Practical and Precision Nutrition: Dr. John Berardi

The next JB up on the Wellinspired favorites list is Dr. John Berardi, Ph.D., a thought leader in the field of nutrition.  You can view his credentials here.   His education and work speak for themselves, and I'll only provide a glimpse of his accomplishments today.   I was first introduced to one of his biggest successes, the Precision Nutrition (PN) lifestyle, about five years ago.  It basically has a few core principles.  First, your nutritional breakdown at each meal can be broken into anytime (AT) or post workout (PW).  With AT, you consume a lower amount of carbohydrates whereas, with PW, your carbs intake is a bit higher.  It all depends on your activity level.  This makes perfect sense.  Second, you consume more frequent meals every 2-3 hours.  Third, eat your veggies and include protein at each meal.   

Personally, I mostly apply the first (appropriate carbs based on activity level) and the third (veggies + protein at each meal).  The carbs thinking by segmenting AT and PW is a simple concept but extremely critical.   It takes discipline but is well worth the effort.  As for the meal frequency, let's assume 16 hours of available eating time and 8 hours of sleep time.   I've tried more frequent (4-6x) vs. less frequent (2-3x) eating using the PN system and, personally, had more success with less frequent eating (3x/day).   However, it should be noted that the more frequent eating works for many people and so it is a very useful concept.  

One of the most attractive factors in Dr. Berardi's thinking and program is the practicality.  The recommendations and advice given in the PN Strategies is worth remembering.  For me, being continuously on the go, compliance to the PN system can be stressful if you don't plan accordingly.  Things like prepping your veggies or cooking more than one meal's worth of meat can be lifesavers.  Using the PN System, here's my advice:  Keep it simple.  Plan.  Follow what works.  Repeat.   If it is not working, think about making some changes.

Furthermore, Dr. Berardi has just launched his latest venture is Scrawny to Brawny (S2B) and you can view the details here.  The Program Director of S2B is Nate Green, another nutritional and fitness expert, who I will cover in a future post.

Keep up the great work Dr. JB!  Thanks for all your healthy contributions!