Tom Hollis Health

Carbohydrates, Clinical dietetics, Events, Running, Sport

Marathon memory lane

April 26, 2021 No Comments

I struggle to accept the fact that this week marks two years since my last marathon, but that’s what my phone has been telling me, so accept it I must. And while I don’t have any 2021 races inked into my diary just yet, I am starting to consider options for a winter marathon PB push…and in the process, I’ve found myself having a good old reminisce of the five previous times I’ve covered the 26.2. I have full respect for ultrarunners, sprinters and middle-distance runners, but for me, the marathon is the holy grail. The ultimate test. The perfect […]

Clinical dietetics, Diets, Hydration, Nutrition in the media, Research, Running, Sport

Why do sports nutrition qualifications matter?

April 5, 2021 No Comments

Even before completing my qualifications to become a Registered Dietitian back in 2013, I was pretty sure that at some point I would work in sports nutrition. Given that I spend the majority of my spare time playing, watching or thinking about sport, it always seemed like the most obvious of connections between expertise and interests. However, it remained nothing more than a vague notion for many years. I did do a fair bit of research and shadowing of some prestigious sports nutrition experts early on, but then left it to one side; I knew that I really wanted to […]

Clinical dietetics, Diabetes, Heart, Nutrition in the media, Public Health

Post-ICU and COVID-19 nutrition

March 8, 2021 No Comments

The road to recovery after critical illness can be long and challenging. However, it is only in recent years that Post Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) has started to be more widely recognised and understood, and therefore much better managed. PICS encompasses a range of symptoms that fall under the three broad categories of physical cognitive, and psychological impairment, with ICU-acquired weakness among the most frequently seen symptoms. Improving ICU survival rates are partly to thank for this growing interest in PICS, as we can now look beyond mere survival and consider quality of recovery. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has also […]

Diets, Events, Fibre, Micronutrients, Nutrition in the media, Plant based, Protein, Public Health, Research, Sport, Veganism

Veganuary 2021

January 10, 2021 No Comments

Veganuary is back, and more popular than ever, with over 500,000 people signing up in 2021. Inevitably this also means more backlash than ever from the closed-minded meat-chompers who feel threatened by plant-based diets, but I find it’s best not to rise to the red-faced haters! If this pandemic has taught us one thing, it is hopefully that we should never take our environment, wildlife, or health for granted. OK, so those are three things really, but nevertheless, they are also the three main reasons that people choose to go plant-based. And unlike Dry January, which, although important, only serves […]

Clinical dietetics, Events, London, Public Health, Running, Sport

2020: An unforgettable year as a runner…and ICU Dietitian (part 2/2)

January 2, 2021 No Comments

July and August The second half of the year started in a similar fashion to June – just enjoying being in good shape and the very gradual easing of lockdown restrictions and return to some semblance of normality across the UK. This included our ‘Last Man Stands’ cricket season belatedly getting underway, albeit with lots of hand gel, elbow bump wicket celebrations and socially distanced team photos. I developed and delivered ‘introduction to running nutrition’ webinars to local running clubs and had a great response. We were also able to escape London and get a proper change of scenery for […]

Clinical dietetics, Events, London, Nutrition in the media, Public Health, Running, Sport

2020: An unforgettable year as a runner…and ICU dietitian (part 1/2)

December 31, 2020 No Comments

Perhaps a little self-indulgent, but this year has been unforgettable for all the right and mostly wrong reasons, so here’s my month-by-month recap. I’m lucky that running is a constant in my life, and something I can turn to on even the hardest of days, so I’ve based this blog around that. January: Starting the year buzzing with optimism but still burdened by my terrible sense of direction, I got lost and missed the start of Whitstable parkrun, but caught up from the back and swore this year was definitely going to be the year I got to my first […]

Plant based, Running, Sport, Uncategorized, Veganism

Christmas promo!

December 6, 2020 No Comments

🎅 Running out of gift ideas? 😂 Get the runner / cyclist / budding vegan in your life the gift of expert, personalised nutrition! Help them reach their potential and optimise their health with a voucher for Tom Hollis Performance Nutrition. And as my special festive treat to you, anyone who books in December gets 10% off their package price. See my services page for more details. 🎄🎄🎄

Clinical dietetics, Running, Sport

Where ICU meets sports nutrition

November 22, 2020 No Comments

Where ICU overlaps with sports nutrition

Isn’t it bizarre how trivial conversations or moments can stick in your head? I often think back to such a moment in September 2019… Despite having promised to myself in 2013 that my life in academia was finally over, having qualified as a Registered Dietitian, there I was in the classroom again, ready for Exercise Physiology – the first module of my Applied Sports Nutrition postgrad. Most of the students on my side of the course had a nutrition background of some description (while the other side had a sports background), including a sprinkling of dietitians with differing levels of clinical […]

Running, Sport

13 realisations from 2 weeks of NOT running

October 10, 2020 No Comments

Swimming as cross-training for an injured runner

(Because obviously, after a fortnight of injury, I am an expert on the subject…) For the first time in 10 years of running, I think I have an overtraining injury. Alternatively, it might just be something small and acute that I’m overreacting to (fingers crossed), but either way, my hip hurts when I run, and even when I walk for more than about half an hour, so I’m not taking any chances until I get more professional advice (and ideally, a diagnosis). On a weekend when I was supposed to be helping to pace a friend (and client) round his […]

Carbohydrates, Diabetes, Diets, Fats, Ketogenic, Plant based, Public Health, Research, Running, Sport, Weight loss

Keto diets in endurance exercise (part II)

October 3, 2020 No Comments

I introduced the definitions and basic theory underpinning endurance athletes’ ketogenic diets (EAKD) in the first blog, but what happens when the theory is subjected to scientific research? A recently published systematic review (which by definition should incorporate all relevant, good quality studies) will help us answer this question. I will warn you that this is quite a detailed synopsis, so feel free to skip to my ‘take home thoughts’ at the end if what comes before is a bit too heavy. The review claims to be the first of its kind looking at EAKD and key outcomes for endurance […]