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In the Introduction to this book, I briefly likened the body to a car. All cars require a few fundamentals to be taken care of to get us efficiently from A to B, one of which is to have fuel in the tank. But it has to be the right fuel: it’s no good filling up a petrol-driven car with diesel. Yet, my experience tells me that a surprising number of us are unwittingly doing something akin to this, and are getting spluttering performance as a result.

In the first part of this chapter, we’re going to explore the nutritional causes of symptoms such as fluctuating energy, the mid-afternoon slump and mental sluggishness, and how to correct these issues with ease. In the chapter’s second part we are going to take a longer view, and examine the sort of diet that will best support our personal sustainability and stave off chronic health issues such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The final part of the chapter then gives constructive advice on how to convert nutritional theory into practice in your everyday life.

Nutrition is a big subject, and one in which competing theories and misinformation abound. For these reasons we’re going to be referring to much scientific theory and literally dozens of research studies as the chapter unfolds. The size and complexity of this subject is reflected in the fact that this is the most sizeable chapter in the book. If you like to understand things properly and are keen to explore the science of optimal eating then there’s plenty in this chapter for you. However, if you don’t need the level of detail provided here then fret not, because within this chapter I’ll be revealing a simple way of thinking about food that will allow you to make quick, accurate and future-proof decisions about the best foods to eat for optimal health and wellbeing (no flicking ahead, now).

We’re going to start by exploring the physiology relevant to how the body converts food into our most valuable resource of all: energy.