Translating Nutrition: Clinical Nutrition, Sports Nutrition, & Health Coaching with Dr Cliff Harvey

Most practitioners now use AI somewhere in their practice, but few have stopped to ask where their clients' data goes, who is training on it, or what their software subscriptions are funding. In this HPI team episode, Dr Cliff Harvey, Luke Gabites and Choong Kwan talk honestly about the ethics of the tech we buy, how they each use AI with clients, and the mistakes they see colleagues making.In this episode we coverWhy the rise of AI pushed tech ethics onto practitioners' radar"We are the product": what free tools really costWhere client data actually goes in apps, AI tools and cloud workspacesDe-identification and other practical privacy safeguards for AI useHow Cliff uses AI for differential assessment and peer review, without handing over his clinical reasoningHallucinated studies, people-pleasing answers and built-in biasHow HPI audited its suppliers and moved to a more ethical tech stack (and saved money doing it)Progress over perfection: building your own ethos for business decisionsChapters00:00 Intro01:22 How AI put tech ethics on the radar03:15 "We are the product": free tools and advertising05:19 Client data in a world of vibe-coded apps08:37 Privacy law, de-identification and where your data lives11:43 Jurisdiction, subpoenas and European alternatives13:45 HPI's procurement policy and why it started16:06 Practitioners using free AI tools17:59 AI as an extension of your brain19:33 Data breaches and simple de-identification habits23:00 AI makes good practitioners better and bad practitioners worse28:06 If you build AI to replace you, it can28:59 Hallucinations: invented studies and bad instructions31:26 AI wants to please you: why you still need to study33:41 How LLMs actually work, and their biases36:28 Training data, IP and copyright37:15 HPI's supplier audit and new tech stack41:58 Progress over perfection43:46 Finding your ethos and your big why45:54 The Practitioner's RoadmapAbout the hostsDr Cliff Harvey is a clinical nutritionist, researcher and founder of the Holistic Performance Institute: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/Luke Gabites is a Registered Clinical Nutritionist and Sports Nutritionist at Planted Nutrition in Auckland.Choong Kwan is a Registered Clinical Nutritionist, sports nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach based in Auckland. He helps time-poor parents and high performers build strong, healthy bodies without letting training and nutrition take over their lives. Find him at https://www.iamchoong.com/Links mentioned in this episodeNZ Privacy Commissioner guidance on AI: https://www.privacy.org.nz/resources-and-learning/a-z-topics/ai/OpenAI data controls (turning off model training): https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7730893-data-controls-faqManageMyHealth breach inquiry (1News): https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/05/27/managemyhealth-warned-before-massive-data-breach-inquiry/HPI Vision for Equity (ethics and diversity policy): https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/ethics-and-diversityHPI's list of ethical providers: link coming soon!Connect with HPIRoadmap: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/roadmapPodcast page: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/podcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticperformancenutrition/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HolisticPerformanceNutrition/LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/company/holistic-performance-instituteYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@holisticperformanceThinking about turning this into a career? Download the free Practitioner's Roadmap: what you can and can't do at each level of practice, the three career pathways, what practitioners charge in NZ and Australia, and which registration bodies recognise what. If you found this useful, follow Translating Nutrition and share it with a colleague who uses AI with clients.

