#81
Nourishing Success: A Deep Dive into Performance Nutrition with Daniel Davey
Daniel Davey is known for his vast experience with top-tier athletes from Leinster Rugby and the Dublin senior footballers, Daniel has etched his name prominently in the landscape of nutrition and its role in fostering peak performance.
We discussed an array of topics, including Daniels’s latest perspectives on nutrition, wellness, longevity, and the complexities of nurturing a fulfilling, healthy holistic lifestyle.
We delved into Daniel’s recent book, “Eat Up: The Next Level”, unpacking his expertise in crafting personalized nutrition plans aimed at achieving specific lifestyle and performance goals. Our conversation also expanded to explore Daniel’s philosophy and approach to life, performance, overcoming setbacks, and how to follow your passions with a sense of curiosity.
In this conversation, Daniel shared his insights on the importance of a strong mind-body connection, balance and consistency and how a mindfulness practice can play a key role in boosting performance and overall health. His unique perspective highlighted the connection between nutrition, mindset, and achieving success in different aspects of life.
Daniel’s expertise gave us valuable insight into these emerging trends, such as functional foods, a fascinating development in food science that offers health benefits extending beyond basic nutrition and sustainable food production, challenging traditional perspectives and encouraging a holistic approach to food, health, and lifestyle choices.
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Summary
03:15 The motivation to writing his latest book “Eat Up: The Next Level”
- He made the decision to step out on his own
- He now has far more contact with the general public than with elite athletes
- A big life transition is that he is now a father of two daughters
- He wanted to take a deeper, more holistic view and so wrote the book
- The book is a template for his vision and philosophy
11:04 The power of writing stuff down
- Sometimes readers aren’t ready to read the message you are writing
16:16 Moving from professional to personal
- It takes bravery to put yourself out there
- You need to learn where to let go
20:02 Basing Dan’s work around his values
- His values are working from evidence and fun
- You figure it out as you go along
22:34 Balancing the commercial aspect versus working authentically
- He turned down a huge opportunity to work on a campaign for a potential client – because it wasn’t aligned with his values
31:57 Dan’s process for making big decisions
- If they’re criteria-based, they are very easy to make
- The challenge is when a decision doesn’t feel right
- It’s important to tune in to feeling uncomfortable, even if there is no clear reason
- Know what is good for you, your family, and your team
- It helps to take yourself out of the situation
37:44 What it’s like working with the public as opposed to elite athletes
- It’s really rewarding to working with the public whose life has changed
41:49 The importance of the mind-body connection in Dan’s working
- The true meaning of finding your potential is knowing this connection
- Many of us are too obsessed with data, from calories, steps, sleep, etc.
- “People are thinking enough how things feel”
46:39 The role of mindset in nutrition
- “Everything is so connected”
- Our mind affects our gut – which affects everything else
- Dan can identify how he is feeling through his skin
51:19 The role of genetic testing
- Dan believes that we know a huge amount about genetic testing and what’s effective – but the simplest ideas work best and we shouldn’t be overly focused on emerging information
58:35 Function foods
- Dan’s journey began from his interest in the chemical compounds of function foods and how they impact our health
- Functional foods have a role to play – but you need to embody a the right mindset
01:03:29 Unlearning negative associations with food from our youth
- You break the barriers down – find ways to re-introduce small elements of food you think you don’t like
- As parents we need to be role models to our children, and give your children freedom – not forcing them to eat certain foods
01:09:14 The sustainable and environmental impact of our food choices
- Dan has his own small sheep farm in the West of Ireland
- It’s coming up in most of his conversations with clients at work
- People need to be willing to invest and pay in environmentally friendly food
- It’s hard to understand the cost of food production if you are not involved in the chain
- Clarkson’s farm offers a good insight into farming
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