Inside Sports Nutrition

If you’ve ever stood in front of a wall of plant-based protein bars wondering which one actually to choose, this episode is for you. We break down the crowded protein bar landscape by reviewing a handful of vegan options (NuGo, IQ Bar, TruBar, and Aloha) and talk through what ingredients, macronutrient profiles, and other details to consider when you’re making a choice.

For a summary chart of the bars we review, join our Patreon Community to get the breakdown. 
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Drop a question in our free Patreon Community and get access to bonus content with Bob and Dina by upgrading to the Gold Level membership. You'll also be showing your support and helping to keep the podcast free of sponsorship ads. 

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The show is brought to you by eNRG Performance and The Nutrition Mechanic.

If you’re heading into a new season with the same fueling plan, it might be time to pause and ask one important question: "Should I change my sports nutrition?"

In this episode, we talk through when it makes sense to change your sports nutrition and how to recognize signs that your current fueling approach may no longer match your training or your body. If you’re an endurance athlete or team sport athlete wondering whether your nutrition plan still fits your goals for this season, this conversation will help you think more clearly about when to adjust and when to stay the course.

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Drop a question in our free Patreon Community and get access to bonus content with Bob and Dina by upgrading to the Gold Level membership. You'll also be showing your support and helping to keep the podcast free of sponsorship ads. 

We’d love to connect with you on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The show is brought to you by eNRG Performance and The Nutrition Mechanic.

Alcohol doesn’t just affect you the night you’re drinking - it influences how you sleep, recover, and perform (cognitively and physically) in the time that follows. If you do consume alcohol, this episode walks through practical ways to reduce its potential impact by paying attention to what happens before, during, and after drinking.

Here is the relatively new probiotic supplement we mention towards the end of the episode.

Let us know your questions about alcohol over in our free Patreon Community where you can interact with us (@isnpodcast) and opt to show your support for the by joining our low-cost Silver or Gold level membership. 

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Subscribe to our show to get the weekly episodes and also check out our YouTube channel.

You can help us remain 100% ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content and behind-the-scenes conversations with Bob and Dina. Join our Patreon community or find us in the Patreon app by searching ISNPodcast.

We’d love to connect with you on Instagram @isnpodcast and on Facebook @insidesportsnutrition 

And when you’re ready to level up your health and performance even more, check out the services offered by Bob and Dina at their respective businesses.

Your physiology doesn't always follow what the textbooks say. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Marco Altini (ultra runner, endurance coach, data scientist, and thinker at the intersection of physiology, technology, and performance). Marco opens up about the moment he realized that doing the same high-carb diet he recommended to himself for years wasn’t actually working as well as he thought. He walks us through how shifting to a periodized approach - changing fueling based on training demands rather than sticking to a fixed carb ratio - improved his fat oxidation, gut health, and performance markers in ways he hadn’t seen before. Marco grounds the discussion in real data, including how his substrate oxidation changed after adjusting his diet and why better metabolic flexibility matters for endurance athletes. Along the way, we tackle common misconceptions about high-carb diets, the link between GI distress and fueling strategy, and why testing beats guessing when you want to understand your own response to food and training.

What we cover in this episode:
Why metabolic efficiency is not a single target, but a moving range
How nutrition periodization can support training without wrecking your gut
The overlooked connection between GI distress and everyday dietary patterns
What Marco learned from tracking substrate oxidation instead of guessing
How fat oxidation and VO₂-related metrics can change with nutrition shifts
Why weight loss is not the same thing as improved performance
The role of testing in understanding what your body actually responds to
How to think critically about fueling without copying elite or influencer strategies

Links:
Follow Dr. Altini's Substack and find him on Instagram @altini_marco
Marco's Substack article "Periodized Nutrition and Metabolic Flexbility for Endurance Performance"
Marco's Substack article "Learnings from a Year of Periodized Nutrition and Metabolic Testing"
Bob's Metabolic Efficiency Training book (3rd edition)

More about our guest: 
Marco holds a PhD cum laude in applied machine learning, a M.Sc. cum laude in computer science engineering, and a M.Sc. cum laude in human movement sciences and high-performance coaching. He has published more than 50 papers and patents at the intersection between physiology, health, technology and human performance. He is the co-founder of HRV4Training, Endurance Coach at Destination Unknown, advisor at Oura, guest lecturer at VU Amsterdam, and editor of the Wearables department of IEEE Pervasive Computing. He loves running.

Download the Patreon app to join our free Community (@isnpodcast) and become a supporter of the show by joining our low-cost Silver or Gold level membership. 

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Subscribe to our show to get the weekly episodes and also check out the YouTube channel.

You can help us remain 100% ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content and behind-the-scenes conversations with Bob and Dina. Join our Patreon community or find us in the Patreon app by searching ISNPodcast.

We’d love to connect with you on Instagram @isnpodcast and on Facebook @insidesportsnutrition 

And when you’re ready to level up your health and performance even more, check out the services offered by Bob and Dina at their respective businesses.

In this last episode of 2025, we provide our top 2 recommendations for what to do in 2026. 

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Subscribe to our show to get the weekly episodes and also check out our YouTube channel.

You can help us remain 100% ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content and behind-the-scenes conversations with Bob and Dina. Join our Patreon community or find us in the Patreon app by searching ISNPodcast.

We’d love to connect with you on Instagram @isnpodcast and on Facebook @insidesportsnutrition 

And when you’re ready to level up your health and performance even more, check out the services offered by Bob and Dina at their respective businesses.