Future is here: Today, AI is challenging even the best human nutritionists, offering real-time analysis, hyper-personalised diet plans, and predictive models that optimise athletic performance without the bias of human assumptions.  | Photo Credit: The Hindu Photo Library

For years, I have crafted personalised nutrition plans for elite athletes, including top cricketers like Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, and Harbhajan Singh. I have studied every detail — metabolism, micronutrient needs, gut health, hydration strategies, and recovery cycles. My approach has always been driven by human expertise, intuition, and experience — things no machine could replicate.

Or so I thought.

Today, AI is challenging even the best human nutritionists, offering real-time analysis, hyper-personalised diet plans, and predictive models that optimise athletic performance without the bias of human assumptions. And whether I like it or not, AI is winning in ways that even I must admit are extraordinary.

When elite cricketers transition from promising talents to world-class athletes, nutrition plays a pivotal role. I have had the privilege of crafting the diets of some of the finest names in the game, ensuring that every gram of protein, carbohydrate, and fat is precisely tailored to their match-day needs, recovery goals, and long-term endurance.

We relied on blood markers, gut microbiome data, genetic testing, and manual meal tracking to make micro-adjustments. Every food choice was deliberate — a perfectly calculated mix of science, discipline, and, yes, intuition.

But what took me weeks to analyse, AI can now do in seconds.

As a nutritionist, I always believed my greatest strength was my ability to see patterns — how sleep affected an athlete’s hydration needs, how stress influenced food cravings, or how subtle nutrient shifts could optimise muscle recovery.

But AI doesn’t rely on intuition.

- It analyses thousands of biomarkers in real time — predicting energy fluctuations before an athlete even feels them.

- It removes human bias — if an athlete needs more carbs despite trends favouring high-protein diets, AI will say it outright.

- It optimises meal timing, hydration, and recovery strategies — factoring in sleep cycles, match-day conditions, and stress levels.

- It can adjust plans dynamically — based on live training data, sweat analysis, and even weather conditions.

Where I spend hours correlating nutrition, sleep, and stress, AI does it instantly — without error, without fatigue, without hesitation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently emphasised AI’s role in healthcare, stating that it will revolutionise medicine, make treatments more accessible, and simplify complex medical and nutritional data.

He said: “If you upload your medical report to an AI system, it can translate it into simple language, free of medical jargon, helping you understand what it means for your health.”

This is exactly where AI is taking personalised nutrition.

Athletes will no longer have to guess their macros or rely on outdated meal plans. AI will provide real-time, data-backed, precision-driven dietary adjustments — from match-day carb-loading to muscle recovery meals.

It’s not the future — it’s happening now.

The next generation of athletes will not just have world-class training, but AI-assisted nutrition that adapts to their real-time metabolic needs.

Imagine: No more ‘bad days’ — AI predicts and prevents fatigue before it sets in. No more generic meal plans — AI curates diets based on individual blood markers, stress levels, and sweat composition. No more excuses — with sleep, nutrition, and exercise tracked down to the last micronutrient, performance gaps will shrink.

So where does that leave me? Am I, as a human nutritionist, obsolete?

No. AI cannot replace the human connection, emotional intelligence, and motivation that elite athletes need. But it does force nutritionists like me to evolve, to combine AI-driven precision with human-led insight.

In fact, I have personally begun integrating AI into my work, allowing real-time tracking, instant dietary insights, and personalised recommendations based on deep data analysis — something that once took weeks, now happens in moments.

The champions of tomorrow will be those who combine human wisdom with AI-driven precision. And for those who adapt, AI won’t be a competitor — it will be the ultimate teammate.

You can download the Ryan Fernando AI Diet Plan from the Android or iOS store — just search my name and experience the future of precision nutrition today.