By Scott Hook
Over the years of running PT businesses, Vasse Strength and Conditioning, coaching hundreds of athletes, and experimenting on myself more times than I can count, I’ve come to realise one hard truth…
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition.
We see it all the time. Someone tries keto, drops a bit of weight, then feels flat for weeks. Another person goes plant-based and feels incredible, until their energy crashes halfway through every workout. Someone else does intermittent fasting and becomes sharper, leaner, and more focused, while their partner, doing the same thing, ends up constantly exhausted, underperforming, and completely burned out.
Same protocol. Different outcomes? But Why?
That is because nutrition is deeply individualised, way more than most people realise.
You see, as much as I believe you are one of God’s fabulous creations, you are also not made on a conveyor belt in a factory from a general template. Your body isn’t just a machine that runs on macros and calories; it’s a complex system that reacts to what you feed it, based on your biology, brain, genealogy, and environment.
I’ve spent the last few years avoiding this topic while simultaneously delving deeper into it, because I’ve always sought better answers. Not just for myself as a CrossFit athlete and coach, but for the members who walk through our doors every day.
What I’ve learnt and I now believe is worth discussing is as follows…
- Your genes play a role. Some people genuinely function better with a higher fat content in their diet. Others require more carbohydrates to fuel their performance. Some genes affect how you handle caffeine, vitamin D, saturated fats, and more.
- Your microbiome, the bacteria in your gut, controls more than just digestion. It can influence mood, inflammation, and even how your body processes nutrients. Two people can eat the same thing and have entirely different reactions to it.
- Your lifestyle genuinely matters. If you’ve got a demanding job, poor sleep, three kids under ten, and you train at 5am, you’re going to need a different plan than someone who trains at 6 pm and sleeps eight hours a night.
- Your preferences count. You won’t stick to a diet long-term if you hate every meal. Behavioural adherence matters more than the “perfect” meal plan.
One of the most fascinating concepts I encountered in my studies was Charles Poliquin’s work on neurotyping. He believed that your dominant neurotransmitter (such as dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, or GABA) could influence how you trained, recovered, and even what kind of diet you required.
I’ve always leaned towards the dopamine-dominant side, an individual who is driven, focused, and reward-oriented. Poliquin’s idea that these types might perform best with higher protein, lower-carb plans made sense when I considered how I naturally function.
His neurotyping system wasn’t perfect, but he was heading somewhere that deserved more exploration. If Charles were still alive today, I have no doubt he’d be working with neuroscientists, gut specialists, and geneticists to build the most individualised protocols we’ve ever seen. I think he was ahead of his time.
So What Do You Do With This???
If you’re reading this and wondering, “Alright, so what’s the takeaway?” here it is…
Start experimenting.
Start paying attention.
And stop following plans just because they worked for someone else.
What I would recommend is;
- Track what you eat and really see how you feel. Don’t just track calories. Track energy, mood, performance, sleep, and digestion.
- Understand your brain and your habits. If you’re wired for reward and novelty (hello, dopamine types), your eating window, meal types, and even food variety will matter.
- Get curious about your gut. Eat more fibre, introduce fermented foods, and see how your digestion, mood and cravings respond.
- Eat for the life you’re living. A parent of three with limited time and high stress needs something realistic, not perfect. Make it work for your season.
- Dial in protein and hydration first. These are the simplest wins with the most significant returns. Then build from there.
Yes, Nutrition Can Be Generic, but it shouldn’t stay that way. Everyone can benefit from eating whole foods, cutting processed junk, drinking more water, and getting enough protein. That’s the baseline.
But if you want real, lasting change, fat loss, muscle gain, mental clarity, and sustainable energy, you have to go deeper. You have to get individual.
That means learning about your brain.
It means paying attention to your gut.
It means accepting that your path might not look like anyone else’s.
At VSC, we believe in long-term performance, personal responsibility, and understanding what your body responds to, because that’s what creates results that last.
And we also believe in doing things differently.
For more information, to ask more questions, or to fully explore your nutrition, reach out. We would love to help.