Hey everyone! Jake Kocherhans here. I’m excited to share a post today that I hope will equip you with effective nutritional tips and strategies for your ongoing health journey. If you’ve been following Alex for a while, you probably share my passion for good food and its impact on well-being. My aim is to provide you with actionable tools you can use as you pursue your own health and fitness objectives. I find immense satisfaction in empowering people and witnessing the confidence that blossoms when they truly understand how to nurture their bodies. If you find this post valuable and are looking for more personalized guidance on both nutrition and workouts, please visit my website!

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One more thing… I also offer a comprehensive monthly coaching program designed to accelerate your progress. By joining, you’ll receive not only customized workout and nutritional guidance but also exclusive access to our private Facebook coaching group. Here, we share invaluable tips and foster a supportive community to help you reach your goals in the most efficient and sustainable way possible. I look forward to connecting with you there!

It’s widely acknowledged that achieving any significant physical transformation hinges on excellent nutrition. We constantly hear phrases like, “abs are made in the kitchen,” and “losing weight is 20% what you do in the gym, and 80% what you do in the kitchen.” We all understand the importance of making healthy choices to advance our fitness goals, but how many of us truly grasp what *effective* nutrition genuinely entails?

Throughout my years of working with and training countless individuals, I’ve come to one profoundly important realization: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL APPROACH TO NUTRITION.

In my earlier career, I mistakenly believed that a very limited selection of foods was the only path to leanness and muscle growth. I was the person who meticulously ate chicken and rice six times a day, convinced it was the secret formula for building muscle and staying shredded. And surprisingly, it worked for a time! I was indeed building muscle, maintaining a six-pack, and seeing consistent progress. These results reinforced my belief that to be healthy, one needed to consume the exact same foods at the exact same times every single day.

This rigid understanding led to considerable frustration in my initial coaching endeavors. When a client shared their goals, I would immediately prescribe a program mirroring my own—six chicken and rice meals a day. It felt like constantly hitting my head against a wall, trying to transition someone who had eaten 2-3 meals a day for a decade into a six-meal routine. When they inevitably struggled to adhere to the program, I prematurely dismissed them as lacking sufficient desire.

It wasn’t until years later that I began to develop a much deeper understanding of what truly matters in an individual’s nutrition journey. Instead of attempting to impose a specific eating program that was drastically different from their existing habits, I started working with each person individually. My focus shifted to helping them make gradual, sustainable choices based on their current lifestyle and preferences. I moved away from simply providing “the” solution and instead focused on teaching them *how* to discover their own optimal solutions. When you empower someone to understand *why* their body responds in a certain way to different foods, they are far more likely to sustain their results long-term. While this approach requires a bit more active participation and effort from the client, it delivers far greater value and fosters a deeper, more lasting transformation than simply mapping everything out for them.

Fast forward to today, I’ve distilled this wisdom into a few simple, yet powerful, principles. When consistently followed, these principles form the cornerstone of significant progress in both physique and overall health.

One of the very first strategies I employ when beginning a client’s nutrition journey is to focus on filling the gaps in their existing diet. This means that instead of immediately removing everything deemed “bad” or “unhealthy,” we start by *adding* nutrient-rich foods that their diet might be lacking. This approach is far less restrictive and more sustainable psychologically. A fantastic starting point is to encourage the consumption of at least three substantial servings of vegetables per day. That’s it, initially. We’re not yet eliminating soda, candy, or the occasional cheeseburger and fries on the weekend. The primary goal is to help individuals establish the habit of incorporating more nutritious foods and to consciously observe how these foods make them feel – how they impact energy levels, satiety, and overall well-being.

Once this habit begins to solidify, the next step is typically to add more sources of healthy fats or high-quality protein. The specific focus here depends entirely on which particular nutrients are most deficient in their current dietary intake. By incrementally adding beneficial foods, we naturally begin to displace less healthy options without creating a sense of deprivation, making the transition much smoother and more enjoyable. This foundation of nutrient density is crucial for supporting all bodily functions, boosting metabolism, and laying the groundwork for sustainable fat loss and muscle gain.

