Clever Eats: Improve your nutrition in 8 steps

🔑 Eat more “ancestral” foods & avoid or limit “modern-factory” packaged food products*

(Nourish from nutrient–dense, minimally–refined foods)

The first and most crucial step – remove or limit Ultra-Processed Foods (UPF). These include foods containing refined carbohydrates or added sugars and factory-processed vegetable oils.

Progressive Steps towards Metabolic Health with Diet

🚀✨Set goals, plans and expectations ✨🚀

1st steps:

• Eat more non/minimally processed foods 
• Prioritize macro-nutrients (protein > healthy fat > low glycemic index, high-fiber carbs)
• Quit or minimize UPF products (carb + fat combos = *doughnuts/ice cream/pizza) 
• Quit or minimize refined grains
• Avoid snacks (eat no more than 2-3 meals a day)
• Hydrate with water or unsweetened tea 
• Eat when hungry (until 80% full)
• Don’t drink sugar (soda + natural fruit juices = liquid candy)
• Liberal salt intake (3-5 grams)
• Sleep hygiene (7-9h)

2nd steps:

• Don’t eat after dinner
• Quit or minimize artificial sweeteners (allulose is less worse) 
• Decrease or eliminate intake of starchy carbohydrates e.g., grains, oats, potatoes, yams rice
• Decrease or eliminate intake of high-sugar tropical fruits, e.g. pineapple, mango, banana, and prioritize lower sugar fruits, e.g. blueberries, strawberries, raspberries 
• Taper down total daily carbohydrates as needed (30g <75g <100g<150g)
• ⛹🏻 movement, 🚶walks, 🧘‍️TUT (time under tension), 🏋 resistance exercises, 🤾🏻 ‍HIIT

3^rd steps:

• Time restricted eating (e.g. 16-8; 20-4) 
• Weekly or monthly >24 hr fasts
• Macronutrient-cycling variants 
• Targeted-nutrient intake

Nutrients:

A – Building blocks

• Protein (amino acids) “Prioritize Protein” 🥩🍗🍖🐖🥓🐓🦃🐟🐠🦞🦀🦑🐙
• Micronutrients (minerals and vitamins) 

B – Other

Fiber 🥦🥬🥒🥗

C – Energy sources 

• Fats (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated) 🥑 OR
• Carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, galactose) 🥖🥨🍞🥞🥐🍭🧁🍦🍪🍩🍰🍌🍇🍍

Distinguish types of processed foods vs non-processed foods:

• Apple 🍎 → Apple sauce 🥣 → Apple juice 🧃→ Apple pie 🥧
• The NOVA Food Classification System of Processed foods:

Best Drinks: 

Water, Mineral Water, Black Coffee, and unsweetened Tea

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 

The GOOD: Eat more “old fashioned” foods:

• Beef (Preference to grass-fed)  🥩🥓
• Salmon (Preference to wild-caught ) 🍣
• Other seafood (Fish/Shellfish) 🐟🐠🦞🦀🦑🐙
• Fish low in mercury (avoid swordfish and tunathose high in mercury)
• Lamb 🍖
• Pork (Preference to pasture raised) 🐖🥓
• Eggs (Preference to pasture raised) 🥚🍳 
• Cheese (Minimally processed, full fat, preference to sheep/goat/buffalo) 🧀
• Plain Greek yogurt 🥣
• Nuts 🥜 (pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pili nuts) raw, unsalted, ideally in shell.
• Cruciferous vegetables (Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, arugula)  🥬
• Fermented foods (Kefir, kimchi, dark chocolate)
• High quality non-starchy vegetables that grow above the ground 🥦 (Phytonutrients)
• Chicken, turkey & other fowl (Preference to pasture raised) 🐔🐓🦃🍗
• Low-sugar fruits (berries, grapefruit) 🍓
• Avocado / Guacamole 🥑
• Broth (Bone, Beef, Chicken, Vegetable) 🍲
• Dark chocolate 🍫 (>80%r) 
• Extra virgin olive oil 
• Macadamia oil
• Avocado oil 🥑
• Virgin coconut oil 🥥
• Ghee
• Butter 🧈
• Beef tallow 
• Lard

The BAD: added sugars

• Excess added sugar (Sucrose, High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Agave, Honey, Maple syrup, etc.)
• Sugar substitutes (often things ending in -ose or -syrup on labels)
• Excess fructose (including from fruits) 
• Excess refined carbohydrates (bread, pasta, flour, grains, cereals)

The UGLY: “Factory Fats” high in Omega 6 (PUFA-Linoleic acid) 

• Nut oil (except macadamia and hazelnut)
• Corn oil 
• Cotton oil
• Canola oil
• Soybean oil
• Safflower oil
• Sunflower oil
• Rice bran oil
• Grape seed oil
• Margarine 
• Artificial shortening

Hunger & Satiety 

1. Choose naturally raised foods that are nutrient- dense and leave you full and satisfied.
2. If hungry, eat something… best to eat more foods that leave you feeling satiated for a longer time. Try not to snack.
3. Notice, what are your personal trigger foods? Avoid these & replace it with another food option.
4. 2-3 meals a day and skip the snacks. Play ‘meal golf,’ and try to score an average of less than par (3 meals per day) for the week. Relax & enjoy your meals. Chew your food slowly.
5. Try to distinguish between hunger and cravings

Eating “low-carb / low-processed foods,” skipping the snacks and fasting shift the hormonal environment in your body to favor appetite suppression and fat oxidation (fat weight loss).  Hormonal hunger suppression is key to gradually facilitating incremental fasting periods, thus promoting further fat oxidation.

Gradually Incorporate Intermittent Fasting;

Stay hydrated for the duration of a fast:

• 12:12     (12 hours fasting,     12 hours eating)
• 14:10     (14 hours fasting,     10 hours eating)
• 16:8     (16 hours fasting,     8 hours eating)
• 18:6     (18 hours fasting,     6 hours eating)
• 20:4     (20 hours fasting,     4 hours eating)
• OMAD     (One Meal A Day)

Food replacements examples:

• Apple juice🧃 with apple 🍎
• Cereal🥣 with eggs 🍳
• Toast with crisped prosciutto 🥓
• Margarine with butter 🧈
• Canola oil with avocado oil 🥑
• Ice cream with dark chocolate or Greek yogurt 🍫

Good Reads & YouTube:

• Diabetes Code (Jason Fung MD)
• Why We Get Sick (Benjamin Bikman PhD)
• Jerry Teixeira (YouTube scaling workouts)

Websites to explore:

• https://www.dietdoctor.com/ (visual guides & videos) *
• https://thefastingmethod.com/ (the science)
• https://burnfatnotsugar.com/MacroCalc.html (PE calculator) *
• https://bodyweightstrength.fit/  (Body Weight Exercises)

Credit

This guide was developed by Juan Carlos Torres-Urrutia, MD in the course of his practice. He’s kindly sharing it with other clinicians. It has been reviewed by Nick Norowitz, PHD & David Pendergrass, PHD. All are members of Metabolic Multiplier’s Education Teams.