Coursera

Aligning Diet and Exercise (Coursera)

Offered by National Academy of Sports Medicine,

When considering body composition goals, modifications to both diet and exercise are inevitable. Most often, an individual’s dietary interventions do not align with their exercise regimen, which may diminish the potential for success. This course explores the energy pathways and how macronutrients fuel exercise across intensity and duration, in addition to popular dietary interventions and their alignment with exercise recommendations.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

After completing this course, students will have a clear understanding of the body’s energy pathways, the effects of various dietary interventions on these pathways, as well as aligned diet and exercise recommendations that will help maximize success.
With over 30 years as a leader in fitness and wellness education, the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) has built its reputation on providing an evidence-based curriculum that is both relevant and applicable for those seeking the skills and knowledge required to promote optimal health.
Course 3 of 3 in the Science of Diet and Exercise Specialization.

What You Will Learn

Align common diet archetypes with exercise programming.
Learn which macronutrients are preferential for specific workout types and training goals.
Compare the energy pathways, their functions and how they use macronutrients to fuel work.
Learn the key principles of energy systems within the human body.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
NASM's Aligning Diet and Exercise
When considering body composition goals, modifications to both diet and exercise are inevitable. Most often, an individual’s dietary interventions do not align with their exercise regimen, which may diminish the potential for success. This course explores the energy pathways and how macronutrients fuel exercise across intensity and duration, in addition to popular dietary interventions and their alignment with exercise recommendations. After completing this course, students will have a clear understanding of the body’s energy pathways, the effects of various dietary interventions on these pathways, as well as aligned diet and exercise recommendations that will help maximize success.

Go to Class

MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

EdX

Wageningen University,WageningenX

Nutrition for Healthy Ageing (edX)

Food & Nutrition

What you eat and how you live has a big impact on your physical and mental health. But can it also slow down ageing? Be empowered by the science behind diet and the ageing body. Join us and learn to take control of your ageing process!

Feb 20th 2024

5-12 Weeks

Nutrition Healthy Diets Ageing

Coursera

National Academy of Sports Medicine

Making Sense of Supplements (Coursera)

Food & Nutrition Health & Society

No matter how hard you try, there is no escaping the endless stream of advertising for all the nutritional supplements out there. From protein and creatine to caffeine and other more-controversial performance aids, there is something tailored to every health, wellness, and fitness goal. This course has been designed to help explore some of the most common trends in the nutritional supplementation landscape and to help separate research-supported hope from marketing hype.

Aug 3rd 2026

1 Week

Health Nutrition Healthy

Coursera

Tufts University

Building a Healthy Plate (Coursera)

Food & Nutrition Health & Society

In a world of conflicting nutrition messages, how do we know which foods are good for us? What are the components of a healthy dietary pattern and why does it matter? Throughout this mini course, we explore the relationship between diet and health by examining the eating patterns that have been shown to prevent chronic diet-related conditions.

Aug 3rd 2026

4 Weeks

Health Nutrition Healthy Diets

FutureLearn

BBC Good Food

Healthy Cooking Made Easy with BBC Good Food (FutureLearn)

Food & Nutrition Health & Society

Ready to cook yourself healthy? Learn how to prepare nourishing and delicious meals with BBC Good Food’s brand-new course. Learn how to create nutritious meals and master 5 healthy recipes in 5 weeks. Do you want to cook healthy and delicious meals from scratch that make you feel good too?

Self Paced

5-12 Weeks

Nutrition Healthy Cooking

The Science of Weight Loss: Dispelling Diet Myths (edX)

EdX

The University of Newcastle, Australia,NewcastleX

The Science of Weight Loss: Dispelling Diet Myths (edX)

Food & Nutrition

Arm yourself with the knowledge and tools to make healthy eating decisions as you learn the science behind weight loss and dispel diet and nutrition myths. Whether you are trying to lose weight yourself, or are supporting others, this food and nutrition course will dispel common myths about weight loss and teach you the science behind healthy eating for a healthy weight.

