Chef Dan Churchill Shares His 5 Most Important Fuel-For-Performance Rules

Fresh off the New York City Marathon, Performance Chef Dan Churchill is already training for a Dallas Hyrox he’s doing shortly after taking the stage at Eudēmonia in West Palm Beach, FL, this weekend.

Between training for races, shooting content, traveling, and being the executive chef of The Osprey in Brooklyn’s 1 Hotel, there’s one thing Churchill doesn’t leave to chance: his meals. And he wants you to do the same.

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“I always start off by planning my week through my activity. Once I write out my training plan, I then am able to write out my nutrition plan,” he says, adding how that allows him to know his options whether he’d be at home or away at any given time.

He highlights that cooking and meal preparation doesn’t have to be complex. In his book Eat Like A Legend, Churchill provides step-by-step recipes for food you don’t need a chef certification to cook. All meals are packed with fiber, nutrients, and other good stuff calibrated to enhance focus, determination, gut health, muscle mass, and endurance, no matter what you do.

Whether you’re chasing a personal record or just trying to feel unstoppable throughout the week, Churchill says that “fuel dictates how you show up every day.” You don’t need to be an athlete to eat like one. You just need to start planning like you care about your performance.

Here are five fundamental tips he mentions that help set you up for becoming legendary and a few key takeaways to expect from him at Eudemonia.

1. Put Yourself First

“I want people to put themselves first,” he states. Everyone has the ability to perform at a high level, every day, and he notes that food can play a big role in supporting your daily energy and performance. “In this day and age, people are never going to put themselves first enough,” he shares, adding “you have to be the one to take control of your health.”

He encourages athletes to know their protein targets relative to activity level and to understand how their macronutrient ratios, including fats, carbs, and protein, shift with their goals. Also he advocates for being aware of the body’s need for fuel during rest days.

“I now know that on my days off, I actually have to increase more than I was eating,” he admits, adding that people might not realize that on their days off, their body is just as active repairing the body for when they are on. “Even though you feel sedentary, because you probably are relaxing, your body is internally working in overdrive.”

2. Plan Ahead

For Churchill, preparation is the backbone of performance. If you treat your health like a business, you’ll put a lot more emphasis on prep. “Control the controllable,” he says.

Every Sunday, he maps out his workouts, meals, and grocery list. When he travels, he researches restaurants before going out of town. “Before I take off, I already know the meals that I have available, and I already know the coffee shops.”

That same principle inspired Alma, a nutrition app he joined as its Chief Brand Officer. Alma syncs with Apple Health, helping you adapt your nutrition goals and meals to your daily output. Think of it like a nutrition coach in your pocket. “For someone who’s targeting round numbers every day without understanding the variable nature of your activity, that can still be some guesswork,” Churchill explained. “with Alma, we’re really trying to remove the guesswork for you, which is really, really exciting.” Plus, they just released a feature called “Takeout,” which tells you where you can eat based on your goals.

3. Up Your Fiber

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends an average of 24 grams of daily dietary fiber, but data suggests that more than 90% of women and 97% of men do not meet that recommended intake. Churchill says that it’s still not enough. “There’s more recent research that suggests the importance of it for overall health. I think 34 grams is the sweet spot.”

4. Put in the Reps

Cooking, Churchill implies, is a skill like any other that’s built and mastered through repetition. The true test, he says, is to keep doing it even if you’re not good at it at first. “The more time you put into it, the better,” he says.

He challenges you to try to “cook the same meal every Tuesday for three weeks. By the third time, it’ll be cheaper, quicker, and you’ll have less washing up.”

But repetition doesn’t have to mean monotony. “Same ingredients doesn’t have to mean eating the same meals,” he says, noting that you can create different dishes with the same base using different techniques of cooking.

He’s also a fan of tools that remove friction. “Air fryers are fantastic because they’re actually getting people to cook more. It’s quick and easy.”

5. Eat Your Last Meal Earlier

Churchill’s latest adjustment is timing. “I’m trying to eat a lot earlier than I was. Last night I had dinner around 6:30 p.m.,” he says. “It helps you get into bed earlier and your body shuts down internally sooner too.”

That shift aligns with growing research on circadian nutrition on how finishing dinner earlier supports sleep, recovery, and metabolic health, especially for athletes.

At the core of it all, Churchill’s message is about self-respect through structure. Whether he’s fueling for a race or recovering from one, he approaches food with the same discipline as his workouts, and wants others to see that connection while enjoying the process.

And if you’re not sure if cooking is a skill within you, Churchill invites you to reconsider. “I truly believe there is a little chef inside of everybody,” he says. “You’ve got to find a way to connect with that individual. And homework starts with just getting them to cook one dish a week. That’s all it is.”