.
That could mean slightly reducing portions of calorie-dense foods rather than immediately making every meal tiny.
If your goal is gaining muscle
Building muscle is supported by resistance training, sufficient protein and adequate overall energy.
If you're trying to gain weight and nothing is changing, gradually increasing your portions—particularly foods that make it easier to increase energy and protein intake—may be appropriate.
If your goal is maintaining your weight
If your weight, performance, hunger and energy levels are broadly where you want them, you may not need to change anything.
Nutrition doesn't always need fixing.
PROTEIN DESERVES A LITTLE MORE ATTENTION
If you train regularly, particularly if you're trying to build or retain muscle, getting sufficient protein is useful.
Hand portions can get you surprisingly close without tracking anything.
If you want to be more precise, however, you can set an actual daily protein target rather than trying to reverse-engineer it from the size of your palm.
For exercising adults, somewhere around 1.4–2.0g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is a useful evidence-based range, with individual needs depending on training and circumstances.
You don't have to hit a perfect number every day.
DON'T FORGET THE WHOLE DIET
A plate doesn't have to look identical at every meal.
Maybe breakfast contains very few vegetables.
That's fine.
Maybe you have considerably more carbohydrate around a demanding training session.
Also fine.
Rather than trying to make every individual meal nutritionally perfect, look at what you're eating across the whole day and week.
Are you eating enough protein?
Plenty of fruit and vegetables?
Enough fibre?
Are you fuelling your training?
Does the amount you're eating broadly support your goal?
And—quite importantly—do you actually enjoy your food?
That's much more useful than worrying because Tuesday's lunch contained 1.3 fists of broccoli instead of two.
IN CLOSING
You don't have to count calories to manage how much you eat.
You also don't have to avoid counting calories if you find tracking useful.
Hand portions are simply a tool.
Start with roughly:
1–2 palms protein
1–2 fists vegetables
1–2 cupped hands carbohydrates
1–2 thumbs fats
Then pay attention to what actually happens.
Your portions should be determined by you, your activity and your goals—not by whether you happen to fall on the male or female side of an infographic.
Food Prep: Making Good Nutrition Easier
Good nutrition becomes considerably easier when the food you want to eat is actually available when you need it.
You can have the perfect nutrition plan on paper, but if you finish work at 8pm, you're starving and the only thing in your fridge is half an onion and some questionable cheese, that plan isn't particularly useful.
This is where food prep comes in.
And food prep doesn't have to mean spending your entire Sunday filling identical plastic containers with chicken, rice and broccoli.
Food prep is essentially the art of thinking ahead.
THE BEST PLAN IS ONE YOU CAN ACTUALLY FOLLOW
"Optimal" isn't always optimal for you.
You could design the theoretically perfect diet containing freshly prepared meals, enormous food variety and precisely calculated nutrition.
But if preparing it requires two hours every evening and you hate cooking, it's probably not going to last very long.
Your nutrition needs to work around your actual life.
Work.
Family.
Training.
Socialising.
Travel.
The days when everything goes according to plan—and the days when it absolutely doesn't.
Instead of asking:
"What's the perfect way to eat?"
Ask:
"How can I make eating reasonably well easier this week?"
That's a much more useful question.
LOOK AT THE WEEK AHEAD
You don't necessarily need to prepare seven days of food every Sunday.
Just look ahead.
Where are you going to be?
When are you training?
Which evenings will you get home late?
Are you eating out?
Which meals are likely to be difficult?
Then solve the obvious problems before they become problems.
If you know Wednesday is ridiculous and you'll have ten minutes to eat between clients, Wednesday probably isn't the evening to discover that the chicken takes 45 minutes to cook.
Prepare something beforehand.
Take food with you.
Have something quick available.
Or buy something suitable while you're out.
Preparation doesn't always mean cooking.
BUILDING A MEAL
Meals don't need to follow one perfect formula, but a useful starting point is to think about:
Protein
Fruit and/or vegetables
A source of carbohydrate
Some dietary fat
The amounts will depend on your overall diet, activity and goals.
You can use the hand-portion method from the Portion Sizes guide if you don't want to weigh or track food.
