Is There a “Perfect Diet?”
Is Yours Different Than Mine?
It seems like the new “perfect diet” appears every few years. And then, everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
From Keto to Caveman, Paleo to Blood Type, Atkins to the Zone, and more – diet trends monopolize the nutritional space, leaving little room for common sense and reliable science.
I know it’s confusing to many people. When one fad goes “out,” another comes in, and everything in the health food store gets the label “Fad Diet Approved.”
It’s a billion-dollar business.
I’ve also seen online marketers sell a $5K to $10K package assisting people with the most recent diet cult. And people get support in following a diet that maximizes fat, or maximizes protein (lately, vilifying carbohydrates is trendy) – and they get to be in a community that reinforces the “cult think.”
(Prediction: as backlash for the poor health resulting from the high-protein, then high-fat diets, especially with prices set to soar on animal products–wait for it, you heard it here first: CARBOHYDRATES are about to make a massive comeback!)
As people wake up to the fact that “carbs” aren’t just bagels and cookies–they’re also mangoes, bananas, and apples. You know, GOOD FOOD. The primary fuel source of the brain. (Glucose is not optional. Either you provide it, or your body will make it, one way or the other.)
So, can we talk about what the actual evidence shows, about healthy diets? Settling the trends aside?
The truth is, “diets” sell, that’s why people keep putting them out, but do they really work?
This quest to find the magical “ideal diet” brings up a great question: Is there one perfect diet for everyone?
The answer is complicated. But the short version is that no, there is no one perfect diet for everyone on the planet.
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However, there are principles of the perfect diet that everyone can adopt to find an eating plan that helps them maintain optimal health.
Ultimately, a diet is a personal choice that’s uniquely crafted to fit your lifestyle, your health and wellness goals, and your eating preferences.
But with over 10,000 studies documenting the longevity and minimized disease risk of eating mostly organic, whole plant foods, we must respect the evidence as well.
All of us are 98 to 99% the same physiologically, despite varying ancestry and the trending concept of “bio-individuality.”
Here are “7 Principles of a Perfect Diet,” you can customize your personal eating plan in ways that work for you:
Principles of a Perfect Diet
#1 — It feels abundant
As a general rule, a diet should never eliminate an entire food group without exception. Of course, it’s okay to avoid specific foods – as in the case of food allergies, or if you’ve chosen to be vegetarian – and there are definitely foods you should limit or eliminate if they’ve been altered from their natural state, like processed foods and sugars, and processed meats are good for no one.
However, elimination diets like the Whole 30 or the No Carb Diet that forbid an entire macronutrient, food groups, or ingredients not only limit your taste buds–
–but they can limit your nutrition, too.
So many people tell me, “But I felt better on that diet!” Or, “I lost weight!” Or, “My labs improved!”
And I ask you to consider: would these things have happened anyway, if you’d just eliminated processed food, and cut way back on animal products?
(Virtually every fad diet bans processed sugars. I agree with them on that part!)
Studies have found that eating a diet that includes a variety of foods (and all three macronutrients) is associated with better nutrient intake (especially including eating more fruits and vegetables), biochemical measures, and body composition among people at nutritional risk – like the elderly.
Here’s the key takeaway:
To make sure your body is getting optimal levels of nutrition that include all the different vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients you need (along with the right proteins, carbohydrates, and fats to fuel your body), you’ll need to eat a variety of whole foods on a regular basis.
#2 — It primarily consists of whole foods
You may decide to include some processed foods if you’re not ready to cut them out, but if you’re aiming for the “perfect diet,” you should aim to predominantly eat whole foods.
And you might be rather amazed at how delicious a bowl of mango is, with pecans sprinkled on top–after four days of eating no processed sugar.
Whole foods are considered to be minimally processed after harvest and include:
Fresh fruits and vegetables
Whole grains – like whole oats, barley, brown rice, or popcorn
Nuts and seeds
Meats in their natural form (if you eat them, I don’t) – like a chicken breast rather than a chicken nugget
Research has shown that eating whole foods makes a big impact on your health – specifically when it comes to your body mass index.
“Eating the rainbow” is a great idea–because the colors in various whole plant foods are your visual evidence of many nutrient classes, such as the carotenoid antioxidants, which are red and orange and yellow. (Whole foods are pretty, too, not just nutritious!)
#3 — Any animal products are from clean sources and a minor part of the diet
Whether you include meat or animal byproducts, like eggs or milk, in your diet is a personal choice.
However, if you do decide to include animals or animal byproducts in your perfect diet, make sure those products are clean – meaning they’re organic, wild-caught, free-range, or grass-fed. And given the long list of retailers now carrying produce with Bill Gates’ Apeel preservative, avoid the Apeel label.
Studies have shown that these types of livestock are not only better for the environment, but they’re also more nutritious.
In Christmas 2022, I saw one of the diet marketers who charges $10K for their course, show the holiday meal they fed their family. Everything on the plate was free of color. It was pepperoni, pork rinds, and some kind of white, “carb-free” mashed thing.
Shortly thereafter, this marketer had to announce to his audience that he was going to have to disappear for a while, because he was dealing with a chronic illness.
