The Ideal Nutrition Blog | Ideal Nutrition

25 May 2022

Can You Cook With Olive Oil? A Dietitians Review

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) in general is good for us. But how about cooking with olive oil? Some common questions you may have, are: Is cooking with olive oil bad for you?Are the health benefits of olive oil diminished after it has been cooked?Does the smoke point matter?Should I use another oil when cooking? Background on the Some of the Typical Benefits of EVOO The leading cause of death in 2020 was ischaemic heart disease-causing 49% of overall deaths. Ischaemic heart disease occurs when a high amount of cholesterol builds up inside blood vessels. This accumulation causes cholesterol to get…

24 May 2022

By Tyler Brooks

Vitamin D: Are you deficient and what to do about it?

Vitamin D (also called calcitriol) is a fat-soluble vitamin that is well known for its role in absorbing calcium from the small intestine, bone mineralisation, and for regulating calcium and phosphorous levels in the blood and bones. Calcium and phosphorous are critical for building and maintaining healthy bones, but vitamin D has many other roles in the body. These include immune system function, reducing respiratory illness, and potential protection against diabetes, hypertension, dementia, and even certain cancers. Vitamin D has many other potential health optimisation considerations in which research is still developing. Where do we get it? 80 to 100%…

18 May 2022

By Leah Higl

What To Do When You Blow Your Calorie Budget

Have you ever wondered "what should I do if I eat more than my planned calories while in a deficit?" As dietitians, this is a question we get asked all of the time and is a common concern for those undertaking a fat loss phase. Everyone, even the most consistent people, are bound to go off track a day here and there. Whether it is a meal out with friends or a few drinks with work colleagues on a Friday afternoon. So what do you do after this happens? Energy Balance - A Quick Recap Let’s quickly revisit energy balance…

17 May 2022

By Aidan Muir

How To Improve Sleep With Nutrition: Everything You Need To Know

Nutrition plays a role in our sleep and vice versa. That much is obvious. But the bigger questions are: How much impact can it have? How much impact is it likely to have on the average person? What if you are not average and you have some clear gaps/issues? This post will cover a lot of those aspects. It will also cover specific areas to focus on to achieve these benefits. But one of the reasons I have held off on writing about this topic for a while is because it is so broad. There are so many variables. To get past that, I am going to try…

13 May 2022

By Leah Higl

How To Measure Changes In Body Composition: A Guide

There are so many ways that you can track changes in body composition and measure progress over time. All of which have their pros and cons. So this blog post will go over each of the main options you have for tracking changes. What Is Body Composition? Body composition refers to the composition of your body mass. With predominant components being lean mass and fat mass. So body composition is the ratio of the two. Now lean body mass refers to not only muscle but also includes BoneOrgansSkin Body water And literally, anything that isn’t fat mass When people say they would…

20 Apr 2022

By Aidan Muir

Does Caffeine Still Work for Performance if You Use it Daily?

Most people have probably noticed that the “buzz” of caffeine seems to be a bit less effective if you have it regularly. If you, have it more regularly, it is like you develop a tolerance to it, so you notice the effects less. Based on this, I’d assume most people would naturally assume the benefits for performance would also decline if it were used overly frequently. But it is still a question worth asking. Because what if you were an athlete who also liked utilising caffeine for other purposes? Or just liked the taste of coffee? It’s a question worth…

12 Apr 2022

By Leah Higl

The Menstrual Cycle & Sports Nutrition: A Dietitian’s Review

You don’t have to spend much time looking through sports research to realize that the majority of research has been done in exclusively male populations. There is a significant gender research gap in athletic populations. This means that the current sports nutrition recommendations we have, are mostly based on men and have just been applied to all athletes, despite gender. But of course, there are a lot of fundamental differences between the sexes. Biologically, men and women are different. Our hormone profiles are completely different and this can and does make our nutritional needs different. It also potentially changes what…

23 Mar 2022

By Leah Higl

Does Having A Higher Body Fat % Make You Less Anabolic?

Should I bulk or cut first? Has been a common conundrum since the dawn of the online fitness world. It was often a heated debate on BodyBuilding.com back in the late 2000s. Many people believe that getting leaner prior to a bulking phase can improve your ability to build muscle due to an increase in insulin sensitivity. The theory is that as your body fat gets higher, your muscles become less responsive to insulin which means nutrients are diverted away from the muscle. This having the flow on effect of less hypertrophic (muscle building) potential. Therefore, cutting before a bulking…

23 Mar 2022

By Aidan Muir

How to Reduce Cholesterol through Diet?

Cholesterol can be a complex topic with a lot of mixed messaging. Some commonly accepted assumptions are: High cholesterol, particularly LDL cholesterol is often a bad thing for overall health outcomes. The goal is often to reduce it.Diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors play a role.Genetics play a role. One of the things that make it hard to write about this topic is that is kind of a straightforward topic, but it has many layers. There are a lot of common themes that consistently work for reducing cholesterol that likely carries over to improved health, and these are the things…

16 Mar 2022

By Aidan Muir

Betaine Supplementation for Athletes

Betaine is a supplement that has been around the bodybuilding and strength sports community for a while. It is not one of the most frequently used supplements, but there still is a bit of buzz about it. It is also known as trimethylglycine, or TMG. One aspect as to why there is hype behind it is that farmers have been using it with livestock for decades now to increase muscle and reduce fat. And obviously, farmers are concerned with making money, so would not be doing this if they did not think that the money invested in betaine was going…