And every meal doesn't need to look perfectly balanced.
Maybe your breakfast doesn't contain vegetables.
The nutrition police aren't coming.
Look at what you're eating across the whole day and week, rather than trying to create a nutritionally perfect plate every three hours.
PLAN YOUR SHOP
Having useful food in the house makes useful food considerably easier to eat.
Before shopping, have some idea of what you're going to make and what you already have.
A basic list can:
Reduce unnecessary purchases
Reduce food waste
Save repeated trips to the supermarket
Make meals easier to put together
Stop you buying six completely unrelated ingredients and hoping they'll somehow become dinner
Online shopping can be particularly useful because you can build your shop around actual meals rather than wandering around a supermarket hungry and discovering that apparently you needed three types of crisps.
KEEP SOME EASY FOOD AROUND
Not every meal needs to involve cooking from scratch.
Convenience is useful.
Things like:
Frozen vegetables
Microwave rice
Tinned beans and pulses
Tinned fish
Pre-cooked grains
Greek-style yoghurt
Eggs
Frozen fruit
Pre-prepared vegetables
Ready-cooked protein sources
Good-quality ready meals
can make eating well considerably easier.
There's nothing nutritionally virtuous about spending 25 minutes chopping vegetables you could have bought frozen.
Sometimes paying someone else to do part of the preparation is an excellent trade.
LEARN A FEW BASIC COOKING SKILLS
You don't need to become a chef.
But being able to confidently prepare a few basic ingredients gives you considerably more control over what you eat.
Learn how to:
Boil — eggs, rice, potatoes, pasta.
Roast — meat, fish and vegetables.
Fry — meat, fish, eggs, tofu and vegetables.
Steam — vegetables, fish and dumplings.
Use an oven or air fryer without incinerating everything.
You don't need fifty recipes either.
Get good at five or six meals you genuinely enjoy and can make without thinking too hard.
Those become your reliable options.
Then gradually add more.
LEARN BASIC KNIFE SKILLS
You don't need to chop an onion like Gordon Ramsay is standing behind you with a stopwatch.
But basic knife skills make cooking quicker, easier and considerably less annoying.
Learn how to safely chop the foods you regularly eat.
Speed comes naturally once you've done it enough.
And if you really hate chopping things?
Buy some of them chopped.
Problem solved.
MAKE FOOD TASTE GOOD
"Healthy" food doesn't have to taste like punishment.
Use:
Herbs
Spices
Garlic
Chilli
Salt and pepper
Lemon and lime
Sauces and condiments
Yes, some sauces and condiments contain calories.
That's okay.
The goal isn't to remove every unnecessary calorie from your food until dinner becomes nutritionally efficient sadness.
If adding some sauce means you genuinely enjoy eating your meal, that's probably a fairly useful addition.
COOK MORE THAN YOU NEED
If you're already cooking something that stores well, making extra portions can save a huge amount of time.
You're cooking tonight's dinner anyway.
Making enough chilli for tomorrow's lunch doesn't require twice as much effort.
Portion the leftovers, refrigerate or freeze them and you've solved another meal before you've even reached it.
That's food prep.
USE YOUR FREEZER
Your freezer is one of the best food-preparation tools you own.
Frozen food isn't nutritionally inferior simply because it's frozen, and freezing leftovers can reduce both waste and the number of times you need to cook.
Freeze meals in useful portions so you don't have to defrost enough chilli to feed a rugby team every time you're hungry.
Label things if you're likely to forget what they are.
Because six months from now, that anonymous brown block could be absolutely anything.
HAVE AN EMERGENCY MEAL
This is one of my favourite strategies.
Have one or two meals available that require almost no effort.
Something you can make in five minutes when you're tired, late or simply can't be bothered.
That might be:
Microwave rice + pre-cooked protein + frozen vegetables + sauce.
Eggs on toast + fruit.
Yoghurt + oats + fruit + nuts.
A decent ready meal with some extra vegetables.
A shake and something simple alongside it.
It doesn't need to be your perfect meal.
It needs to be better than having absolutely no plan when you're starving.
IN CLOSING
Food prep isn't about covering your kitchen in Tupperware.