We already know from thousands of studies that eating processed meat and avoiding high-fiber, nutrient-dense plant foods leads to countless health problems.
The fad diet marketers of the last 10 years have scorned the need for fiber in the diet. But the 35’ gastrointestinal tract of humans on a basic logic level shows the important need for soluble and insoluble fiber in the diet, and so do thousands of studies.
And Metamucil and the other synthetic fiber supplements your pharmacist sells, do not accomplish the same thing in the gut whatsoever. In fact, they can be a gastric irritant.
#4 — It’s affordable
When you think about a healthy diet, words like “organic,” “free-range,” “grass fed,” or “all natural” might come to mind. While those types of products certainly can be healthy, they also can be very expensive.
Even if beef is fed grass instead of grain (which is indeed better than grain-fed beef), in April 2023, all pork and beef were required to be injected with mRNA vaccines.
These more naturally raised animals result in foods that cost 10X what other, plant-based foods do, in weight, too.
Luckily, it is possible to eat a healthy diet without breaking the bank, if you lean on a delicious variety of plant foods. In fact, your perfect diet must be affordable – or many will be forced to abandon it, no matter how appealing it happens to be.
The basic American diet often leans heavily on processed foods and the “dollar menu” in the drive-thru with the excuse that they’re affordable and easy, but you can actually buy nutrient-rich whole foods without blowing your budget.
In fact, studies have shown that the following foods provide high nutrient density at an affordable cost:
Potatoes and sweet potatoes
Green beans
Carrots
Cabbage
Legumes
Apples
Bananas
Whole-grain pasta
The good news is:
Eating right now can pay off later in a very literal, measurable and noticeable way.
If you eat nutrient-dense foods that nourish your body and help you maintain a healthy weight, you’ll be less likely to develop diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure.
Taking care of your body now can result in lower health care costs later.
#5 — It’s sustainable
Of course, it’s preferable to have a diet that’s sustainable for the earth, but in this sense, your diet should be sustainable for you.
Sure, you can live exclusively on fruits and vegetables for a couple of weeks or even a couple of months, but ultimately, you’ll never stick with a diet if it feels like you’re being deprived or if your body isn’t getting enough nutrition to keep it healthy and fueled.
The key to your perfect diet is to find ways to enjoy any guilty pleasures on occasion, like one of those, once or twice a week (one of those every day still puts you at significant risk) – and to make the rest of your diet an organic, whole-foods, plant-based commitment.
If any aspect of your diet is unsustainable – because it’s too restrictive, it’s too expensive, or it’s too extreme for your current emotional state – it might not really be the perfect diet for you.
#6 — It makes you feel fueled and energized
There’s no denying that food is pleasurable, and for many of us, it’s one of the ways we connect to our friends, families, and communities.
Still, at the end of the day, food is fuel, and your perfect diet should be filled with foods that leave you feeling healthy, energized, and ready to tackle your life.
Choosing a wide variety of whole, nutrient-dense foods is a great way to ensure you get the right amount of calories and the vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients you need to sustain your body.
#7 — It contains a lot of raw plants
Plants are loaded with bioavailable vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, and countless micronutrients. Every time you eat a plant, your body is soaking up all the benefits and converting them into your improved health.
Raw plant foods are particularly important. Raw greens, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts all provide the enzymes needed to digest and absorb them.
Too many Americans are deficient in enzymes because their food is cooked or otherwise processed, which destroys enzymes. And you must have enzymes to digest your food.
The only enzymes available are the ones our bodies were born with, and we run out eventually, eating a cooked and animal-products-rich diet. And after age 30, the ability to make enzymes declines rapidly.
But the good news is: raw plant foods come with their own enzymes, so you don’t have to draw on your own limited supply.
The perfect diet is really just the sustainable diet that helps you meet your body’s needs and your own personal health and wellness goals.
Most people who eat an excellent diet didn’t make that change overnight; they added great new habits, one at a time, as they found what worked for them, like a quart of green smoothie a day works for me.
Perfection isn’t a target – it’s a process. Embrace it, and your perfect diet will fall into place.
I hope this helps as you think about what you’ll eat, so you can experience the extraordinary health that’s possible for you.
One of the ways eating more plants can be affordable, while also decreasing your dependence on what’s available at the grocery store (with headlines telling us food shortages are coming) – is to invest in a Tower Garden.
I’m growing my own food, indoors, without dirt, and really enjoying the process!
The upfront cost of the tower pays for itself in far less than a year, while you’re also making your own green smoothie and salad ingredients!
I just did a webinar on the Tower Garden, check it out. (And, join the GreenSmoothieGirl Tower Gardeners group on Facebook, even if you’re just wanting to learn more, and not ready to invest in one yet.)
To your health!
Robyn Openshaw
P.S. If you want to read more and see my research, check out my blog post.
P.P.S. Know someone who is confused about what to eat to be healthy? Forward them this email!
I'm new to your Stack, Robyn. I greatly admire and value your research and sensibility.
Agree, thank you for continuing to promote 'common sense' eating! I do believe people have forgotten how to think clearly and be responsible for their health/healing.