Good morning! Today at 2pm EDT, I’ll be attending a congressional hearing by the House Ways & Means Committee called “Health Subcommittee Hearing on Investing in a Healthier America: Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment.” Dr. Mark Hyman, host of “The Doctor’s Farmacy” podcast, author, and cofounder of Function Health will be speaking. You can stream it live here.

I’m so excited! Maybe I’ll report back in the form of a public health edition of MTI soon. 🤓 

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🤔 Your top 4 considerations when choosing what to eat

There are too many diets out there. You could probably pick a new one to follow every year for the rest of your life and not run out of options.

There is also no shortage of recipes available, particularly on FoodTok. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by all the options and shut down via analysis paralysis. When the options are overwhelmingly endless, I like to return to my core principles upon which I can build any meal. 

I’ve moved on from subscribing to the concept of following a diet, in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, I combine my knowledge with my preferences and goals to come up with “my” diet. This can certainly shift over time, but I’m not subscribing to any one particular way of eating that’s designed by someone else. 

Just like I don’t like following someone else’s workout plan, I personally especially don’t want to follow someone else’s meal plan. Rather, I prefer to use what I know, like, and want in order to make informed choices for a lifetime. As any of those three factors change, so can my diet.

The downside of not following something with guidelines and rules is that it pretty much has to live in my head. And sometimes it can get exhausting worrying about every factor I want to consider. To make things easier on myself—and hopefully for you, by extension—I’ve created a list of just four primary (there are still some others) considerations for my diet:

1. Adequate protein content & timing

2. Fiber & micronutrients from fruits/veggies

3. Healthy fat content

4. Carbohydrates for energy/exercise requirements

First, protein content & timing:

Based on copious amounts of research, information, and recommendations, I know how vitally important protein is for myriad reasons. Body composition, satiety, muscle health, and more hinge on getting not just adequate, but closer to optimal amounts of protein on a daily basis.

For me, I have chosen to aim for 1.6–2.2 grams of protein per pound of my body weight per day. This looks like somewhere in the realm of 150–200g daily for me. Therefore, I aim to get ~30–50/60 grams per meal/snack. 

I try to prioritize high-quality animal proteins with the knowledge that plant proteins are also helpful but not as effective at muscle building, so I need more of them if I’m relying on that. 

Timing-wise, I try to make sure my first and last meals of the day are high-protein and eat every 3–5 hours, as this has been shown as the best way to maximize protein synthesis throughout the day.

Fiber & micronutrients

The next major consideration really boils down to the advice we all know stands the test of time: eat your fruits and vegetables! Honestly, the more servings of fruits and veggies you can have in a day, the better. Animal foods have plenty of micronutrients as well, but they do lack fiber.

Fruits and vegetables will be your primary source of fiber, which is necessary for healthy digestion and microbiomes and help you stay full. Plants also are rich and diverse in micronutrients—vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, etc.—that our bodies require to thrive. 

So once I build my meal around a major protein choice, my next consideration is always how to get a good serving or two of fruits and/or vegetables in every time I eat.

Healthy fats

The third consideration I look to is making sure I’m getting some healthy fats (typically, those higher in omega-3s or in foods that are rich in other nutrients). This supports heart health, brain health, skin health, and much more. 

These aren’t really a necessary consideration for every meal, but more so something I think about over the course of a full day or week. It can be a bit harder to find these in modern society, so it does take some consideration and planning. Healthy fats can also come in alongside your protein sources such as fish!

Ideally, I aim for at least one known healthy fat source per day and hopefully a couple servings of fish over the course of a week. Other key sources that are fairly accessible include salmon, mackerel, sardines, pasture-raised eggs, greek yogurt, chia & flax seeds, various nuts, olive oil, and avocados.

Carbohydrates for energy & performance

This recommendation comes in fourth because it’s likely already decently covered by the first three considerations. Realistically, we can thrive on just around 100 grams of carbs per day (400 calories worth) or so. But if you’re exercising at higher intensities, or just have higher caloric needs, more carbs can certainly be helpful.

I also try to follow the dietary recommendation to keep the “added sugar” I consume to less than 50 grams per day. The bulk of my carbohydrates should come from fruits, veggies, starches, and grains.

Also, if you’re training for performance, ingesting carbs in the meals before and after your workouts seems to be most beneficial. There’s also evidence to support eating carbs in the evening for better sleep—just not overeating and maintaining your energy balance goals.

That about does it! In the face of an abundance of choices, I try to mentally declutter and fall back on these few basic but all-encompassing nutrition recommendations. It helps me plan my meals, days, and weeks with relatively little mental bandwidth required. 

What are some of the nutritional principles you follow that I didn’t touch on here? Do you find this mindset helpful or more confusing? Reply to this email and let me know your thoughts!

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: You don’t need a complete overhaul to make positive changes in your diet. Pick just one change you can take action on for ~50-80% of your meals this week and start stacking those small wins!

Level 2: Consider several of my recommendations to pare down your options and simplify your meal prep.

Level 3: Hit me up for a personalized plan to really dial in your nutrition. I just started with my first client this week!

This newsletter is brought to you by… me!

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Know someone else who might be? I’d love to get to know you and/or your business and see how we can partner together. Reply to this email!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Love: Here’s how to find, build, and maintain romantic relationships by one of the best relationship therapists on one of the best health podcasts!

• Eat ur veg: See what vegetable scientists declared the MOST nutritious.

• The full list: The full list, published by the CDC. (Number 9 will SHOCK you!! 😱) lol

Peace to you and yours! I’ll hopefully be mingling with congresspeople and maybe some of the nation’s leaders in modern healthcare by the time you’re reading this!

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).