It's about making tomorrow slightly easier.
Look at what's coming.
Identify the meals that might cause you problems.
Shop accordingly.
Cook extra when it's convenient.
Keep quick options available.
Freeze things before they go bad.
And learn a handful of meals you can reliably make and actually enjoy eating.
The best nutrition plan isn't the one that looks perfect on paper.
It's the one that still works when you're busy, tired and really can't be arsed to cook.
Food Groups: Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats & Vegetables
Nutrition can become unnecessarily complicated very quickly.
Calories. Macros. Micronutrients. Meal timing. Glycaemic index. Supplements. Organic food. Ultra-processed food.
All of these things can matter in the right context, but most people don't need a degree in nutrition to eat well.
For coaching purposes, I like to keep things relatively simple.
Most of the food you eat can be thought about in terms of four broad groups:
Protein
Carbohydrates
Fats
Fruit and vegetables
These aren't perfect scientific categories—foods frequently contain more than one nutrient—but they're a useful way of building meals and thinking about what your diet provides.
PROTEIN
WHAT DOES PROTEIN DO?
Protein provides amino acids that your body uses to build and maintain tissues.
For anyone training regularly, we're particularly interested in its role in repairing, maintaining and building muscle.
Protein is also involved in countless other processes throughout the body, including the production of enzymes, hormones and other important structures.
You don't need to understand all of the biochemistry.
If you're training hard and want to get stronger, build muscle or retain muscle while losing body fat, getting enough protein is useful.
WHERE DO YOU GET PROTEIN?
Common sources include:
Meat
Fish
Eggs
Milk, yoghurt and cheese
Tofu and tempeh
Beans and lentils
Seitan
Protein powders and fortified foods
Foods such as nuts, oats and some vegetables also contain protein, but they're generally less protein-dense than the foods above.
You don't have to eat meat to get enough protein.
You may simply need to give your food choices a little more thought.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN?
For people who exercise regularly, somewhere around 1.4–2.0g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is a useful evidence-based range.
You don't need to obsess over hitting an exact number.
If you don't want to track grams, our hand-portion method provides a simple alternative:
Start with roughly 1–2 palm-sized portions of protein at your main meals.
Spreading protein across several meals throughout the day is also a practical way of reaching your total intake.
And no, your body doesn't suddenly stop absorbing protein because you ate more than 30g in one meal.
CARBOHYDRATES
WHAT DO CARBOHYDRATES DO?
Carbohydrates are an important source of energy.
Once digested, carbohydrate can provide glucose for immediate energy or be stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver.
This becomes particularly useful when you're performing harder, higher-intensity exercise.
Lifting weights.
Running.
Carrying things.
Playing sport.
Picking up enormous rocks for reasons that seemed perfectly sensible at the time.
The harder you're training, the more useful carbohydrate tends to become.
SIMPLE VS COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES
You'll often hear carbohydrates divided into "simple" and "complex", with simple carbs presented as bad and complex carbs as good.
Nutrition isn't quite that tidy.
The way a carbohydrate-containing food affects you depends on much more than whether its carbohydrate molecules are technically simple or complex.
Fibre, processing, cooking, ripeness, portion size and the other foods eaten alongside it can all influence digestion.
The glycaemic index (GI) can tell us something about how carbohydrate-containing foods affect blood glucose under controlled conditions, but it isn't a health-ranking system.
You don't need a GI chart to decide whether you're allowed to eat a potato.
WHAT CARBOHYDRATES SHOULD YOU EAT?
Across your diet, prioritise plenty of nutrient- and fibre-rich sources such as:
Potatoes
Rice
Oats
Wholegrains
Pasta
Beans and pulses
Fruit
Vegetables
But refined carbohydrates aren't forbidden.
White rice can be an excellent training food.
So can bread.
So can pasta.
And sometimes foods containing plenty of sugar are simply foods you enjoy.
Context and quantity matter.
CARBOHYDRATES AROUND TRAINING
Carbohydrate before training can help provide readily available fuel, particularly for demanding or prolonged sessions.
Carbohydrate afterwards can help replenish glycogen.
