The changing styles of my recipes over the years reflect my changing views on nutrition. I have experimented with a lot of things and have made significant changes along the way. I want to share some things I've seen in practice over the last decade. This may make me unpopular in some circles and revered in others, but I'm just going to state what I experienced and observed.

The story wouldn't be complete without the back-story. I grew up eating a "normal" American diet - cereal for breakfast, a sandwich, fruit, and milk for lunch, and meat, a starch, veggies, and bread for dinner. Dessert was rare, though. Through my 20s, I ate similarly except for eating most of my meals out. In my 30s, I began getting into nutrition and health. I ate the low-fat bodybuilding diet of the times (later 90s) and tried some early cyclic low-carb approaches to lean out.

By 2000 or so, I found the Zone. I did it "wrong" at first, simply eating my normal 3500 daily calories in a 40/30/30 ratio. I did this for a couple of years, and I felt good and performed well. But, being a contrarian driven to try new things, I decided to turn all the nutrition advice I'd heard to that point on its head and try intermittent fasting. At the same time, found the Paleo/low carb movement in its infancy. That still wasn't enough. I found out how the Zone was to be "properly" done and realized I was to actually be eating ~1540 calories a day initially. (No, I didn't have to go look up that number. It's burned into my memory permanently… diet PTSD?) So, all at the same time, I began to eat strict Paleo, in Zone proportions, but with nearly all of the carbs removed and replaced with fat, AND while fasting 15-20 hours every day. And, yes, I was dropping from 3500 to 1540 calories a day all while being very active. What could go wrong?

I lost maybe 10 lbs. and I got extremely lean, but I was pretty lean to start. I then boosted my fat until I was averaging ~1800 calories a day and I maintained my new weight. I went through a phase where I increased my calories to around 2000/day and was able to slowly gain muscle - about 15 pounds over a year and a half, without any fat gain. I thought my performance was fine, as I was still PRing workouts, but I now realize a lot of my gains were more skill-based than actually being much fitter. I thought I felt good, as I had plenty of energy.

In the early years of the gym, I advised a similar, though less extreme plan.

The first cracks appeared when I began looking into various functional medical tests around 2010 and quickly found out I wasn't as healthy as I thought. Then there was the pesky problem of a non-existent libido, but I had thought that was just age catching up with me. Oh, and there was bad digestion and food sensitivities which I never had before getting "healthy".

The generic recommendations on one of my lab tests pegged me to be a stressed-out, inactive, junk food eater! (We’re talking high A1C, very high cholesterol, thyroid dysfunction, low T & DHEA, very low cortisol, high estrogen - a pattern I now recognize as common in low-carb men) My ND then ordered a fasting insulin test to verify, which came back rock bottom. Whew, all Good! Or… maybe not. I now know this indicated a state of chronic catabolism.

So, I began to add carbs back into my diet and suggesting most folks do the same. You can read an article I wrote at the time (2011) on advocating for carbs in a Paleo diet here. I ate a lot of sweet potatoes at first and definitely felt better and had some libido return, plus my digestion cleared up. Eventually, I tired of sweet potatoes and moved into white potatoes, rice, and the occasional gluten-free grain. I felt better once again and saw no downsides. The food sensitivities I had developed went away. My labs came back better, including that pesky H1C score.

From that article, I had scores of people contact me who said their story was almost identical. I began to see the clear pattern that low carb, undereating, and hard training wreak on a body over time. A myopic focus on controlling insulin with dietary restriction leads to a train wreck of many other hormones - thyroid, testosterone, cortisol, DHEA, progesterone, estrogen, the catecholamines, and more.

I began looking into other nutritional points of view and experimenting with foods I hadn't eaten in quite a while. I made a conscious effort to get my daily calorie intake back up where it should be. I ate more carbs and less fat, and changed a lot of my protein to organ meats and tendon. The contrarian in me was out again. In 2013, I used a Ray Peat type diet (lots of dairy and fruit sugars) and actually felt awesome. Libido was almost ridiculous during this time, and I had no digestive issues or fat gain. I also broke through a number of long standing strength plateaus in the gym. I liked his ideas of eating in a way that supports the thyroid and other hormones. But, that way of eating is just as restrictive as any out there, so I eventually transitioned into a more mixed diet.

I have found a sustainable way of eating that works for me and seems to keep all the benefits of the above. It's simple, and I feel good and perform well. After over a decade of heavily tinkering with my diet and micromanaging every aspect, I now am much more relaxed - and I feel better than I ever have. I eat a lot, and often. My diet is low/moderate protein, low/moderate fat, and fairly high carb. Lots of fruit, lower meat intake, some dairy, some gluten-free grains, lowish on veggies, and very little added fats.

When it comes to dietary suggestions nowadays, I start with the real basics - most of which have nothing to do with diet, but everything to do with diet at the same time. Here's what they are and the reasons behind them:

Sleep

How your body handles the food you eat is very different if you are sleep deprived opposed to properly rested. This is true whether the food you eat is of good quality or not, or what your macros are. And, in my experience, the folks most likely to adopt a strict eating plan are also those who also never sleep or rest, therefore missing out on much of its benefits.

Stress

The same effects are true for stress. Stress has to be reduced or managed to see the major benefits of a good diet! I have seen various micronutrient tests on those who've followed a long-term, high quality food plan - and without fail, they show numerous vitamins and minerals at abysmal levels. These individuals all have chronic stress and constant busyness, and the things one would expect to be depleted... are. Years of clean eating and even supplementing had minimal to no effect. Eating well and exercising does not make up for a bad job or lifestyle!

Movement

Going to the gym is great, but it's not nearly as powerful as moving frequently through your day. I suggest practical ways to do this. Regular light movement is powerful for hormonal balance and insulin sensitivity, and probably far more beneficial than a couple of intense sessions per week.

Sustainability

Whatever you choose to do, it must be something you can do for the long term. An extreme approach sets one up to eventually fail, and it serves to foster a binge-and-repent cycle. So many people already have such an unhealthy relationship with food and highly controlled diets don't help this at all. If you think about it, the most un-Paleo thing of all might be micromanaging and worrying about every single thing you eat. The chronic stress this can cause should not be taken lightly. I've seen a lot of people mentally and emotionally scarred from 30-day challenges. Make incremental, sustainable changes to your diet once your lifestyle issues have been addressed.

Eat enough!

While there are some people who actually do overeat, it's probably a lot more rare than we think. The calorie seems to be the universal enemy these days. What do you expect your body to run on if you always eat as little as possible? Most people have progressively undereaten for so long that their body is in a partial shutdown mode. The modern stressed and overworked person's body is often likely to just slow the metabolism down even more rather than burn stored fat. There are studies showing more fat loss from a high-energy intake along with a high activity level opposed to a low energy state. It's what I see also in most cases. I suggest folks titrate their calorie intake slowly upward to meet predicted needs based on standard formulas. (Very few regularly hit this norm.) People feel far better when they do this - better sleep, more energy, and it's not unusual to actually drop some pounds.

So, that's it in a nutshell. Get sleep, stress, and daily movement, and make sure you’re eating enough. Address these things way before you go trying to micromanage your diet. There is no one-diet-fits-all, and the ideal plan for you may change over time. And, try to avoid some of the stuff that I tried!