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The Holistic Performance Institute

Study to become a qualified nutrition coach, Registered Health Coach, Accredited Sports Nutritionist, or Registered Clinical Nutritionist.

02/09/2026

Hey team.

We have some exciting news coming up about our monthly member workshops... But before we do that, we need to know the BEST time for you to be able to attend these awesome events.

We have already polled our Facebook group and asked many of our members, and two times consistently come out on top: Tuesday Lunchtime and Wednesday Evening (NZT).

So now we need to find the clear winner!

Please let us know by filling in this one question poll

Which time is best for you?

27/08/2026

Should you swap dairy for plant foods?

A recent narrative review argues that replacing dairy with nuts, legumes and wholegrains adds benefits for CVD, T2D, cancer and mortality. Appealing idea. It doesn't hold up.

Recent meta-analyses show dairy is protective up to around 250-300g per day, and dairy fat biomarkers aren't linked to increased mortality risk. Dairy isn't harmful.

So where do substitution models fall down?

🥛 They simulate outcomes mathematically. They don't track real dietary change in real people.

🥛 Calcium, iodine and B12 are the exact nutrients of concern in plant-based diets, and dairy is a primary source.

🥛 It's not like for like. Nobody replaces milk with lentils. Only soy milk compares favourably - other plant milks are 4-fold lower in protein, under 25% of the calcium, zero iodine.

🥛 In Song et al.'s analysis of 130,000+ people, the association between dairy protein and mortality vanished entirely in those with healthy lifestyles.

🥛 One model estimated halving dairy costs around five days of life. That's a null result in practical terms.

The review also omitted the PURE study (130,000 people, 21 countries) where whole-fat dairy was linked to lower mortality, ran no risk-of-bias assessment, and was published in an unindexed journal.

The real issue is the framing. A healthy diet can include both. Building a hierarchy between otherwise healthy foods isn't useful in clinical practice.

Full referenced living review available to Nutripaedia members. https://bit.ly/3SNg753

24/08/2026

Does an "acidic" diet cause cancer?

Four meta-analyses in the last five years have all found associations between higher dietary acid load and cancer risk. It's tempting to jump straight to causation. But that likely misses what's actually going on.

Quick background: dietary acid load is the net balance of acid- and base-producing compounds from digestion. Sulphur-rich foods like meat, fish, eggs and grains produce acid. Fruit and vegetables contain organic anions that metabolise into alkalinising bicarbonate. It's estimated using PRAL or NEAP formulas, or measured directly via 24-hour urinary net acid excretion.

Here's the problem with the causal story:

⚖️ Healthy lungs and kidneys buffer blood pH within a very tight range (7.35 to 7.45). That system is exceptionally efficient in anyone without existing kidney disease.

⚖️ A high-acid diet is almost always high in processed meats, refined grains and sodium, and low in vegetables. Low-acid diets mirror healthy eating patterns.

⚖️ Disentangling acid load from fibre, polyphenols and antioxidants is close to impossible.

⚖️ Higher acid loads also travel with more smoking, more alcohol, less physical activity, higher body fat and poorer overall diet quality - all established cancer risk factors.

Where it genuinely matters: kidney disease, where failing kidneys lose the ability to excrete excess acid properly.

For everyone else, the benefits attributed to "alkaline diets" are more likely coming from eating more whole plant foods and fewer ultra-processed ones. Focus on the foundations, not the minutiae.

Full referenced living review available to Nutripaedia members. https://bit.ly/3SNg753

23/06/2026

Fibre is one of the most argued-about topics in nutrition right now. Some low-fibre crowds claim you don't need it, or even that it's harmful. On the flip side, the fibremaxxing trend says to load up on as much as possible.

So we went to the research, and here's the verdict: fibre genuinely supports your gut. It feeds healthy bacteria, strengthens the gut barrier, and helps with everything from constipation to a 41% lower risk of diverticular disease.

Aim for 30g+ a day, mostly from wholefoods - fruit, veg, legumes and whole grains. But individual variation matters. Not everyone handles every type of fibre the same way, and if you're just starting to up your intake, take it slow. You don't need to max it out all at once!

