The Ultimate Food Guide
These are foods inspired by Ray Peat.
Read raypeat.com/articles
How I think about food.
The most important function of food is to fuel the body with energy.
Everything we do takes energy, breathing, blinking, and even sleeping. All of life's processes require energy. You need to provide your body with enough fuel to sustain your energy demands. Many people do not fuel themselves properly. They are in a negative energy balance.
This is for two reasons:
People are eating a lot of nutritionally empty foods. Potato chips, cheese puffs, and Twinkies. While you are probably eating excess calories you are not giving your body the materials it needs to create energy.
People have huge energy demands. Think of all the STRESS.
Environmental Pollutants: microplastics, pesticides, heavy metals…etc
Work-related stress: You work long hours for a boss you hate.
Education: The need to perform well in exams, and assignments.
I’m sure you can think of more. You are always balancing responsibilities, deadlines, and juggling multiple commitments.
Over time you build a negative energy balance and continue to deplete your body's building blocks until you promote chronic and degenerative disease.
You have to consciously disrupt this stress cycle through nutrition and lifestyle changes.
The following is a guide to highly digestible, nutrient and mineral-dense foods. I will also include how I like to structure my meals, how often I eat, and how to prepare certain foods for the best digestibility.
Note: I sometimes eat foods outside this list, but everyone is different in what they enjoy and what they can tolerate. Some foods on this list may cause you problems, and some foods not on this list may be perfectly fine for you. So experiment and enjoy!
Natural Sweeteners: Honey, Maple Syrup, Cane, or Coconut Sugar.
Food Preparation
Vegetables on the list should be well-cooked. This means either Pressure Cooked, Steamed, or Boiled. They should be eaten with saturated fat.
Nuts should be soaked and roasted for the best digestion.
Macronutrients
I like to structure my meals as Carbs > Proteins > Fats.
Every meal should contain a carbohydrate source, a protein source, and a fat source … even snacks.
Carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of fuel. It is the most efficient way to make energy.
Proteins trigger an insulin response leading to rapid drops in blood sugar. Therefore, proteins should be consumed with carbohydrates (more carbs than protein) to maintain blood sugar balance.
Fat is essential for blood sugar regulation. It slows down the breakdown of food preventing rapid spikes.
My macros typically range anywhere from 50:30:20 to 40:30:30 (C:P:F).
Meal Structure
In strength athletes muscle protein synthesis peaks at 1.6 g of protein per kilogram per day. So, If you weigh 100kg and resistance train you will eat ~160 grams of protein. Ok, but how much per meal?
Muscle Protein Synthesis peaks at ~0.25 - .30g of protein per kg per meal. So if your 100kg you want to eat 25-30g of protein per meal.
So here’s how I use this information to structure my meal
Choose a source of protein from the food list. Eat a serving that will give me at least 0.25g/kg of protein.
Choose a carbohydrate source from the food list. Eat a serving that will give me more carbohydrates than protein.
Use fat from the food list to cook my meal or add it after. i.e. add butter to boiled potatoes (root vegetable). If the protein source doesn’t have a lot of fat I add up to 1 tbsp of your preferred fat from Food List.
I eat whenever I am hungry. I try to not go longer than 4 hours without eating. This will stop blood sugar from dropping and make you force your body to eat itself for fuel.
Note: ~30-50% of protein should come from non-muscle meat sources:
Bone Broth
Collagen
Eggs
Dairy
Shellfish
Organs
Special Foods
These are foods that not many people eat but are nutrient-dense powerhouses.
BEEF LIVER - You should eat ~6oz of beef liver a week. 1 oz a day is very common. I currently have a nose-to-tail ground beef blend. See Instagram Post.
Oysters - This is another powerhouse food. You should eat at least 1 serving of oysters per week. I eat half a dozen oysters ~1-2 times a week.
Note: Sourcing is important for these foods. Pasture Raised Grass-fed and Finished Beef Liver. Wild Caught Oysters from minimally polluted places. If these are not available to you or you don’t want to eat them because you have soy tastebuds, you can buy whole food supplements ($$$). These are my recommendations: Beef Liver and Oysters.
I also had a chocolate croissant at a cafe
Note:
I am currently on a “cut”. This is what I ate TODAY. This changes every day. Do not try to copy what I eat food for food. Look at the food list, see what foods you like, and start to experiment! Notice how there are no root vegetables today. Does that mean I don’t eat them? No. After a long Canadian winter of eating mostly root vegetables, I am craving fruits! I also don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
The point is this. This is a daily snapshot of what I ate. There are a lot of different factors that can affect what you eat on a given day. Find what works for you.
I hope this is a helpful starting point for you.
If you ever have any questions message me on any of my social media.
🥂
- Anton Roggo
