This conversation is with Chris Talley, a nutritional scientist who specializes in the unique requirements of ultra-elite athletic performance.

He has more than 27 years of experience in the fields of nutritional science and exercise physiology. Chris has also pioneered the use of information and methodologies that have not previously been utilized in the athletic nutritional arena.

Chris is my go-to for all things food science. We worked together at Red Bull with their high performance program, up at the Seahawks and with hundreds of professional athletes and Olympians that live right on the edge of intense risk and danger.

I hope you enjoy Chris’ mind and world-views as much as I do.

This conversation is loaded so we’ve split it up into two parts.

In part one, you’ll learn about Chris’ journey, his work with many NFL teams and Olympians, and what’s driven him to work so hard to become the best at what he does.

In part two, we take a deeper dive into the mechanics of nutrition and I think you’ll be surprised by some of the common misconceptions associated with a healthy diet. We discuss veganism, gluten-free diets, carbs, proteins, testosterone levels and more – we cover it all.

“I’d rather have one thing that I’m incredibly good at then 50 things that I’m ok at.”

In This Episode: Part 1 (Click here to listen)

  • Not getting good grades in school in because he was interested in other things
  • Is balance possible and is it worth striving for?.. the 100 points theory
  • Why he believes in maximizing weaknesses and minimizing strengths
  • The unique process he used for learning in his college classes
  • His pivot from studying aerospace physiology to nutrition & sports performance
  • Why 11 teams in the NFL are using his competitive nutritional analysis
  • The keys to his business: education, nutritional blood testing assessments, and customized meals for athletes and teams
  • What you might not expect about the health ramifications of eating too much kale
  • The surprising results of some of the blood test results from athletes he’s worked with
  • The hardest thing he had to go through, issues with his health, while he was supposed to be helping people with their health
  • The dark side of being exceptional
  • How he gets in his own way
  • How he got the idea for Heaven Sent, where Luke Aikins skydived from 25k feet without a parachute into a net

In This Episode: Part 2 (Click here to listen)

  • His strengths in nutrition science, specifically blood testing
  • How nutrition can be the difference between 1st and 2nd place
  • Why carbs are vital for athletes
  • His reasons for being a vegetarian
  • The consequences of a vegan diet
  • Why many athletes are deficient in Omega 3s
  • The value vs ethics of eating red meat
  • What he recommends if you ethically aren’t ok with eating red meat
  • How much daily protein intake you need
  • Why going gluten free isn’t necessarily a good thing
  • The difficulty athletes face replenishing carbs
  • Why he believes in extreme moderation
  • What has been largely dispelled about saturated fats
  • The problem with using the wrong types of oils to cook
  • Why interval training can help boost testosterone levels
  • The importance of sleep quality for boosting testosterone levels
  • Why you need to know what’s inside the products you use (soaps, shampoos, etc.)
  • The proper amount of caffeine to maintain a healthy lifestyle
  • The major issue with feeding kids: lack of variety

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