Basics

Over the years Ive gathered quite a lot of information about nutrition, some of it backed by science, some common sense and a bit of it just my own hunches. Here are the basic rules:

1. Count and log everything! Log all your food using services such as www.sparkpeople.com and log all your exercise using services such as www.runkeeper.com. This lets you analyse your performance in more detail and you will almost certainly find that your weight loss or gain equates to a calorific differential of 3500 calories per pound of weight. This means that if your Daily Calorific Requirement is 2000 calories and you eat 2000 calories along with 1750 calories of exercise then you will lose half a pound. Over the course of a few months I have found this to be almost exactly true.
2. Drink lots of water. Your body needs water for almost every process that it has to do. Your digestive system, brain, muscles, in fact everything not only need water but can be seriously in-affective without enough. Most people believe that they are hungry when in fact they are just thirsty. Drinking eight pints of water a day can help to control your diet and makes your digestive function work more efficiently. Your muscles need water to help repair damage done by exercise and flush out lactic acid etc.
3. Eat six times a day. Yes, that right, six! The key is to eat little and often but not to fall into the habit of snacking or continually grazing. Have a good breakfast, fruit two hours later, a slightly larger meal at 12, then three more small meals ending well before 8pm.
4. Only eat Ancient foods. If a food substance wasnt available 10,000 years ago, then your body will probably not be able to deal with it properly. Eat little red meat, plenty of fish, pulses, nuts, berries and vegetables. The only sugar that you should eat without fibre should be honey which has extraordinary properties. (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM)