Recently I’ve been studying to obtain a nutrition qualification with Precision Nutrition
I thought you might be interested to read their 10 nutrition rules. These are for good health but can be adapted very easily if you are an endurance athlete.
Here are the 10 rules
1. Eat every 2-4 hours.
Are you doing this – no matter what? Now, you don’t need to eat a full meal every 2-3 hours but you do need to eat 6-8 meals and snacks that conform to the other rules below.
2. Eat complete, lean protein each time you eat.
Are you eating something that was an animal or comes from an animal – every time you feed yourself? If not, make the change. Note: If you’re a vegetarian, this rule still applies – you need complete protein and need to find non-animal sources.
3. Eat vegetables every time you eat.
That’s right, in addition to a complete, lean protein source, you need to eat some vegetables every time you eat (every 2-3 hours, right?). You can toss in a piece of fruit here and there as well. But don’t skip the veggies.
4. Eat carbs only when you deserve to.
strategies for success 6 Well, not ALL carbs – eat fruits and veggies whenever you want. And if want to eat a carbohydrate that’s not a fruit or a vegetable (this includes things like simple sugars, rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, etc), you can – but you’ll need to save it until after you’ve exercised. Yes, these often heavily processed grains are dietary staples in North America, but heart disease, diabetes and cancer are medical staples – and there’s a relationship between the two! To stop heading down the heart disease highway, reward yourself for a good workout with a good carbohydrate meal right after (your body best tolerates these carbohydrates after exercise). For the rest of the day, eat your lean protein and a delicious selection of fruits and veggies.
5. Learn to love healthy fats.
There are 3 types of fat – saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Forget about that old “eating fat makes you fat” maxim. Eating all three kinds of fat in a healthy balance (about equal parts of each) can dramatically improve your health, and even help you lose fat. Your saturated fat should come from your animal products and you can even toss in some butter or coconut oil for cooking. Your monounsaturated fat should come from mixed nuts, olives, and olive oil. And your polyunsaturated fat should from flaxseed oil, fish oil, and mixed nuts.
6. Ditch the calorie containing drinks (including fruit juice).
In fact, all of your drinks should come from non-calorie containing beverages. Fruit juice, alcoholic drinks, and sodas – these are all to be removed from your daily fare. Your best choices are water and green tea.
7. Focus on whole foods.
Most of your dietary intake should come from whole foods. There are a few times where supplement drinks and shakes are useful. But most of the time, you’ll do best with whole, largely unprocessed foods.
8. Have 10% foods.
I know you cringed at a few of the rules above. But here’s the thing: 100% nutritional discipline is never required for optimal progress. The difference, in results, between 90% adherence to your nutrition program and 100% adherence is negligible. So you can allow yourself “10% foods” – foods that break rules, but which you’ll allow yourself to eat (or drink, if it’s a beverage) 10% of the time. Just make sure you do the math and determine what 10% of the time really means. For example, if you’re eating 6 meals per day for 7 days of the week – that’s 42 meals. 10% of 42 is about 4. Therefore you’re allowed to “break the rules” on about 4 meals each week.
9. Develop food preparation strategies.
The hardest part about eating well is making sure you can follow the 8 rules above consistently. And this is where preparation comes in. You might know what to eat, but if isn’t available, you’ll blow it when it’s time for a meal.
10. Balance daily food choices with healthy variety.
Let’s face it, when you’re busy during the week, you’re not going to be spending a ton of time whipping up gourmet meals. During these times you’re going to need a set of tasty, easy to make foods that you can eat day in and day out. However, once every day or a few times a week, you need to eat something different, something unique and tasty to stave off boredom and stagnation.
You can find out more about Precision Nutrition by visiting their website www.PrecisionNutrition.com
Stay healthy & have fun
16 Comments
10:01 am
Jack Maitland
Very much agree with what Simon says here. If you’d like to know a bit more about why some of the things he is advising are contrary to the advice we’ve been getting for many years then a good place to start is Duncan Shea-Simonds’ blog. Link here:
http://thetriathletesguidetothegalaxy.blogspot.com/2011/02/ive-been-meaning-to-write-blog-entry.html
This one explains why fat is good for you. Further blog posts on other aspects of nutrition are well worth a read too. Jack
1:00 pm
Sheila Houghton
I use this type diet always because I like healthy food and because of the job I which requires me to be fit but I’ve just learned about carbs not being eaten before excercise, so the tip about carbs giving energy for working out or an event doesn’t work?
