There’s no shortage of nutrition advice on the web. In fact, even Amazon hosts over 70,000 cookbooks!
I find that staggering. Is eating – such a basic human need – really this complex?
Whatever happened to Michael Pollan’s timeless advice from In Defense of Food?
Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.
Rather than common-sense, flexible approaches to nutrition we’re left with dogmatic rules that force us to think about our food choices all day long.
Today, we have “experts” promoting diets that require supplementation (does that seem optimal to you?).
Or diets that mandate that you score every single piece of food you put into your body.
Perhaps the worst offenders are macronutrient diets that require you to calculate the percentages of fat, protein, and carbohydrate for every meal, snack, and bite of food that you consume.
There’s a better way. I prefer enjoying my food, thankyouverymuch.
But it’s interesting that elite athletes rarely – if ever – follow strict diets:
- Jesse Thomas, pro triathlete
- Kimber Mattox, pro obstacle course racer
- Ariana Hilborn, elite marathoner
If the best runners in the world aren’t following a formal diet, what IS the best way to eat?
Thankfully, you don’t have to listen to this running coach talk about eating for performance. We brought you the industry’s top certified professional to do that: a Registered Dietitian.
Heather Caplan, RD on Performance Nutrition
Heather Caplan is a Registered Dietitian, certified running coach, and host of the RD Real Talk Podcast.
She’s also the former Head of Nutrition and Coaching at tech startup Spright, Inc. She’s also worked in corporate wellness coaching and public health nutrition counseling.
Her work has been featured in national media such as Runner’s World, The Washington Post, Women’s Running, Outside Online, and others.
Heather is on the podcast today to answer YOUR nutrition questions:
- Are superfoods legit?
- What’s her hot take on fasting and the vegan diet?
- How much meat is too much?
- Can nutrition play a role in injury prevention?
- And more!
This is a very wide-ranging discussion based on your answers to my Twitter question here. If you like this format of podcast, we have two more you can download here!
Download the episode on iTunes or on the Stitcher platform.
Show Resources & Links:
- IntuiveEating.org
- Intuitive Eating
- Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From The People Who’ve Lived the Longest
- Heather’s website
- Heather on Twitter
- More Registered Dietitian Q&A (2-part series)
Related Podcast Episodes:
- Ask the RD: Booze, Low Iron, and Healthy Snacks
- Author Matt Fitzgerald on ‘The Endurance Diet’
- How Does Pregnancy Impact Nutrition and Running?
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite player so you don’t miss a single episode.
And if you’re a fan, your honest review on Apple Podcasts will help us reach new runners!
