“Just like in the gym where we consistently work to improve our fitness, we can do the same with our nutrition.  Nutrition is the key to better (race/game/competition) performance & overall long-term health.  If your performance and/or your health has plateaued (or even degraded), it might be time to take a good look at your nutrition & consider nutrition coaching for better fitness & health.

The 1st step to improving your nutrition is to assess where you currently are…kind of like finding the “You are here” on a map.  Once you identify your starting point, your goal(s) can become quite clear.  What may be more difficult to identify is just how to adjust your path to achieve those goals—that next destination(s) on the map.

For many people, how best to adjust their path is unknown or difficult.  They are often confused by all kinds of options that can create detours.  Worse yet, they might head down a path that brings them right back to where they started…with little to no progress.

If this scenario sounds familiar, you might benefit from a guide – a Nutrition Coach – to effectively, efficiently, & safely help you find the right path.  Luke Skywalker needed Obi-Wan Kenobi & Yoda to guide him on his journey to become a Jedi.  You are no different!

A Nutrition Coach should help you…

1. Assess where you currently are
2. Help you define which aspects of your nutrition & lifestyle need improvement
3. Help you create small, simple habit adjustments that, over time, will bring you closer to your goal(s)
4. Help you gather objective (body weight, body fat percentage, lean body mass, bone density) & subjective data (mood, energy levels, how clothes fit, how you look in the mirror, how you feel about seeing yourself in that mirror) to quantify progress.
5. Help you gather performance/fitness data (VO2 Max, carbon dioxide tolerance, exercise times/distances, movement abilities, weightlifting amounts, CrossFit Benchmark test results)

Additional objective data that may help your nutrition coach are:

• Bloodwork
• Performance of heart & blood vessels, liver, pancreas, kidneys
• Hormone levels
• Fat/carbohydrate metabolism
• Metabolic conditions

(See end of article for a more complete list of tests that can be done.)

After all assessments have been done, some nutrition education may be necessary.  Your nutrition coach should help you define what ‘nutrition’ is & what standards will help support long-term, whole-body health & general physical preparedness.

Health standards might include:

1. Sleeping well & enough
2. Maintaining a hydration & electrolyte balance
3. Eating enough whole & unprocessed foods (meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds, some starches, little fruit, NO sugar) to support exercise & reduce body fat

One of the most important reasons to work with a nutrition coach is that they can help you connect how your actions over time have resulted in your current situation.  As an objective voice, they can help you decide which small & simple habit adjustments you need to make day-to-day, week-to-week & month-to-month to reach your goals.  Most people fail to reach their goals because they make 180-deg, night-&-day, cold-turkey changes…which generally don’t last.  This is why those small, simple adjustments, which help you rack up ‘wins’ one at a time, are so effective.  By making reasonable & doable changes, you’ll more efficiently hit the ‘right’ checkpoints & navigate the ‘right’ path towards your goal destination.

Before you would know it, you’ll be Luke, the Jedi Master!

‘May the Forks be with you!’

Here’s an example of how Audacious CrossFit Nutrition Coaching works:

1st month: 

• Weekly Meetings via Zoom
• Conduct Assessments & Education
• Set initial Small & Simple Habit Adjustments

2nd month:

• Bi-Weekly Meetings via Zoom
• Continued Education
• Revisit & Progress those initial Small & Simple Habit Adjustments

3rd month:

• Bi-Weekly Meetings via Zoom
• Continued Education
• Continue to Revisit & Progress initial Small & Simple Habit Adjustments
• Conduct Re-Assessments

Sheree, a local athlete started Nutrition Coaching at the beginning of 2023 & has seen some great results:

Prior to working with Albert, I bonked during endurance events if I didn’t fuel constantly.  I haven’t bonked once since I started working on nutrition with Albert.  In fact, I completed a century bike ride in June with only stopping to eat 3 times & I felt great the whole time.  I highly recommend nutrition coaching with Albert!  Sheree K.

If you’d like more info about Albert Lu & Audacious CrossFit, click here.  If you’d like to sign up for Nutrition Coaching, click here.

List of Objective Health Tests:

Blood Glucose
Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)
Insulin
Triglycerides
Total Cholesterol
High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL)
Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL)
Very Low-Density Lipoprotein (vLDL)
Alanine Transaminase (ALT)
Aspartate Transaminase (AST)
High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hsCRP)
Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1)
Testosterone
Cortisol
Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate (DHEAS)
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG)
Estrogen
Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH)
Luteinizing Hormone (LH)
Growth Hormone
Triiodothyronine (T3)
Thyroxine (T4)
Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH)
Sodium (Na)
Potassium (K)
Chloride (Cl)
Phosphorous (P)
Calcium (Ca)
Bicarbonate [to measure Carbon Dioxide (CO2)]
Albumin
Creatinine
Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN)
Magnesium (Mg)