New Year, New Nutrition? Simplify.

I saw a video the other day that said:

“Drinking Cold Water Is Wrecking Your Health”

And it listed 5 ways drinking water was bad for you - drinking it with meals dilutes your stomach acid, necking it instead of sipping it means you won’t absorb any of it, cold water gives you chlamydia, stuff like that.

And I thought, “**** off Instagram… **** all the way off - I know a bloke who drinks 16 coffees a day!”.

There are a lot of people out there who hydrate solely through caffeinated beverages and alcohol, and someone - probably well-meaning - on Instagram is having a pop at people who are apparently drinking water wrong…  You see the same thing with diet - “eating raw tomatoes is wrecking your health! Cooked tomatoes have 35% more of the antioxidant lycopene…”

Here’s what I think… I think that in order to get noticed on social media you have to make outrageous claims... And I also think that by taking something simple - something like drinking water - and making it complicated, you can do more harm than good…

Yes, you can refine things, and yes, you can get 1% better, but you can also give people who drink 16 coffees a day 5 reasons to carry on drinking 16 coffees a day…

Most people aren’t at 99% trying to optimize up to 100% - a lot of people are at maybe 25% and would like to feel slightly better…

We’re at that time of year where people completely ignore their start point and aim for perfection… The problem is perfection 1. has been made complicated and 2. is radically different from their current / previous habits.

Don’t let perfect put you off - don’t let perfect get in the way of better.

Because there is so much information out there, and because there is so much competition for attention, this has created thousands of advanced protocols… The simple things, the foundations, the things that will get you the first 90% of your results (but have absolutely no sex appeal) got buried by youtube and google decades ago…

So here’s what I do… It’s super simple, quite flexible, and very easy to get to grips with - like, it takes a day or two, then you don’t even have to think…

1 pint of water first thing.

2 meals for function, 1 for fun. 

A functional meal = protein + 1 or 2 servings of fruit or vegetables. Protein = 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. Split protein evenly between the number of meals each day. Eg. 3 meals @ 180lbs = 60g protein per meal. Last meal of the day is for fun; this “fun” meal will likely have your protein, social and psychological needs covered If you eat more meals - say 5 - then it’s 4 for function, 1 for fun…

Most people massively overestimate how varied their meals are - knock up one or two go-to meals, then after a day or two, you have very little thinking to do...

There we have it; simple, effective, very flexible, with absolutely zero marketability… Get used to that for a while, and if you want something more advanced after that, you have at least grasped the basics…

Cheers,

~ Collins