But unless you're training extremely frequently or competing again shortly afterwards, you generally don't need to sprint towards a bag of sugar the second you finish your final set.
Eat normally.
Your overall diet matters considerably more than hitting a tiny post-workout window.
FAT
WHAT DOES DIETARY FAT DO?
Fat is essential.
Among other things, dietary fat:
Provides energy
Supplies essential fatty acids
Helps us absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K
Contributes to cell membranes
Supports normal hormone production
Is involved in normal nervous-system function
It also makes food taste considerably better, which shouldn't be overlooked.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAT
Broadly, dietary fats include:
Saturated fats
Monounsaturated fats
Polyunsaturated fats, including omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
You don't need to memorise their chemical structures.
For general health, favouring more unsaturated fats while keeping saturated fat within recommended levels is a sensible approach.
Useful sources include:
Olive oil
Nuts and seeds
Avocado
Oily fish
Nut butters
Foods containing saturated fat—such as butter, cheese and fatty meats—don't need to be completely eliminated.
Again, we're looking at the overall diet.
Industrially produced trans fats are best kept very low, but don't confuse that with saying that all processed foods contain dangerous trans fats. They don't.
FAT AND EXERCISE
Your body doesn't operate with a switch that says:
CARBS EMPTY → BEGIN BURNING FAT.
You're using a mixture of energy sources all the time.
The relative contribution changes depending on things like exercise intensity, duration, training status and what you've eaten.
Higher-intensity exercise generally relies more heavily on carbohydrate.
Lower-intensity activity generally derives a greater proportion of its energy from fat.
You don't need to micromanage this.
Your body is remarkably good at doing it without asking you.
FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Fruit and vegetables provide fibre, vitamins, minerals and a huge variety of other compounds.
They're associated with good health for considerably more interesting reasons than simply being "low calorie".
FIBRE
Fibre is carbohydrate that isn't completely digested in the small intestine.
Different types of fibre perform different roles and can support digestive health, bowel function and the gut microbiome.
UK guidance recommends adults aim for around 30g of fibre per day.
Fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds can all contribute.
You don't need to calculate every gram if you don't want to.
Eating a varied plant-rich diet will take you a long way.
MICRONUTRIENTS
Vitamins and minerals are required in much smaller quantities than protein, carbohydrate and fat, but that doesn't make them unimportant.
Eating a varied diet makes it considerably easier to obtain what you need.
Different-coloured fruit and vegetables can provide different nutrients and plant compounds, so eating a variety of colours is a perfectly useful practical recommendation.
But colour isn't a direct measurement of nutritional value.
A cauliflower doesn't become nutritionally useless because it failed to dress brightly enough.
FRESH, FROZEN OR TINNED?
All can be excellent choices.
Fresh vegetables aren't automatically nutritionally superior to frozen ones.
Frozen fruit and vegetables are convenient, last longer and can retain nutrients extremely well.
Tinned options can also be useful—particularly beans, pulses, tomatoes and fruit.
Choose whatever helps you eat them consistently.
WHAT ABOUT FOOD QUALITY?
Food quality matters, but we need to be careful about what we mean by "quality".
The original version of this guide heavily favoured fresh, organic, minimally processed food.
There's nothing wrong with choosing those foods.
But organic doesn't automatically mean more nutritious, processed doesn't automatically mean unhealthy, and expensive doesn't automatically mean better.
Processing includes everything from freezing vegetables and pasteurising milk to turning potatoes into crisps.
Those aren't nutritionally equivalent processes.
Rather than trying to eat "clean", concentrate on building most of your diet around foods that provide useful nutrition while leaving room for foods you simply enjoy.
DOES EVERY MEAL NEED ALL FOUR GROUPS?
No.
The four groups are a framework, not a law.
A useful starting point for many main meals might be:
1–2 palms protein
1–2 fists fruit/vegetables
1–2 cupped hands carbohydrate
1–2 thumbs fat
Then adjust according to your size, activity, appetite and goals.
Some meals will contain more carbohydrate.
Some will contain more fat.
Some foods fit into multiple categories.
And occasionally you'll eat something purely because it's delicious.
That's allowed.
