Most people view food very simply: it either tastes good, or it's good for you – and never the two shall meet.

We at Precision Nutrition are on a mission to change that view. The book you now hold in your hands is proof positive that food can both be good and taste great at the same time.

And I want to be clear about one other thing: this is a book for people who want to look spectacular. Not just lose a few pounds here or there, not just drop an inch of the waist, or not just feel more "well" (whatever that means). Gourmet Nutrition is for people who want their bodies to look like fewer and fewer bodies actually look these days: stunning, healthy and strong.

As a nutrition researcher, coach and consultant for almost 15 years now, I've worked with thousands of clients around the world, everyone from Olympic athletes to cardiac patients, from people just getting started toward their goals to those who have been exercising and eating well for years.

And to this day, no matter who the audience, when I first present the revolutionary concept that you can eat great tasting food and still have a great-looking, healthy physique, laughter generally ensues.

The truth is that sometimes the old cliché is accurate; sometimes "health food" is just plain awful. And that drives some folks away from eating healthy altogether.

Others decide to lower their heads and keep at it, eating miserable tasting food in a brave attempt to lose weight or accomplish some other health or physique goal.

Neither group seems to know that there's a better way.

See, the whole "all healthy food tastes bad" thing is either a myth or just a lame excuse. Indeed, I can tell you with 100% certainty that there are many people who eat healthy meals every day – either to feel better, or look better, or get strong enough and fast enough to reach the outer limit of human performance – and they do it by eating great tasting food.

Yes, every day, there are people out there eating healthy, easy-to-make meals that could be found in gourmet restaurants. Meals that could impress the most discerning foodie. Meals that could fool a first date, a reluctant spouse, or picky-eating kids. Meals that just plain taste good. Meals that, when planned and eaten consistently, can improve and even completely transform your body.

And how do they do it? With Gourmet Nutrition.

Look, I've been there. I've eaten all that terrible food too. But at a certain point, it got tiresome. It got old. So instead of trying to overcome the protests of a thousand unsatisfied taste buds, I decided to do something about it.

I sat down with my good friend and noted recipe maestro, Dr. John Williams, and created the ultimate physique-friendly cookbook, Gourmet Nutrition. Originally appearing as an e-book, Gourmet Nutrition Volume 1 instantly became an Internet best-seller. The feedback was exceptional. Yet there were two problems with it.

First, it was an e-book. And people wanted it as a hardcopy, as an in-the-flesh book they could hold in their hands and lay flat on their counters while they cooked.

Second, Gourmet Nutrition readers wanted more. Once they worked through the first 100 great-tasting recipes, they wanted more Gourmet Nutrition meal ideas.

In response to these two requests, I decided to get back to work and create another volume of Gourmet Nutrition. This time I enlisted the help of gourmet chef Michael Williams and his culinary counterpart Kristina Andrew. And among the three of us, we came up with over 100 additional Gourmet Nutrition recipes – each of them presented in this very book, a beautifully photographed hard copy that's equally at home on the countertop and the coffee table.

What's a "Gourmet Nutrition" meal?

Now, at this point, you might be asking yourself – "There are a few thousand cookbooks on the market – so what makes Gourmet Nutrition so special?"

Well, simply put, Gourmet Nutrition is where taste meets physiology.

You see, traditionally, the worlds of gourmet cooking and healthy nutrition have been at odds. The gourmands have sacrificed all (including nutritional value) at the altar of flavor and the artistic presentation of food. And the nutritionists have sacrificed all (including flavor) at the altar of physiology and nutritional value.

Yet flavor and nutritional value are not mutually exclusive. They are absolutely reconcilable. And with Gourmet Nutrition, we've created meals that are healthy – and that taste great too.

1. Must taste great
Simply put, to be considered for inclusion into this book, every meal was scrutinized by the discriminating palates of a number of chefs, nutritionists, and foodies. And only those recipes with the highest ratings were included in Gourmet Nutrition.

2. Must contain lean, complete protein
Protein is the building block of muscle. And even if you don't want to build more muscle, you definitely want to preserve the muscle that you have for as long as you can. This helps to keep your metabolism revving, improve your weight loss profile, and reduce cardiovascular disease risk. And that's why we encourage you to eat a lean, complete protein source with each meal. Now, if all of this protein stuff is above your head, that's ok. We show you just how to do it with each and every Gourmet Nutrition meal option.

3. Must be low in sugar and processed carbohydrates
Sugar is not always the demon ingredient it's made out to be. But there are valid and strong reasons to limit sugar and processed carbohydrates in your diet. These types of carbohydrates digest too quickly, leading to erratic blood sugar, energy levels, and hormonal responses – none of which does your health or physique any favors. Therefore, each Gourmet Nutrition meal has been created in such a way as to help you limit the amount of sugar you take in each and every day.

4. Must prioritize healthy fats over bad fats
Whenever possible, the goal of every health-conscious individual should be to eliminate the nasty trans-fats we hear so much about. But even beyond avoiding trans-fats, it's important to keep our saturated fats in check while prioritizing healthy mono and polyunsaturated fats. Gourmet Nutrition makes this easy, as our meals eliminate trans-fats while balancing out your saturates, monounsaturates, and polyunsaturates – leaving the meal planning to us and the eating to you.

