A new year, a new way to approach your training regime.

I’ve already had multiple athletes contact me this year expressing their desire to up their game for 2019 and they wanted to start with dialing in their diet!

First, I hate the word diet, second, I am a proponent of the word lifestyle. In fact, through my years of being a private chef, nothing is more frustrating than someone asking me about different fads and countless gimmick diets. It’s not that I don’t want to answer them, it’s just that, I have found that there is no quick fix and consistency is the key to success.
Unless you have a specific plan in place, you will first need the following, or else you are just merely eating.

1. The fuel (food) you need for your specific sport that your coach, dietician, team has set for you,
2. The amount of food (portion control),
3. The timing of the food (what are your intake times in correlation with your training sessions),
4. Hydration and timing (consistency-daily basis)
5. The quality of the food/ what can you afford? (organic, conventional, eco-based, belief system)

I like to talk to my athletes, discuss their goals, their dreams, their workouts, their optimum weight goal, family, friends and THEN- create a meal plan, analyze it, taste it, test it and continue to make the necessary adjustments. You do all of this and then you repeat, until you have a game plan, for off season, training camps and then the season. Bottom line is that, I have found, one size does NOT fit all!

I don’t disagree that changing the fueling intake of an athlete will have a significant impact and an immediate improvement with an athlete and their training program. What I don’t like seeing is what I call, the “7-11” technique. What is the “7-11” technique? it’s when an athlete hires a personal or private chef and has him or her, cook whatever they want. Or, it’s the same when an athlete purchases food from a company that makes weekly meals and you just order and pick it up. All an athlete is doing, in my opinion, is buying convenience; “7-11”.

To recap, WE, meaning the general population, are not trained on how to grocery shop, prep, cook or create meals. So, the bottom line is that we need to create new habits, skill sets and meal plans that are compatible with our age, sex, demographics and as an athlete, their sport and position.

Much more needs to be addressed when thinking about changing your eating and shopping habits. It’s not simple and it’s not easy. But when you take the time to stop, think and analysis changing your lifestyle eating plans, there is no doubt, that by addressing your fueling intake, you can gain incredible results for 2019! Got you thinking?