FOOD DOESN'T NEED TO "MAKE YOU STRONGER"
This is another thing I'd change from the original BearWolf approach.
The old guide divided foods into things that would "make you stronger" and foods that should be minimised for efficient results.
I don't think that's particularly useful anymore.
Your diet supports your training. Your training makes you stronger.
No individual food needs to justify its existence by improving your deadlift.
Food also has cultural, social and psychological value.
Birthday cake isn't a failed attempt at broccoli.
It's birthday cake.
The goal is to build an overall diet that supports your health, training and goals without making eating unnecessarily miserable or complicated.
IN CLOSING
You don't need perfect nutrition.
You need enough of the things that matter, consistently enough, over a long enough period.
Get sufficient protein.
Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Include fibre-rich carbohydrate sources.
Get a sensible mixture of dietary fats.
Adjust the amount of food you eat according to your goals.
Then leave enough flexibility to actually enjoy your life.
Good nutrition isn't about making the perfect decision every time you eat.
It's about building a pattern of eating that supports what you want to do—and that you can realistically continue doing.
Calories: What They Are & Do You Need to Count Them?
Calories have acquired a slightly strange reputation.
Some people obsess over them.
Some people insist they don't matter.
Some people seem personally offended by their existence.
In reality, a calorie is simply a unit of energy.
Food and drink provide energy. Your body uses energy to keep you alive, move around, digest food, regulate temperature, exercise and generally go about your day.
Understanding that relationship can be incredibly useful—without necessarily counting every calorie you eat.
ENERGY BALANCE
Changes in body weight are governed by energy balance.
Put simply:
If you consistently consume more energy than you expend, your body weight tends to increase.
If you consistently consume less energy than you expend, your body weight tends to decrease.
If energy intake and expenditure are roughly matched over time, your body weight tends to remain relatively stable.
That's the basic principle.
But there's an important phrase in there:
Over time.
Your body isn't a spreadsheet that resets itself at midnight.
BODY WEIGHT DOESN'T MOVE PERFECTLY WITH CALORIES
You could be in a calorie deficit and weigh more tomorrow morning.
That doesn't mean energy balance has stopped working.
Your scale weight also includes:
Water
Glycogen
Food travelling through your digestive system
Waste
Body tissue
Training, carbohydrate intake, salt, hydration and numerous other factors can change these from one day to another.
So if fat loss or weight gain is your goal, look at the trend across weeks, rather than panicking about individual weigh-ins.
YOU DON'T NEED TO "BURN OFF" YOUR FOOD
One thing I'd avoid is thinking:
"I burned 400 calories training, so I can eat 400 calories."
Firstly, estimates of calories burned during exercise aren't perfectly accurate.
More importantly, exercise isn't simply a transaction where you exchange burpees for biscuits.
Your total daily energy expenditure includes much more than formal exercise.
There's the energy required simply to keep you alive, the energy involved in digesting food, your everyday movement and activity, and your training.
All of this contributes to your total expenditure.
Think about overall energy balance, rather than trying to match individual foods with individual workouts.
CALORIES AND FOOD QUALITY ARE DIFFERENT THINGS
If two diets provide the same amount of energy, they don't necessarily provide the same nutrition.
Calories tell us about energy.
They don't tell us everything about:
Protein
Fibre
Vitamins and minerals
Essential fatty acids
How filling a food is
How enjoyable it is
How convenient it is
How it affects your training
This is why both food quantity and food quality matter.
If you're trying to lose body fat, energy intake matters.
If you're trying to be healthy, strong and perform well, what that energy comes from matters too.
CALORIE DENSITY
Some foods contain considerably more calories for their size than others.
This is known as energy density.
Fat provides around 9 calories per gram, while carbohydrate and protein provide around 4 calories per gram. Water contributes volume without providing calories.
This is one reason foods containing lots of water and fibre—such as many fruits and vegetables—can provide a large volume of food for relatively few calories.
Compare 100 calories of chocolate with 100 calories of broccoli and you'll have dramatically different amounts of food in front of you.
That doesn't make chocolate bad.
It just means that if you're trying to eat fewer calories while managing hunger, food volume can be useful.
HIGH-CALORIE DOESN'T MEAN UNHEALTHY
This is worth making clear.
