Diets come and go, and underneath the branding most of the effective ones are the same three ideas. Here's the durable version, free of charge.
Half, quarter, quarter
If this site had only one page, it would be this paragraph:
Half the plate: vegetables (plus fruit). Fresh, frozen, roasted, raw — form doesn't matter, volume does.
A quarter: protein. Meat, fish, eggs, beans, lentils, tofu, dairy.
A quarter: carbs. Rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, oats — leaning less-processed when it's painless.
Add some fat that carries flavor — olive oil, butter, nuts, cheese — and you're done. That's the whole diet. Everything else is commentary.
What "healthy" means on a Tuesday
Mostly ingredients, not products. Things with one ingredient on the label, or no label at all.
Cooked at home, most of the time. Not always. Most of the time.
Enough protein and fiber to actually be full — fullness is what makes the healthy version sustainable.
Nothing banned. A food you eat twice a month has almost no effect on your health. The everyday stuff is what counts.
The 80/20 clause
If four-fifths of what you eat is unremarkable, reasonable food, the remaining fifth takes care of itself. Perfectionism breaks more healthy-eating attempts than pizza ever has. "Pretty good, mostly, for years" beats "perfect for six weeks" every single time it's been tried.
Workhorse ingredients
Cheap, healthy, nearly impossible to ruin: eggs, canned beans and lentils, frozen vegetables, oats, canned tomatoes, yogurt, onions, garlic. Build around these and the plate above assembles itself.Next: Vegetables, fruit & snacks