Feb 22nd 2023

5-12 Weeks

Nutrition Food Healthy

FutureLearn

Taipei Medical University

Nutrition and Disease Prevention (FutureLearn)

Health & Society Science

Learn about the relationship between diet and disease and discover the role a nutrient-rich diet can play in disease prevention. Understand how good nutrition can prevent disease. Diet-related diseases and obesity levels are rising. On this course you will explore the relationship between diet and disease and the role diet plays in weight management. You will examine the latest research studies to consider how poor nutrition can lead to ill health, and whether what we eat can help to prevent the onset of common diseases, such as cancer.

Self Paced

4 Weeks

Health Nutrition Healthcare

Coursera

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Nutrition and Lifestyle in Pregnancy (Coursera)

Food & Nutrition

Nutrition and Lifestyle in Pregnancy offers an overview of the latest research findings and international recommendations on a variety of nutrition-related aspects and outcomes of pregnancy. Ensuring a healthy nutritional status and lifestyle prior to and during pregnancy is one of the best ways to help support the healthy growth and development of the unborn child. We will look at how a healthy diet and lifestyle should ideally be achieved prior to conception and provide recommendations for pre-conception counselling of women.

Jul 27th 2026

4 Weeks

Health Nutrition Healthy

Coursera

University of Michigan

Healthy and Sustainable Foods (Coursera)

Health & Society

This course focuses on healthy and sustainable foods. After reviewing the crucial role of food for both health and the environment, we first look at the carbon footprint and environmental impacts of multiple ingredients and more complex foods. We also detail a health-based approach to quantify the impact of 5000+ individual foods on health, expressed in minutes of life lost and gain per serving.

Jul 27th 2026

3 Weeks

Sustainability Healthy Healthy Food

Coursera

National Academy of Sports Medicine

Plant-Based Diets (Coursera)

Food & Nutrition Health & Society

In today's world, there are many eating patterns available to choose from. They can range across a dietary spectrum from a totally carnivorous diet (meat-eating) to an entirely herbivorous diet (plant-eating). Plant-based diets are diets that rely primarily or entirely on plant-based foods. This course has been designed to help those navigate the various available plant-based diet options, their associated health benefits, and the common myths surrounding these dietary lifestyles.

Aug 3rd 2026

1 Week

Health Nutrition Healthy

Coursera

Johns Hopkins University

Public Health Perspectives on Sustainable Diets (Coursera)

Health & Society

What we eat and how we produce that food have significant effects on human health and the sustainability of our planet. But what is a ‘sustainable’ diet? A sustainable diet, as defined by the FAO, promotes health and well-being and provides food security for the present population while sustaining human and natural resources for future generations. This short course looks at the urgent need to address the sustainability of our food systems, including better understanding the complex relationship between diet and climate change. We’ll explore current research on dietary shifts needed in high, middle, and low-income countries to achieve both sustainability and food security goals and discuss evidence-based strategies to promote sustainable diets.

Aug 10th 2026

3 Weeks

Sustainability Nutrition Food

Coursera

University of Copenhagen

The New Nordic Diet - from Gastronomy to Health (Coursera)

Sci: Biology & Life Sciences Food & Nutrition

The New Nordic Diet is a new food culture developed in 2009-13 with key emphasis on gastronomy, health, and environment. Major research in its effect on acceptability, behaviour and learning skills, and disease prevention have been conducted by the OPUS centre at the University of Copenhagen and the people behind the award-winning restaurant Noma in Copenhagen. This course will give the participants the opportunity to experience a healthy and palatable new food and eating concept diet “The New Nordic Diet” and an understanding of how food and diets can affect mental and physical health and ensure the foundation for a healthier life style for future generations with a regional based diet and food culture.

Aug 3rd 2026

5-12 Weeks

Health Food Diet

FutureLearn

University of Padova

Introduction to Health Psychology (FutureLearn)

Health & Society Medicine & Pharmacology

Learn about the importance of psychology in healthcare, how it can improve policymaking and patient outcomes. Discover why psychology in healthcare matters to both caregivers and patients. Psychology plays a vital role in healthcare services. From a patient learning to cope with a medical condition to a doctor delivering significant diagnostic news – the psychological impact and toll of healthcare are often overlooked.

Self Paced

4 Weeks

Health Healthcare Psychology