Get A Pulse on Your Nutrition

Good nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated, but people often make it that way. Quite often it’s due to the amount of conflicting research and opinions online, so it’s confusing and people don’t know where to start, often then doing nothing.

At its core, good nutrition should:

• Fuel your training

• Support recovery and have you feeling fresh

• Maintain health

• Be repeatable under real life conditions

If your diet only works when life is perfect, it’s not a good diet. We covered this in a recent email “How to Stop the ON / OFF Cycle!” – if you haven’t read that yet, we give great advice on making sure you’re realistic with your training and nutrition prescriptions and knowing when to return to “basecamp”.

To make an audit on your nutrition habits, ask yourself these four questions:

Am I hitting my daily protein target most days?
A good range is 1.6-2g per kg of bodyweight. Most people undereat on protein. If you do too, then this is your first priority.

Am I eating enough fibre (fruit, veg, whole foods)?
30-40g is usually appropriate in most cases. But an easy marker to follow is to consume 2 fist-sized portions of veg per day and at least 2 pieces of fruit. Provided you’re consuming some form of carbohydrates each day like oats, rice, potatoes or whole grains, then this will support your fibre quota. 

Without this, impaired digestion, low energy, and cravings often seep in.

Am I hydrated?
Most people underestimate how much water impacts performance and recovery.

As a basic rule, 3-4L of fluid is plenty, ideally not including coffee.

Is most of my food coming from minimally processed sources?

This doesn’t mean eating “clean” 24/7 or avoiding convenience foods entirely. But the majority of your intake should come from foods that still resemble their original form, and haven’t been heavily altered to improve shelf life.

A good rule to follow is that if it once came from the ground or had a heartbeat, it’s a good foundation for you to build on.

Wherever you answered “no” in the nutrition test, this is where improvement should happen first.

No tracking apps.
No extreme rules.
No overthinking.

Fix one thing at a time, build momentum, and let consistency do the heavy lifting.

Good nutrition isn’t about doing more, and it certainly doesn’t need to be over complicated. For most it’s about doing the basics very well, for a long time.