2:09 pm
Dan Cole
Interesting article. I’ve tried to make most of these changes already but the one I, and I suspect many others, struggle with is #4: no carbs as a general part of diet. I can’t seem to cut out at least some carbs in the morning (e.g. whole grain muesli or porridge) – although I find it much easier to cut out carbs later in the day.
8:37 am
TTC
Hi Dan, The nutrition rules as they are shown are probably a bit more biased to those intending to lose weight rather than those involved in ultra endurance events. However having spent 12 months studying this information I do think that most endurance athletes eat far too many carbs. I don’t think eating porridge for breakfast is too much of a problem, I do the same myself. What I have done is reduce the quantity of starchy carbs (unless eaten right after training) and try to get them from vegetables and beans instead
8:44 pm
Andy Brook-Dobson
Interesting article Simon & follow up Jack – an observation and a question:
Observation – not sure I fully agree with point 6 re green tea. My understanding is that green tea usually contains caffeine: something I avoid completely (an interesting article here: http://www.alivefoods.com/coffee.html)
Question – Jack, as a vegetarian how do you get your quality proteins?
Thanks
Andy
8:33 am
TTC
Hi Andy, I think there’s a fair amount of evidence that green tea can help speed up the metabolism as well as provide anti oxidants. Obviously if you avoid caffeine then it snot for you but that doesnt mean that its inherently a bad product
12:18 pm
Rob Bateman
So many elites do fine on a pretty carefree diet,just not too much bad stuff. What is the empirical diet today is out dated next year or advice to the contrary printed in same mag the next month. Until I can do a sub 3 hour mara I don’t think it’s going to make to much difference
8:32 am
TTC
Hi Rob, I’d be looking at this the other way around. What can you do to get under 3 hours. Good nutrition is about more than just athletic performance. Its about life health. The 10 rules aren’t really very far away from what most athletes are following anyway.
8:14 pm
Stevie Aitch
Well according to these rules I am eating far too many carbs – I always thought I needed to get some carbs prior to exercise and as part of my other meals/snacks, but it’s true that I would like to shed a couple of Kgs so yeah I’m definitely going to take some of this on board.
Also that green tea had me fooled – however the actual amount of caffeine must be tiny as I have a cup prior to bedtime and I can sleep no problem (sure it’s a personal thing but in general I avoid caffeine and wouldn’t be able to sleep after a full-strength coffee).
11:13 am
TTC
Hi Steve, I think that research has shown some people don’t not react to caffeine. I have a friend who is able to drink an espresso after after dinner without it affecting his sleep pattern.
12:47 pm
Dreama
You have the mnopoloy on useful information-aren’t monopolies illegal?
12:21 pm
TTC
Thanks I’ll take that as a complement
2:29 pm
Keith Pepper
Reading your 10 rules on nutrition, number 8 ‘Have 10% Foods’ got me thinking about coaching/training in general. As a coach ‘all’ of my sessions written for clients have a specific goal or requirement to be met. Taking the above rule into consideration if a client has 10 sessions a week then at least one session a week should break the rules, and let the client relax and enjoy themselves. To try and explain better when I discussed this with a client he pointed out that he never just went to the pool with his kids as he used to. So I told him that one time instead of following what I had told him to do that he should take his kids to the pool and have a splash around with them. Any body who has kids knows that this is probably harder work out than swimming lengths, it gives the client a ‘break’ and gets him to spend time with his children. Sometimes as coaches maybe we forget we are dealing with ‘normal’ people and not with professional triathletes.
6:06 pm
TTC
Hi Keith
I think that is a really good idea and I’ll try that myself. Thanks for the suggestion. keep up the good work
7:09 pm
Duncan Shea-Simonds
Bloody brilliant Si! How great to finally start swing such great advice being made available to athletes!
Certainly, if this is an example of the type of information that will be expanded upon during your studies, then your qualification will be invaluable. Sadly this is unlike so many “nutritionist qualifications” that seem to think it’s enough to perpetuate the age old dietary myths that fat is bad and we should all be living off a diet derived from a high percentage of carbohydrates.
Well done mate!!
Dunc
P.S. Thanks for the shout out Jack!!
4:26 pm
Lou Barron
Hi I take it you mean no carb drinks for times outside of training? Otherwise you won’t gain the muscular adaptation without the presence of carbohydrate and performance will suffer over long vOlumes?