5. Must control calorie intake and density
One of the major reasons many people gain fat as they age (aside from lack of exercise) is the fact that their daily meals are often too high in calories. Indeed, many popular food choices can be quite calorie dense. And this means that even though you don't feel like you were eating a lot of food, you're packing in too many calories with each meal. To this end, we've designed Gourmet Nutrition to provide meals with a relatively low calorie density as well as variable portion sizes. This helps you avoid sneaking hundreds of extra calories into your diet unknowingly, with each meal.

6. Must include fresh, natural, additive-free ingredients wherever possible
In general, the fresher the ingredient, the better it is for you. So, when choosing your meals, ask yourself if you've ever seen what you're about to eat growing in the ground or running around on a farm somewhere. If the answer is no, you're about to eat processed food. Ditto for anything that comes in a box or plastic container. Now, understand, it'll be next to impossible to avoid all processed foods. In fact, there may be some processed foods that you want to include in your diet. That's okay. Really, you just want to make sure that your daily diet draws mostly on fresh, whole foods. And the meals present in Gourmet Nutrition can help you do this.

7. Must include carbs only if you deserve them
You've probably read all about high-carb vs. low-carb dieting. In my opinion, the high-carb vs. low-carb debate is a little misunderstood. As the body handles carbs best when it's in an exercised state, the best carb strategy is this: eat carbs only if you've earned them. Have you exercised? If so, you've earned a higher carb meal. Have you exercised a lot? If so, you've earned even more carbs. However, keep this in mind: if you haven't exercised, your carb intake should be low. Gourmet Nutrition helps you keep track of this carb thing by separating meals into two categories – Post-workout meals and Anytime meals. More on this to follow.

Post-workout vs. Anytime meals

You'll notice that all the meals in this book are designated as either Post-workout or Anytime meals.

Note: this designation is listed right under the title of the recipe, so you'll be able to tell at a glance what type of meal it is.

Why does this classification exist? Well, research shows us that the body handles carbohydrates best immediately after exercise. From this, we know that it's a good idea to consume most of our daily carbohydrates within the 2-3 hour period after we exercise ("post-workout"). Likewise, if we haven't exercised, it's best to avoid higher carb meals during this time – instead focusing on proteins, good fats, and veggies. To this end:

Post-workout meals are those meals that contain a moderate to high amount of carbohydrates (greater than 26% carbohydrates). I recommend eating these meals within 2-3 hours of your last exercise session.

Anytime meals are those meals that contain a low amount of carbohydrates (less than 25% carbohydrates). I recommend eating these meals any other time outside of your Post-workout period.

Please note that this rule is a general rule of thumb that works well for most as a starting point. Now, I should mention that some people are actually able to tolerate higher carbohydrate intakes outside of the Post-workout period; that is, they can eat more pastas, breads, sugars and the like without getting fat. These individuals generally know who they are. They're often naturally very lean, and sometimes very skinny.

If you don't fit into that category, you're best off consuming carbs only in the 2-3 hours after an intense workout, or at least using that as the starting point for some trial and error, slowly introducing carbs outside that window and measuring the results.

Cooking instruction, Gourmet Nutrition style.

Okay, now that you've got an idea of what Gourmet Nutrition is all about, I should also mention that unlike most cookbooks, the books in the Gourmet Nutrition series aren't mere collections of recipes. Instead, they also teach you how to cook.

Rather than simply giving you list after list of ingredients, telling you how much of this, how long to cook that, what temperature to turn the oven dial to, and how to disconnect your smoke alarm before beginning, the Gourmet Nutrition books share with you the universal cooking principles so important to making great meals.

For example, in this volume, we'll share with you strategies for combining your main protein dishes with a variety of side dishes and homemade condiments for an almost unlimited number of meal creations. In doing this, the number of recipes available to you in this book increases to a few hundred when all is said and done.

Further, we'll show you how you can make small changes to ingredient lists to magically turn Anytime meals into Post-workout meals and vice versa. You'll feel like Harry Houdini of the kitchen.

In addition, we'll also show you how to incorporate a variety of spices into different dishes to dramatically change the flavor palate. If you're a salt and pepper person, that's fine; you can stick with the basics. However, if you like to spice it up, we'll teach you how to use rosemary, cilantro, paprika, and more.

After spending some time with Gourmet Nutrition, no longer will you feel that twinge of insecurity when you enter the kitchen, wondering if you're going to end up with a really nice blackened swordfish or just a smoldering, blackened pan. This book aims to be your own personal cooking teacher and your own personal nutrition coach – all wrapped into one.

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The brand new Gourmet Nutrition cookbook is available now! Featuring over 120 spectacular recipes for a high-performance body, Gourmet Nutrition is a beautifully produced coffee table style cookbook with a full-page color photo for every recipe. Usually ships in 24 hours.

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