Women are told to change their lifting, cardio, protein and even meal timing depending on their cycle phase. Dr Lauren Colenso-Semple has measured those hormones across many cycles in many women, and she has published some of the key research testing whether cycle phase changes how muscle responds to training. In this episode, she and Cliff look at what the evidence supports, what it doesn't, and why goal-led, individualised training beats a hormone calendar.In this episode we coverWhy "women are not small men" started as a call for better research and turned into rigid, fear-based rulesHow much research in women actually exists in weight loss, endurance and resistance trainingWhy the textbook 28-day cycle with ovulation on day 14 rarely matches real lifeWhy sex differences in strength and muscle gain shrink once people are trainedHow to auto-regulate training on a bad day without skipping the sessionWearables, readiness scores and handing your judgement over to an appThe luteal phase protein claim, and how it stacks one untested mechanism on anotherFasted training, low-carb diets and the fragility narrative aimed at womenChapters00:00 Intro01:12 Catching up after the Austin conference03:04 Are women just small men?04:05 When empowerment becomes disempowering05:37 Why it took so long to study women08:45 How much research in women do we have?11:00 Cycle syncing and the 28-day myth14:21 Lean mass, training status and sex differences17:23 Train for your goal, not your fibre type18:16 Overcomplication and selling what you can't measure20:55 Life stages, PCOS and lived experience24:55 Do you need lived experience to be an expert?30:10 Consistency beats optimisation35:13 How to auto-regulate training40:55 Objective vs subjective performance43:18 Wearables, readiness scores and AI48:00 Tracking your cycle as one variable among many50:41 Dogma, branding and changing your mind54:30 Cycle-specific nutrition: the luteal protein story59:38 Fasted training and low energy availability1:01:39 Should women fast or go low carb?1:05:38 The optimisation fallacy1:09:05 How adaptable humans are1:13:37 When life gets in the way1:17:12 "Don't do this" messaging: zone 2, HIIT and running1:19:44 Lauren's take-home message1:21:32 The Practitioner's RoadmapAbout Dr Lauren Colenso-SempleLauren is a muscle physiology researcher who completed her PhD at McMaster University, focused on exercise physiology, endocrinology and sex-based differences in muscle growth. She is co-owner of and a reviewer for the MASS Research Review and a regular voice on the Iron Culture podcast. Find her on Instagram at @drlaurencs1 and at MASS Research Review.Links mentioned in this episodeMASS Research Review: https://www.massresearchreview.com/Iron Culture podcast: https://ironculture.libsyn.com/Colenso-Semple et al. (2023), umbrella review on cycle phase and resistance training: https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1054542Colenso-Semple et al. (2025), cycle phase and muscle protein synthesis: https://doi.org/10.1113/JP287342Holistic Performance InstituteRoadmap: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/roadmapPodcast page: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/podcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticperformancenutrition/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HolisticPerformanceNutrition/LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/company/holistic-performance-instituteYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@holisticperformanceWant to turn evidence like this into a career? Grab the free Practitioner's Roadmap at the link above. For the research behind each topic, see Nutripaedia, HPI's evidence reviews. If you got something from this episode, follow the show and leave a rating - it helps more practitioners find it.

Social media says your morning coffee spikes cortisol, drives fat gain and wrecks your hormones. But most of those claims come from studies using doses of 3 to 6 mg of caffeine per kilo, or up to 800 mg in one hit. In this round table, Dr Cliff Harvey sits down with HPI nutritionists Luke Gabites and Choong Kwan to look at what the research actually shows, and how they use coffee/caffiene with their own clients.In this episode we cover:Why "coffee spikes cortisol" is a surface-level read of the researchThe doses used in caffeine studies versus a normal couple of cupsHabituation: why regular coffee drinkers show little cortisol responseAdrenaline, adenosine and what actually makes you feel alertCortisol, "cortisol belly" and fat gain: what the evidence supportsWhen caffeine is a real problem: high-stress clients, energy drinks and sleepPractical guidelines: timing, cups per day, double shots and green teaCoffee and iron absorption for plant-based eatersChapters00:00 Intro and the team01:41 Coffee, cortisol and the social media claims03:37 Fat gain, hormones and crashes: the claims04:17 Why a cortisol rise is partly the point06:16 What the research doses really are10:11 Dose in the real world: 800 mg is eight cups11:55 Adrenaline first, cortisol later, and habituation15:23 Athletes versus high-stress type A clients19:06 Energy drinks, exercise and the rugby study22:07 Half-life, timing and hidden calories in coffee24:08 The latte client: does cortisol cause fat gain?26:51 Cortisol belly and stress eating30:05 The bigger stressors in people's lives33:31 Individual responses and the holistic view35:33 Practical caffeine guidelines41:03 Green tea, L-theanine and iron absorption42:22 Wrap-up and NutripaediaAbout the teamDr Cliff Harvey is a clinical nutritionist, researcher and founder of the Holistic Performance Institute. Choong Kwan is a Registered Clinical Nutritionist, sports nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach based in Auckland. He helps time-poor parents and high performers build strong, healthy bodies without letting training and nutrition take over their lives. Find him at iamchoong.com. Luke Gabites is a Registered Clinical Nutritionist and Sports Nutritionist at Planted Nutrition in Auckland. Mentioned in this episodeNutripaedia living review: Caffeine and Cortisol (HPI members) - https://holisticperformance.thinkific.com/courses/take/nutripaedia/audio/76943502-caffeine-cortisolBeaven et al. (2008), caffeine dose and cortisol in rugby league players: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18458357/Dr Lauren Colenso-Semple on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlaurencs1/Choong Kwan: https://www.iamchoong.com/Luke Gabites, Planted Nutrition: https://plantednutrition.nzHPI linksRoadmap: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/roadmapPodcast page: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/podcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticperformancenutrition/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HolisticPerformanceNutrition/LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/company/holistic-performance-instituteYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@holisticperformanceGo further: want the full evidence on caffeine and cortisol, updated as new research lands? It's in Nutripaedia, our living evidence reviews for practitioners. Want to work in this space yourself? See the study pathways on the HPI Roadmap. If you got something from this episode, follow the show and leave a rating - it helps other practitioners find us.

