As we work towards and maintain our gym bunny physique, there are many voices in the fitness culture pulling and pushing us to eat more or less of substances both common and foreign to our everyday diet. I have learned through my courses that performance nutrition can be broken down into five simple rules, five simple truths that can lead to a consistent high performance metabolism that meets the demands of most any fitness routine.

Rule No. 1: Always eat at least 5 meals a day; the traditional 3 meal a day eating plan is obsolete when wanting to perform your best. Even if two of these three meals are considered snacks, break away from the traditional 3 meal a day cycle. When you eat three meals a day, you experience momentary periods of "famine" which triggers your endocrine system (powerful hormones for growth regulation) to become thrown off balance. When you do this over and over, your body stores more body fat in preparation for those moments of famine.

Rule No. 2: It's as simple as 1, 2, 3; 1 part fat, 2 parts protein, and 3 parts carbohydrate. This rule vacillates from person to person depending at what stage you are in with your fitness program. If you are wanting to shed pounds it is okay to cut back on a few more carbs than usual, just make sure the carbs you consume are complex carbs and not simple sugars. Also make sure that the fats you consume are healthy fats such Olive Oil & Canola Oil, and not from animal sources.

Rule No. 3: Plan your day out. If you are going to be sitting at the office all day, don't eat a 3,000 calorie meal (that's a lot). Eat light that day. If you are going to be working out, walking and running about all day, eat more calories. It's common sense but sometimes we forget this simple rule in our business.

Rule No. 4: Have days of negative calorie intake, followed by periods of postive calorie intake. You can't loose weight without a negative calorie intake, nor can you gain weight without a positive calorie intake. The only solution is to create an alternating cycle.

Rule No. 5: Supplement your diet. Take a multivitamin! Food is so over-processed and over-farmed. There is a huge discrepancy between the food you are taking in and the nutrients you should be getting from them. The only solution is to supplement your diet.

Using these five rules to guide you on your daily nutrition routine will put you on track towards achieving your fitness goals. With a well-developed fitness routine combined with a solid nutritional knowledge, you can produce the results you wish to feel and see. As gym bunnies we should be well informed but be able to boil down our secrets to physical success to a simple science, or simple rules we abide by.