Nuts are calorie-dense.
Olive oil is calorie-dense.
Avocado is relatively calorie-dense.
None of them becomes a bad food because of that.
Likewise, processing doesn't automatically make a food high in calories or nutritionally poor.
The useful question isn't:
"Is this food fattening?"
It's:
"How does this food fit into my overall diet and goals?"
WHAT ABOUT "EMPTY CALORIES"?
I don't particularly like the term.
Alcohol, sugary drinks, sweets and similar foods can provide plenty of energy while contributing relatively little protein, fibre or micronutrition.
That's useful to understand.
But they aren't literally empty.
They contain calories, and sometimes enjoyment, convenience, cultural significance or a social role.
If fat loss is your goal, reducing calorie-containing drinks, alcohol or foods that provide lots of calories without making you particularly full can be an easy way to reduce your overall intake.
That doesn't necessarily mean eliminating them.
DO YOU NEED TO COUNT CALORIES?
No.
Calorie tracking is a tool, not a requirement.
I've successfully coached plenty of people who never weighed a gram of food.
For many people, our hand-portion method is enough.
You might start with something like:
1–2 palms of protein
1–2 fists of fruit or vegetables
1–2 cupped hands of carbohydrate
1–2 thumbs of fat
Then adjust those portions according to your goals, appetite, activity and progress.
It's deliberately approximate.
And sometimes approximate is all you need.
WHEN CALORIE TRACKING CAN BE USEFUL
Some people prefer numbers.
Tracking food can give you a much clearer picture of how much energy and protein you're actually consuming.
That can be particularly useful when:
Your progress has stalled.
You want greater precision.
You're learning about the calorie content of different foods.
You have a specific performance or body-composition goal.
Or you simply enjoy working with data.
You might weigh food and log it using an app, then work towards a calorie and macronutrient target.
This requires more effort, but provides more information.
CALORIE TRACKING ISN'T MORE DISCIPLINED
I would definitely change this part of the original.
Tracking calories doesn't make somebody more disciplined than someone using portions.
And not tracking doesn't mean someone lacks discipline.
They're simply different methods of managing the same underlying thing.
One person might love numbers and find tracking incredibly easy.
Another might become completely fed up with weighing peanut butter within three days.
If hand portions get you where you want to go, brilliant.
If calorie tracking makes the process easier, use it.
If you need more precision temporarily, track for a while and reassess.
Use the least complicated method that reliably produces the result you need.
CALORIE TARGETS ARE ESTIMATES
Even when we calculate someone's calorie requirements, we're still starting with an estimate.
Equations can give us a sensible starting point, but they don't know exactly how much you move, how your activity changes between days or how your body responds.
Food labels and tracking apps aren't perfectly precise either.
So don't treat a calculated target like an instruction handed down on a stone tablet.
Start somewhere sensible.
Follow it consistently.
Monitor what happens.
Then adjust.
FAT LOSS
To lose body fat, you need to maintain an energy deficit over time.
That doesn't mean:
Eat as little as possible.
A larger deficit isn't automatically better.
You still want enough food to support your health, training, recovery and ability to actually stick to the plan.
The goal isn't to discover how few calories you can survive on.
It's to find an intake that produces appropriate progress while allowing you to live and train reasonably well.
GAINING WEIGHT AND MUSCLE
If you want to gain weight, the principle works in the opposite direction.
You need enough energy to support an increase in body mass.
If the goal is specifically to build muscle, that should be combined with progressive resistance training and sufficient protein.
Eating an enormous calorie surplus doesn't automatically build muscle faster.
At some point you're simply gaining additional body fat.
Again:
More isn't automatically better.
IN CLOSING
Calories matter.
But that doesn't mean everybody needs to count them.
Energy balance determines whether body energy stores increase or decrease over time, while food quality, protein, fibre, training, activity, sleep and behaviour all influence how successfully you can achieve your goals.
You can manage your intake using calorie tracking.
You can manage it using portions.
You can sometimes manage it simply by changing a few consistent eating habits.
The underlying physiology doesn't change.
The best method is the simplest one that gives you enough control to get where you want to go.