"There are several reasons why Nancy Clarke’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook is now in it’s sixth edition: Nancy Clarke is giant amongst giants in the sports nutrition world, having worked in the field for over 40 years. She is one of the most well-known and trusted professionals, which is of more importance than most realize, as when it comes to nutrition these days, ‘everyone is an expert’! If you have a good physique or can ‘sell ice to an Eskimo’ and access to the Internet, you can pretend to be something in the nutrition space and many will believe, even if you have absolutely no idea at all! Becoming an expert in a field takes decades, and Nancy Clarke has earned the respect of the entire field and that is why her books have become classics and so influential. So with that in mind, here are 5 reasons why we should all read her Sports Nutrition Guidebook.
1. If you are confused and unsure of what to eat due to the massive amount of conflicting nutritional information we are bombarded with every day on the Internet, social media and by what our friends tell us what we should and should not be eating. Knowing who to trust and who is providing scientifically accurate advice that has also been tried and tested by athletes and the public is not an easy task, as everyone is apparently an expert these days. I drive a car every day but that doesn’t make me a car or mechanical expert. Just because one eats everyday does not mean they have the right to expound their nutritional beliefs online. Nancy Clarke is a world leader in sports nutrition, so within the pages of this book, you can be assured of information that is both science based and has been used in practice by thousands of people over the decades.
2. Nutrition is a fascinating field. Many people study it or read books on it, even though it is not their area of work. If you would like to learn more about the fundamentals of nutrition without the fads and unsupported myths that pervade the area of food, then Sports Nutrition Guidebook is an easy choice. The book has 26 chapters containing a mix of the fundamentals of sports nutrition, the practical application based on goals and recipes to cook and prepare a wide array of meals.
3. Should you eat carbs before, during or after training? Is keto better for weight loss? Should I eat protein or is it damaging and causes ageing? If you are perplexed by the myriad of ways one could eat to boost exercise performance, Nancy Clarke includes an entire section covering this question in detail: fuelling before exercise, eating during and after, sports supplements, food and active females and athlete-specific nutrition. This section is a goldmine of information of food and optimizing performance and adaptation.
4. Are you are unsure about what to eat if your goal is performance, body fat reduction or increased body weight? Many of us have experienced the frustration of how slowly weight reduction can occur or have eaten so little that we have not had the energy to exercise properly. Sports Nutrition Guidebook covers the topics of how we can loose weight without starving and, the opposite, how we can increase muscle mass in a safe manner, without binging.
5. If you do not feel confident translating nutritional information into home cooking and eating meals: it is one thing to read and understand what we should be eating based on our goals, but it is another thing entirely to know what that looks like on a plate or in a meal. An entire section focused on recipes and how to prepare all the various food options we have based on our goals. This shows the real strength of a practitioner who has been giving the practical advice on what to eat and how to prepare it for many decades.
Nancy Clarke’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook will leave you confused no more – armed with the latest information on sports nutrition and how to put it on to a plate, so you can eat like a champion too."
By Tony Boutagy, PhD, AEP