Is there a safe dose of alcohol? Headlines say no. The biggest meta-analysis on alcohol and death says something more nuanced. Dr Cliff Harvey sits down with longtime collaborator Dr Mikki Williden to separate "no healthy dose" from "no safe dose", and to work out what a sensible, evidence-based drinking pattern looks like for people who enjoy the odd drink.In this episode we cover:Why alcohol is such a divisive topic, and why both apologists and absolutists get the evidence wrongWhat the Zhao et al. (2023) meta-analysis of 107 cohort studies found on all-cause mortalityWhy cancer risk is where the case for "no safe dose" is strongestRelative vs absolute risk, and how to read a 3% or 20% increaseAbstainer bias: why non-drinkers once looked less healthy than light drinkersHow diet, exercise and a Mediterranean-style drinking pattern change the pictureWhy zero-tolerance messaging can erode trustThe practical take-home: a drinking pattern that sits well inside the risk thresholdsChapters:00:00 Why alcohol is such a polarising health topic01:25 Why Mikki is the right person to discuss the evidence03:17 Tracking health metrics without obsession07:39 Why steps and movement matter more than fitness dogma09:02 Do strength training and jiu-jitsu count as cardio?12:53 Why more carbs improved Mikki's running and recovery15:47 Why low carb and high carb can both work20:34 Horses for courses: matching diet to the goal and season23:30 Why "what if they did even better?" is a weak argument25:25 Back to alcohol and mortality30:07 Why mortality is the right place to start32:11 What the major meta-analysis found on all-cause mortality35:09 Why cancer changes the conversation38:01 How alcohol-related cancer risk is usually presented40:19 Relative risk vs absolute risk explained42:13 Why cancer studies often use broad intake categories43:46 Drinking frequency and binge patterns44:46 Abstainer bias: why non-drinkers looked worse47:11 Residual confounding and why no study is perfect49:07 How physical activity and Mediterranean habits reduce risk50:43 No healthy dose, but maybe a safe dose55:56 How drinking culture has shifted58:16 Functional drinking and underestimated intake1:02:36 Why zero-tolerance messaging erodes trust1:04:51 Alcohol with food, and why culture affects outcomes1:08:13 Personal tolerance, nickel sensitivity and congeners1:10:11 Social lubrication, behaviour and context1:12:07 The biggest health levers may not be alcohol1:14:03 How mindfulness, sleep and behaviour ripple across health1:15:31 The practical middle ground on alcohol1:17:09 Where to find Mikki and the Holistic Performance InstituteAbout Dr Mikki WillidenDr Mikki Williden is a New Zealand nutritionist with a PhD in nutrition, a former AUT lecturer, and host of the Mikkipedia podcast. She runs coaching and programmes for people who want evidence-based nutrition that fits real life, and is a long-term contributor to the Holistic Performance Institute.Find Mikki: Website https://mikkiwilliden.com · Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mikkiwilliden/ · Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mikkiwillidennutrition · Mikkipedia https://podcast.mikkiwilliden.comStudies mentioned in this episodeZhao et al. (2023), daily alcohol intake and all-cause mortality, JAMA Network Open: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.6185Health effects associated with alcohol consumption: a Burden of Proof study (2026), Nature Health: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00139-5Sarich et al. (2026), alcohol-attributable cancer risk in the 45 and Up Study, British Journal of Cancer: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-026-03403-3Perreault et al. (2017), physical activity and alcohol-related mortality, British Journal of Sports Medicine: https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2016-096194Campanella et al. (2024), Mediterranean alcohol-drinking pattern, diet and mortality, Nutrients: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16010059Kassaw et al. (2024), Mendelian randomisation of alcohol and mortality, International Journal of Epidemiology: https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/53/2/dyae046/7632292Nutripaedia living review: alcohol and mortality (link to add when live)HPI linksRoadmap: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/roadmapPodcast page: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/podcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticperformancenutrition/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HolisticPerformanceNutrition/LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/company/holistic-performance-instituteYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@holisticperformanceWant the full evidence review? Cliff's living review on alcohol and mortality is going up in Nutripaedia, HPI's database of evidence reviews. Thinking about a career in nutrition? Grab the free Practitioner's Roadmap: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/roadmap.If this episode was useful, follow Translating Nutrition and leave a rating, it helps other practitioners find the show.

