Optimizing Your Diet for Peak Performance with Pip Taylor

Our guest today is a nutritionist and authority on using proper nutritional habits to get your body race day ready. Her name is Pip Taylor, a professional dietitian, sports dietitian, and triathlete. She has been competing internationally for 15 years. She has won the ICU World Cup and many Ironman Triathlons. She has also represented her home country of Australia numerous times on the international stage.

Today we will discuss the following:

• How fear can ruin a diet change.
• What factors affect our response to food.
• Why changing nutrition doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Pip grew up in a health focused family, her mother was a doctor and her career as an athlete lead to a self discovery for her body/diet balance. She spent years listening to her body and made changes accordingly. To Pip there are several aspects to food, such as traditions, childhood favorites, and cultural norms.

Pip’s book Athlete’s Fix is a program for finding the best foods for personal improvement. It teaches readers how to identify the universal good foods and tracking what is bad for them. That could be gluten or lactose, but it is different for everyone. Food intolerance is very different than a food allergy. Food intolerance is a minor discomfort, whereas an allergy can be life threatening.

Athlete’s Fix is ideal for anyone who is looking to improve their nutrition. There is no “strange” food, just a new way to prepare it. So many people shy away from diet change because of the fear of people’s opinions or expectations. Pip reminds the listener that there is always an option on most menus. Be comfortable with your food choices and plan ahead. 

Pip believes that people can’t overcome intolerances. That is why it is best to identify the food intolerance and just avoid them. The book can also help readers identify any GI issues or hormonal factors. So many people get caught up in the idea of “I can’t” verses “I choose not to.” Once the attitude changes, then making these food changes becomes easier.

Other topics we discuss are:

• Why refined carbs are not the best fuel for a runner
  
• Why is grass feed meat sources better for us?
• Why protein becomes more important with age?

Optimizing Your Diet for Peak Performance with Pip Taylor