Following the “fill the gaps” strategy, the subsequent focus is on upgrading food choices by exchanging current items for healthier, whole-food alternatives. Notice again, we are still primarily *substituting* rather than strictly eliminating at this stage. The faster an individual can transition from highly processed and packaged foods to natural, whole sources, the greater their benefits will be. Whole, natural foods are not only superior for overall health due to their rich micronutrient profile and absence of artificial additives, but your body also processes and absorbs their nutrients far more efficiently.

Consider the stark difference between a lean piece of grilled chicken and a highly processed protein bar, or fresh fruits and vegetables versus fruit-flavored snacks. Whole foods contain fiber, enzymes, and a complete spectrum of vitamins and minerals that work synergistically. Processed foods, conversely, often strip away these vital components, replacing them with unhealthy fats, sugars, and artificial ingredients that can lead to inflammation, digestive issues, and nutrient deficiencies. Ultimately, it’s not just about what you eat, but what your body can truly absorb and assimilate. For example, when it comes to protein, you’ll gain far more benefit from real food sources like lean meats, eggs, and legumes than from relying solely on protein bars and powders. This principle extends to every aspect of your diet – prioritize real food, grown from the earth, and minimally altered.

As my understanding of nutrition has deepened, I’ve come to profoundly appreciate the importance of dietary variety. To truly optimize your health, it is essential to regularly cycle through and consume a diverse range of different foods. A monotonous diet, even if composed of healthy items, can lead to subtle nutrient deficiencies over time and may even contribute to the development of food sensitivities. Our bodies thrive on a wide array of micronutrients, phytonutrients, and fibers found in different foods.

When working with clients, if they typically stick to one type of carbohydrate, such as rice, I’ll gently encourage them to gradually integrate other diverse carbohydrate sources throughout their day. This could include quinoa, oats, various types of potatoes, sweet potatoes, lentils, or a wider selection of vegetables. The objective is to foster greater flexibility and freedom in their nutritional choices. By developing a deeper understanding of the unique nutritional profiles of different foods, clients are better equipped to adapt their diet, prevent boredom, and ultimately adhere to their nutrition program with greater ease and enjoyment in the long run. Moreover, a diverse diet actively supports a healthy gut microbiome, which is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of overall health, immunity, and even mood regulation.

While it undeniably requires some initial time and effort, consistently tracking your calories can provide an immense amount of insight into your current eating behaviors and precisely how many calories you should be consuming to achieve your specific goals. Tracking makes it significantly easier to interpret your daily weigh-ins and understand your individual caloric limits for both gaining and losing weight. Over a period of one to two weeks, most individuals can accurately pinpoint their caloric maintenance number – the amount of calories needed to maintain their current weight. This crucial data then provides a clear roadmap for manipulating your calorie intake effectively, whether your aim is to enter a caloric deficit for fat loss or a surplus for muscle gain.

As clients progress and develop a solid foundation, I typically introduce the more advanced concept of tracking their macronutrient consumption – that is, their intake of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Since this can be a bit more complex for the average person, we generally save this step for later in their journey. However, for those just starting out with macro awareness, I do provide some basic, actionable guidelines:

Protein: Aim to consume between 0.5 to 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day. If your primary goal is to build muscle, you’ll generally benefit more from staying on the higher end of this range (e.g., 0.7-1.0g/lb). Protein is vital for muscle repair and growth, satiety, and has a higher thermic effect than other macros. Good sources include lean meats, fish, eggs, dairy, and legumes.

Carbohydrates & Fats: After setting your protein target, fill the remaining calories with a moderate amount of both carbohydrates and fats. This is, of course, a very basic guideline but serves as an excellent starting point. Carbohydrates are your body’s primary energy source, crucial for workouts and brain function, while healthy fats are essential for hormone production, nutrient absorption, and long-term satiety. I typically have clients fluctuate their macros over time, which helps to educate them firsthand on the distinct effects that each macronutrient has on their body, energy levels, and physique. However, this deeper fine-tuning usually occurs once a person has a solid grasp of the initial principles.

Nutrition is a multifaceted science, and learning what genuinely works best for *your unique body* is a continuous journey. Regardless of your current level of nutritional education, there will always be deeper layers of understanding to uncover regarding how specific foods personally affect you. The most critical takeaway is to recognize that every single person is distinct, and therefore, each individual will respond differently to various dietary approaches. The more we educate ourselves on the fundamental principles that drive significant positive changes in our health, the better equipped we will be to make informed choices and sustain a healthy, vibrant lifestyle for years to come.