Nutrition is the foundation that everything else is built on. Your energy, your mood, your sleep, your ability to think clearly — all of it traces back to what you eat.
The basics are simple and haven’t really changed despite the endless noise:
- Protein — the building block. Aim for roughly 1g per pound of bodyweight if you’re active. Meat, fish, eggs, legumes.
- Vegetables — eat a lot of them. Wide variety, lots of colors. This isn’t complicated.
- Healthy fats — olive oil, avocados, nuts, fatty fish. Your brain is mostly fat. Feed it.
- Carbs — not the enemy. The fuel for activity. Earn them through movement. Whole sources over processed.
- Water — most people are chronically dehydrated and don’t realize it.
What to minimize: processed food, sugar, seed oils, alcohol. Not because any single meal of these will kill you but because the cumulative effect over years is brutal.
The 80/20 rule works well here. Eat clean 80% of the time and don’t stress the other 20%. Sustainability matters more than perfection. The best diet is the one you’ll actually stick to.
Meal timing matters less than people think. Total intake and quality over 24 hours matters much more than whether you eat at 8am or noon.
The real key: learn to cook. When you control what goes into your food, the whole game changes. It’s cheaper, healthier, and weirdly meditative.