Swipe through for the evidence 👉

Wanting to solidify your nutrition knowledge? Check out Nutripaedia for more evidence reviews to support your practice. https://www.holisticperformance.institute/courses/nutripaedia

12/06/2026

With our latest health coaching practicum wrapping up, we've been getting some great feedback from our students!

If you're ready to build real confidence as a practitioner and take your coaching skills to the next level check out our Health Coaching courses https://bit.ly/4fBVRjl

11/06/2026

6x short on protein. 2.5x short on calories. Zero omega-3s.

That's the vegan diet I was sent when I challenged people to feed an 85kg masters athlete with systemic nickel allergy syndrome and Crohn's disease.

I give full credit to the one person who actually responded - nobody else did. But good intentions don't change the numbers.

If someone followed this plan, we'd be looking at hormonal collapse, severe anaemia, gut dysfunction, and chronic fatigue.

This isn't about being anti-vegan. It's about being honest that for some people, a vegan diet isn't just difficult - it's medically contraindicated.

Nutrition has to be built around the individual. Always.

05/06/2026

Think folate is just for neural tube defects? There’s more to the story.

Our latest Nutripaedia Living review reveals folate does even more than we thought - like boosting offspring cognition and potentially lowering neurocognitive and genito-urinary risks.

But the type matters. At pregnancy doses (800mcg+), synthetic folic acid can leave high levels of unmetabolised folic acid in the body.

The safer bet? Switch synthetic folic acid for a active, methylated folate like L-5-MTHF.

Stay up to date with the science. Click the link to sign up for Nutripaedia and read the full review! https://www.holisticperformance.institute/courses/nutripaedia

29/05/2026

There's a statement circulating online that says there is no medical condition for which a vegan diet is contraindicated.
I actually got into a debate about this - because I have one.

Systemic Nickel Allergy Syndrome (SNAS) is a condition where the immune system reacts to dietary nickel. The problem? The foods vegans rely on most for protein - beans, lentils, soy, nuts, and wholegrains - are among the highest nickel-containing foods in the diet.

For someone with SNAS, even small amounts of these foods can push nickel intake well beyond the threshold that triggers a reaction.
The workaround suggested to me was to just eat low-nickel plant foods like white rice and cauliflower. But to hit an adequate protein target from those sources alone would require eating literal kilos of food per day - which the gut simply can't handle.

This isn't an argument against plant-based eating for everyone. For many people, a well-planned vegan diet is a genuinely healthy choice. But nutrition is not one-size-fits-all, and individual medical conditions matter.

This is why as compassionate and evidence-based practitioners we need to assess the individual in front of us, not prescribe an ideology.

28/05/2026

Does folic acid actually support brain health?
Research links low folate to poorer cognition and mental health - and recent 2024 meta-analyses show real benefits for mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's, and memory.

But here's the catch: in countries with mandatory folic acid fortification, those benefits disappear.
Why? Because when your diet already provides enough folate, more isn't better.

The takeaway for practitioners - context matters. Before recommending a supplement, look at what your client is actually eating. Supplementing on top of an already replete diet adds no benefit.

More isn't always better.

Check the full living review (and many others) on Nutripaedia - https://www.holisticperformance.institute/courses/nutripaedia

26/05/2026

Nearly 30 years prescribing ketogenic diets and a PhD in ketosis - and my biggest critics are the carnivore bros. 🤣

Why? Because I say this: a carnivore or keto diet is not the best approach for everyone...

Here's what the research actually shows:

Plants are not trying to kill you. If they were as harmful as some claim, we'd see it clearly in long-term data. We don't.
People eating more vegetables, fruits, and berries consistently live longer and healthier lives.
The "fibre is useless" argument falls flat when isolated fibre and resistant starch supplements also show real health benefits in controlled trials.

The truth is nuanced. Some people genuinely improve their symptoms on carnivore, and it's an area I'm actively researching. Just because something works well for one person doesn't mean it's the best approach for everyone. The truth is a lot more nuanced than that!

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http://www.holisticperformance.institute/

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