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.
You probably already know that. 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?
It 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, very importantly to note, environment.
I’ve spent the last few years avoiding this topic of nutrition while simultaneously delving deeper into it than most would realise, because many people are also exploring it now; however, the time has come to provide better answers. Not just for myself as a CrossFit athlete and coach, but for the members who walk through our doors every day and the people who read these blogs.
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 early or late, you’re going to need a different plan than someone else with a completely different lifestyle and life factors.
- Your preferences count. It does! You won’t stick to a diet long-term if you hate every meal you eat. Behavioural adherence matters more than the “perfect” meal plan.
I believe one of the most fascinating concepts I have encountered over the years in my studies is 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.
The fact that this ‘personality type’ exploration into food and food success based on brain and hormonal responses hasn’t been looked into further, or hasn’t gathered more traction, is quite astonishing. However, I do wonder if the reason it hasn’t gained more traction is because it doesn’t fit neatly into the one-size-fits-all model that the mainstream nutrition industry depends on. It requires nuance. It demands individualisation. And in a world hooked on shortcuts and simplicity, that kind of deep, personalised understanding gets buried under influencer fads and food pyramids.
But if we truly want to optimise performance, energy, and mental clarity, not just survive, but thrive, this is the kind of work we need to revisit and build upon. Because the answers aren’t just in the food we eat… they’re in how our brain responds to it.
I’ve always leaned towards the dopamine-dominant side myself, driven, focused, and reward-oriented. Poliquin’s idea that these types perform best on higher-protein, lower-carb plans made perfect sense when I considered how I naturally function. And time and again, it’s the system I’ve had to return to, especially when I start wondering if the mainstream approach is what I’ve been missing. The truth is, it never is. Because for people like me, the conventional route often blunts the very edge we thrive on, and my question is, are you feeling the same?
His neurotyping system wasn’t perfect, and I have a lot more research to do on the matter, but I believe this idea 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 and researching deeper; consider looking into something like the Braverman Brain Test or the metabolic type diet test.
Start paying attention.
And stop following plans just because they worked for someone else.
There are so many more factors that can affect your results than you might realise. How do we identify and address those factors to accelerate our results?
Here is what I would recommend;
- Track what you eat and really see how you feel. Don’t just track calories. Track energy, mood, performance, sleep, and digestion. And usually just by tracking what you are eating you realise just how fucked your eating patterns are.
- 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 (for the record, I DO NOT like using that reference ‘season’ but it fits!) That means planning for convenience, not falling into lazy or reactive choices. Prepare ahead, simplify where possible, and make food work for your current needs.
- Dial in protein and hydration first. These are the simplest wins with the most significant returns. They will help mitigate cravings and make you feel fuller, increasing adherence, and then build from there.
Yes, Nutrition Can Be Generic, but it shouldn’t stay that way, particularly if you have ‘tried everything’ and nothing has worked! 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 questions, or to explore your nutrition further, please reach out. We would love to help.