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The first two principles in my framework relate to what you should be eating. This is where most people would expect to find a list of "approved" and "unapproved" foods, but remember - this is "dieting for adults"! Instead of giving you a naughty and nice list, I'm going to explain what nutrient you should be targeting, and why.
To me, the most foundational element of any diet is going to be protein. This is what we need to get right first and foremost. We need sufficient protein, and we need high-quality protein.
So here's principle #1 of a healthy, sustainable diet:
Get ample high-quality protein.
But first, why protein?
The centrality of protein
When most people think of protein, they immediately conjure up mental images of bodybuilders pounding protein shakes every 2 hours of every day. But this insinuates that people who obsess about every gram of muscle in their body are the only people who should be thinking about protein. This is completely false - protein is a fundamental need of every single human being, no matter their gender, age, physical condition, or activity levels.
While it’s true that intense physical training increases one’s need for protein, it’s also true that the processes happening every single day inside of your body require protein. As you age, your need for protein only increases. If you're fighting off an illness or recovering from an injury, your need for protein increases. You need protein whether your goal is to gain weight or lose it. Men need protein and may naturally gravitate towards eating more protein, but women need it too. Protein is for everyone and every type of goal and health situation.
Protein as building blocks
Protein is the most basic component of your body’s cells and tissues - it is the building material of your body’s structures (bone, muscle, connective tissue, skin/hair/nails), as well as of molecules specific to your immune system, hormones, neurotransmitters, etc. Nearly everything that occurs in your body requires protein.
"Protein is responsible for nearly all the work that is carried out in every cell" (Dr. Gabrielle Lyon).
Protein breaks down into its constituent parts, which are known as amino acids. Of these amino acids, there are several of them that are known as essential amino acids, because our bodies cannot make them and we must get them from the foods we eat.
With this in mind, then, it's easy to imagine why the laundry list of problems that develop from chronically low protein intake is so long:
Hair falling out
Brittle nails
Brittle bones
Immune disfunction (getting sick all the time)
Hormonal dysregulation
And more
Muscle and lean tissue health
Protein is crucial for preserving the health of our muscle and other types of lean tissue, like bone and connective tissue. This should matter to you even if you’re not looking to become a bodybuilder or powerlifter, because how much muscle tissue you have is directly related to your metabolic health, your functionality in everyday life, and the quality of your life as you get older.
"Muscle is your health pension for when you age" (Luis Villasenor).
And if you do care about how you look (as most of us do!), you should definitely care about preserving and maybe even building new muscle. Having some muscle is what gives you that lean, toned look that so many people (men and women alike) desire. Losing extra body fat is only half of the equation — who wants to lose 40 pounds of body fat only to reveal a sagging bag of skin and bones? If you want to look in the mirror and like what you see, you’re going to need to care about your muscle mass.
Immune system health
When most people think about maintaining their immune system, they might think of vitamin D, herbal concoctions, or handfuls of specialized supplements. They don't usually think of protein, but they should!
As noted earlier, protein is the raw material that your body uses to build structures, cells, and chemicals that it needs to perform basic functions. Your body uses the protein you ingest to not only build and repair muscle and bone, but also hormones and messenger molecules associated with the immune system.
But the link between protein and immune system health goes a step farther. As it turns out, your muscle is intrinsically linked to your immune system as well. Scientists are learning that muscle is actually an endocrine organ. When muscle contracts, as it does whenever you move or exercise, it releases anti-inflammatory signaling molecules called myokines that have an effect on many systems of the body.
For a little bit of a deeper dive into the role of muscle in health and longevity, it's always worth listening to Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:
Appetite regulation
One practical benefit of protein is that it often has the effect of regulating your appetite, especially when you've been under-eating protein for a while. The protein leverage hypothesis is the idea that since we need a certain amount of protein in our diet, your body will continue driving you to eat until you get to that baseline level of protein. The trouble is that many modern foods, especially processed foods, contain a diluted amount of protein in comparison with their overall calorie content. So you might be eating thousands of calories more than your body actually needs, but you’re still not reaching that baseline level of protein that your body requires, so you’re still hungry afterwards.
