Working for your success
I have worked as a performance nutritionist now for over 12 years. Most of my experience has been in team-sports but through my clinic I have worked with people who just wanted to get fit to those who want to compete in the Olympics. Here is the key thing, no matter what you want to achieve the principles for success are the same. You need the appropriate knowledge, skills, and mindset to live in a way that gives you the best chance to thrive in your life or performance arena.
A huge amount has changed over the past 12 years in the space of nutrition and lifestyle. There is a much greater awareness of the importance of a positive mindset, habit formation, the relationship with food and how many things impact our food choices.
What meal plan should I follow?
I have changed too, personally and professionally, I would like to think for the better!! What hasn’t really changed is people’s general perception of what a nutritionist does. People often think that nutritionists just tell you what to eat to achieve a goal and that’s it, they give you a meal plan to follow for fat loss or performance and check-in to see how well you are following that meal plan. A performance nutritionist provides the ‘information’ for success and you follow it? A simple transaction, just like that? It might have been what I did when I started working in the business but as time goes by you realise this is not what an effective performance nutritionist does, in fact, this is counterintuitive! If you are just looking for a meal plan, you have come to the wrong place!!
A meal plan is just one small element of the support resources a person needs and ideally a person will create it for themselves based on their schedule. It was for that reason we spend so much time creating recipes rather than meal plans for people. Having lots of great recipes makes meal planning so much easier, imagine then if you have all the nutrition information and a tool to create a recipe plan? Now that’s a helpful resource! On the daveynutrition website you can choose your favourite recipes and create your own plan for the week which has the calories and macronutrient information. These plans should be used to help shape your week but they are certainly not designed to be followed rigidly.
What is a performance nutritionist?
I can’t speak for the entire industry but I can speak on behalf of the team that is daveynutrition. We are people that aim to understand the challenges that people have when it comes to their lifestyle and nutrition and help people find the solutions for those challenges. We do NOT just tell you what to eat. Instead, we help you understand the principles of nutrition, the science behind those principles and help you find the most effective ways to implement those principles for better health and performance. Through this approach people can learn to deal with barriers, enjoy food and manage the challenges and adversity in life because no plan a person gives you can navigate all of life’s challenges. What happens when you are:
- Sick
- Injured
- Stressed
- Run down
- Have a bad day at work
- Have a toothache
- Fight with a loved one
You need the skills and ability to navigate these moments by recognising the challenge confronting you and make the best decisions you can. Yes there are of course things you can do in all of those situations to support your health, wellbeing and performance but you need strong foundations to guide your decisions in those times of adversity.
The importance of values
You may or may not have heard people in your network talking about ‘values’ and having values as part of their approach to building good behaviours. This was something that I experienced while working in team sport. The group would work together to establish the values that they identified with and then the associated behaviours they wanted to live by to stay true to those values. The Cambridge dictionary defines values as the principles that help you decide what is right and wrong and how you act in various situations. Words that you might hear as values are humility, respect, honesty and trust. These are strong words but of course unless there is a strong culture and these values are lived through daily actions the words mean nothing. What are your values when it comes to food, fitness and lifestyle, have you considered the impact they have on your daily habits? These are key to you defining your long term success and things that we work with you on.
The process for success
One thing that has become apparent from my years working with top athletes, clubs and high-performing individuals is that those who internalise, implement and reflect on key habits and behaviours are most successful in achieving their goals.
It was this insight that led me to create the understand, execute and review (UER) system.
- Understand and have clarity on your vision and goals
- Execute the plan and experiment
- Reflect on the experience and see what you learn
Understand
Understand what you need to do to get there but accept where you are right now. By establishing clear and precise goals you can understand the theory and principles surrounding them. Get curious about what it means to be your best and visualise how that will become your reality. Create a vision for your goals by creating clarity on the behaviors that will allow you to perform at your best each day.
Execute
Create a plan for how you can execute the behaviours needed to achieve your goals. Identify how these actions will fit into your week by implementing things like shopping, cooking, trying new skills, exploring new flavours and habits within your daily life. Don’t be afraid to experiment and make mistakes – it’s all part of the learning process.
Reflect
Check-in and reflect on what you are doing in the plan – this will help you to really understand what is working well, what is not working and why. How did it feel to try new things? Is there something you could do a little differently that would help you to progress? Is it sustainable?
What do we do?
We want you to win and we focus on you. Our aim is your success and that is only possible if you feel the plan is achievable and personal to you. Depending on how much support you feel you need we have memberships, programs and clinics that you can sign up to.
Our services include:
- Empower program – run 3 times yearly
- Website membership
System for success! It is hard to achieve your vision, goals and targets without a system to achieve them. What we have done is helped thousands of people through this process using our simple system. We have seen that when people buy into this system and process it EXCITES them, they not only achieve life changing results but have the skills and knowledge to maintain them and even push new boundaries.
Our philosophy is built on evidence based nutrition principles, experience, simplicity and encouragement. We will transform your mindset, build your knowledge and skills allowing you to create sustainable habits to perform to your true potential.
Set the right targets, targets that will challenge you just the right amount so that you can achieve them and build on them. We help you to prioritise the most important aspects of your lifestyle and nutrition by identifying where exactly you are right now and what your current needs are so you have full clarity on what you should begin working on. This allows you to have full confidence in the plan being right for you.
Support, kindness and encouragement are fundamental for your journey of improvement. We love answering your questions, help you find the skills to manage your stressors, pushing you forward and seeing you build your confidence. We help you to refine your plan, identifying what is working really effectively and what needs to be improved.
Resources! We provide you with excellent resources like meal ideas, recipes, templates, articles and graphics that get you to think about your nutrition in a new way. It focuses you on key areas of your life and helps you create your own road map for success.
What people say about working with us…
| Empower member Stephen | Dublin Coach | Daniel’s Client Cara |
| “I found the structure of the program over the course of the 12 weeks was key to helping me to establish consistent and sustainable practices and having access to the team throughout whether formally through the bi weekly workshops, which were incredibly informative, or informally in answering my questions was immensely valuable” | “I have known Daniel Davey for over a decade in many different settings. His care and passion for nutrition is world class. His deep knowledge of nutrition allows him to impact life’s in so many ways from pro sport athletes to children. Daniel’s influence through nutrition is a gift for life” Declan Darcy Former Dublin Senior Coach and Selector | “I honestly can’t believe what I achieved! I am not in the weight range I wanted. I don’t weigh myself everyday but sometimes I check it. Plus I eat 3 meals a day and snacks but now all ‘caring for my body’ food.. some cosy food (I call it) so no deprivation at all”. I feel so much better in myself. I am hoping to progress more.. learn more .. there’s always room for growth” |
If you want to learn more about or services contact heather@daveynutrition.com or book in for a consultation here – daveynutrition Clinic