Plant-Based and Pragmatic: When Diet Meets Ethics | Luke GabitesMost diet arguments online come down to rules: you either eat this way perfectly or you are out. Registered Clinical Nutritionist Luke Gabites spent years as an ethical vegan, and he joins Dr Cliff Harvey to talk about what happens when strict rules meet real life, real bodies and real clients. Both have plant-based roots, both have become more pragmatic, and neither is anti-vegan.In this episode we coverHow Luke and Cliff each came to plant-based eating, and why both have softened over timeWhy a vegan diet isn't medically suitable for everyone, including Cliff's systemic nickel allergy and Crohn's diseaseWhether a vegan diet always results in fewer lives lost, and where food systems and consumerism fit inValues vs rules: an acceptance and commitment therapy lens on how we eatRigid diets, perfectionism and the link with disordered eatingWhat the research on plant-based eating actually shows, and where it gets overstatedWorking with clients across the dietary spectrum without pushing your own ethicsLuke's one universal principle: start with your values, then build a mostly whole-food pattern that lets you liveChapters00:00 Intro 00:12 Cliff on pragmatism, veganism and dogma 03:49 Welcome Luke 05:05 Luke's path: migraines, student flatting and yoga in India 07:51 Holding values without rigidity 09:30 Cliff's story: hunting, Buddhism and going vegetarian 12:15 Crohn's disease, nickel allergy and eating meat again 15:36 Does a vegan diet always take fewer lives? 17:35 Food systems, gardening and killing slugs 19:20 Perfectionism in diet communities 20:04 Restrictive diets and disordered eating 22:00 Diet vs ethos: the vegan category problem 23:00 Values vs rules 26:28 Identity, performance and hypocrisy 27:39 Insects, puha and cats: where is the line? 30:17 Living in alignment and self-compassion 33:28 Backlash for changing your diet 36:58 Online criticism and when to block 39:45 Bioindividuality and lived experience 41:37 Reading nutrition research pragmatically 45:11 Working with clients of every diet 48:40 Who ends up in your clinic 53:44 Knowing when to refer on 56:47 One universal truth in nutrition 1:00:32 Coach-first practice 1:02:39 The Practitioner's Roadmap About Luke GabitesLuke Gabites is a Registered Clinical Nutritionist (Clinical Nutritionists Aotearoa) and Wellness Educator based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, and the founder of Planted Nutrition. He graduated with first-class honours from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition, completed HPN 2 clinical nutrition training at HPI, and co-hosts the Thrive: Mind & Body podcast with psychologist Jane Gabites.Find Luke: plantednutrition.nz | YouTube | InstagramLinks mentioned in this episodeHarvey, C. (2026). Low-nickel diet in Crohn's disease: case report and narrative review. Journal of Metabolic HealthEPIC-Oxford cohort: Tong et al. (2019), BMJKristin Neff on self-compassion: self-compassion.orgThrive: Mind & Body podcast: Apple PodcastsHPI faculty and advisors (Dr Eric Helms, Dr Mikki Williden and team): Our peopleHPI linksPractitioner's Roadmap: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/roadmapPodcast page: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/podcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticperformancenutrition/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HolisticPerformanceNutrition/LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/company/holistic-performance-instituteYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@holisticperformanceWant to do this work yourself? Grab the free Practitioner's Roadmap: career pathways, scope at each level, what practitioners charge in NZ and Australia, and which registration bodies recognise what.If helping people step out of rigid, rule-bound eating is your thing, look at HPI's Empowered Eating Coach certification. Follow Translating Nutrition so you don't miss an episode, and tell us where you land on this one.