Of course, appetite is extremely complex, and there are more factors at play here than just protein. However, your protein intake certainly plays a central role in how vigorous your appetite is, and getting this right is one of the easiest ways to start bringing your appetite back into balance.
As a side note, this in one of the reasons why protein is the first place I start with people to improve their diet. Oftentimes, just focusing on getting sufficient high-quality protein on a daily basis is enough to cause people to spontaneously reduce their overall caloric intake, even without having to resort to weighing and tracking your food.
The best sources of protein
Keep in mind that what we need is high-quality protein. Not all sources of protein are created equal, so we need a way to evaluate the quality of a particular protein source. When making this evaluation, we need to consider the following factors:
Overall protein content of the food relative to its total caloric content
Digestibility of the food
The amino acid profile of the food
Other potential benefits from the food (i.e., micronutrients, essential fatty acids, phytonutrients)
With all of these factors taken into account, animal proteins are generally considered to be the best sources of protein. We're talking about foods like the following:
Beef, chicken, pork, bison
Fish, shellfish, other seafood
Eggs
Milk, cheese, yogurt
Animal protein is a complete protein, which means that it contains all the essential amino acids in correct ratios. The above foods are also usually well-digested by the majority of people and are highly bioavailable in the human body. On top of that, most of the above foods come with a variety of vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial nutritional compounds (i.e., omega-3, creatine, carnitine).
The same simply cannot be said of plant proteins. Plant protein is inferior to animal protein for the following reasons:
Nearly all of them are incomplete proteins (lacking one or more of the essential amino acids).
Most of them have poor digestibility, making it harder for us to actually extract the nutrients that are present in the food.
To get enough protein from plants, you generally need to consume significantly more calories overall, which may lead to unwanted weight gain.
It is possible to be plant-based and get sufficient high-quality protein, but it will be much more complicated and take significantly more effort. It's much easier and simpler to eat meat.
For more on this, see this post by Diana Rodgers, RD:
How much protein?
Finally, we need to talk about how much protein you need on a daily basis. I recommend shooting for either 1 gram of protein per pound of your current bodyweight, OR 1 gram of protein per pound of your goal bodyweight if you are currently significantly overweight. This rule holds true whether you are male or female, and is a pretty good rule of thumb for kids as well.
This means that if you’re currently 130 pounds (for example), you should shoot for around 130 grams of protein per day, split pretty evenly between meals. If you’re 250 pounds and overweight, with a goal weight of 175 pounds (for example), you can use your goal bodyweight as your protein standard and aim for 175 grams of protein per day.
The basic rule of thumb here is to try to get a solid whack of protein at each meal. And when I say "a solid whack," I mean at least 30 grams of protein (the amount found in about 4-6 ounces of meat). If you have a hard time eating that much meat in a single meal, try combining protein sources to make your meals more palatable. Here are some examples:
Steak and shrimp
Pork sausage and eggs
Greek yogurt and whey protein powder mixed in
Where to go from here
For many people, simply understanding the central role of protein and making a consistent, concerted effort to get enough protein every day will be the only change they really need to make. They find that just from this change alone, their appetite regulates and they don’t need to worry so much about overeating anymore. Their body composition improves, their energy levels stabilize, and if they stay consistent with this long term, they’ll probably end up getting 80% of the positive benefits that they could possibly get from a change in diet. That's a pretty good return on investment!
However, I've found that focusing on protein isn't quite enough to take into account when thinking about a basic framework of what constitutes a healthy diet. If protein was all we needed, you might find people thriving on nothing but whey protein shakes!
This means we need to add another layer to the framework. The next principle in my nutritional approach is micronutrients and nutrient density.
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