Want to hear a hard truth? Chasing a specific body fat percentage will not guarantee results in the health or aesthetic department, and it shouldn’t be your primary fitness goal.

Nutrients are obtained from naturally occurring sources in the diet, the environment, fortified foods, and supplementation. With this, nutrients are considered essential if the human body is unable to synthesise them, or cannot synthesis them in an adequate quantity to support health demands. For example…

Sugar is nothing to inherently fear - in fact it’s a vital energy source (such as the glucose in your blood stream and central nervous system) and it also helps to create the backbone of plant structures.

The above infographic illustrates different forms of measuring progress in both a subjective and objective manner. As coaches, we utilise and encourage using a wide variety of these tools to ensure our clients are progressing toward their personal health and fitness goals.

Worldwide, there are many renditions of what constitutes a healthy dietary pattern. However, from what’s cited in the literature, there appears to be a few core nutritional components that are recommended globally.

If you’re seeking a supplement to hang your hat on, look no further than caffeine.

It is recommended that you consume dietary fat from a variety of sources to assist with adequate micronutrient intake, dietary diversity, and an appropriate ratio of poly:mono:saturated sources of fat. When looking beyond energy intake (1g fat = 9 calories), food choices that are rich in dietary fat will provide a unique profile of micronutrients, fibre types, and macronutrients.

Weight loss and fat loss are often used synonymously when describing body composition goals, however it’s important to recognise their differences.

Building muscle mass is a relatively slow and tedious process, and realistically only so much can be gained in a given period of time.

In the world of nutrition there are an endless number of dietary beliefs pertaining to what we should eat. However, hopefully we can all agree upon one thing - plants are pretty darn good for us!