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What I (don't) eat in a day

Since that's what most people I know want to know after they've met me...

And maybe that isn't so weird. My diet differs from pretty much everyone I know, and has done for quite a long time. I'm just going to say upfront that I don't think my diet is weird, if anything it's boring. I don't solely eat livers, hearts and intestines or anything like that. My diet is simplistic, it's easy and it rarely changes.

Although I say it isn't weird I usually get a different reaction when I tell people what I eat, and what I don't eat. It starts with a 'Seriously?' followed by a pause where I just wait for them to process what I've said and come up with any of several follow up questions, most of which I've probably memorised the answers to by now.

So, let me start by telling you what I'm not eating.

My daily diet principles

1. I don't eat sugar

This is one I've practiced since about the age of 13, or there about (Swedish 6th grade, whenever that was). And yes, it includes most things one would consider to be sugary. Examples include: Any and all candy (excluding dark chocolate, a recent change but more on that later), cakes, cookies, biscuits, soda and lemonade. I honestly struggle to name more sugary treats because I think I've kind of conditioned myself to not think about them anymore, because they're not good for me.

I haven't done anything remarkable, I just stopped eating sugary treats by 13 and never started again. I don't have any tips or tricks to quit, you just have to decide. They say it takes around 90 days to form a habit, so perhaps 90 days to break one too. All I can say is, it gets easier if you stick with it, it becomes routine and I don't question it anymore. High sugar foods have no place in my life because I don't gain anything from them, other than the short release of dopamine in the brain when my tastebuds recognise the taste.

Candy and the like are engineered to make you eat too much, to make you addicted to them. It really isn't your fault, but it is your responsibility what you do about it.

Just to be clear, I don't think you necessarily need to erase all sugary foods from your diet, treated as an occasional treat they are fine. I just find it easier to avoid them completely. That way I never have to give it any consideration when I'm offered them.

2. I don't eat ultraprocessed foods

Processed foods are foods are edible food-like substances that take the ingredients from real food and extract key components that could benefit our health, like fiber, and take the resulting product and combine it in different ways to form something that looks like food, tastes amazing and is highly addictive. And it's bad for us, but you know that so I'm not going to explain it any further.

This is a good video on the topic

We all know these food are bad for us, so I just made a commitment to avoid them. There's no judgement in that statement. I understand their appeal and understand why people graduate towards them. I just don't want them to impact my health, you can do what you want. When I have consumed them, mostly for lack of options (ie. my football team was stopping to eat after the game and there wasn't any other option that a fast food joint) I've always felt sluggish, tired and regretful so the appeal has mostly disappeared for me, which I'm perfectly happy about.

3. I don't eat all the other stuff that we all know is unhealthy*

Loads of things can be included here. Mostly things like pizza and... well, I've struggled to come up with a lot else that couldn't be put under either sugar or ultraprocessed food. But the big one that's neither that I don't consume is sauce. This includes any kind of dressing and source you have in mind, ketchup too.

My argument for why I avoid it is that I've never particularly enjoyed it. I've only ever liked one or two sauces in my life and have never been a very big consumer so when I kind of started my shift in diet when I was 13 it was one of the easier things I could do. So I just eliminated it completely: I never have any added sauces to any dish. With the exception of when my friends beg me to try one because they want me to know what I'm missing. And I'll be honest, it doesn't feel like a lot.

Sure, some meals may be dry but I'm not against adding things in the cooking process, as long as it's not, like, cream. And I still eat stews every now and then.

This is probably my most controversial habit, at least it has been in my experience, and I don't think it is something you need to follow, unless you're consuming overly large amounts of sauce every day. But it won't harm you, and might improve your life.

Food and pleasure

I disagree in that I'm 'missing' a part of life by avoiding these foods. On the contrary I think I live a better one because of it. Let me explain. Firstly, there's the direct health proportion which I don't think needs to be argued, my body is healthier because I avoid these foods. But secondly, there's a mindset shift that happened in my journey where I don't seek pleasure from food. Yes, I might enjoy a well cooked meal and if I don't season the chicken it will be hard to consume but I don't seek some pleasure, some reward from it. Because of this my pleasure center stopped being wired after this (any science people, sorry in advance for the bioscience-language) and I stopped craving these foods to get that dopamine hit. I still eat things I enjoy, of course, but not to the detriment of my health and body. Instead I find pleasure in other things.

And I think I'm able to find more pleasure in other activities because I don't get these peaks and plateaus of dopamine from eating overly processed or sugary foods. This leads me to believe I actually enjoy life more because I don't get these quick, easy dopamine highs. That's the same reason (well, one of) that I don't have a TikTok account but that's another post in itself.

Some things I do eat

1. Dark chocolate

I read the book "Food for life" by British epidemiologist and doctor Tim Spector. The book was great in its entirety but it also changed my view on chocolate. Rather than finding the book and writing down exactly what he wrote I'll just relay my take aways as they appear in my mind. Chocolate is made by fermented cocoa beans and fermented foods are good for the gut microbiome. Chocolate has a lot of so called Polyphenols which support the microbiome and the microbiome supports you. Then there's some evidence of decreased risk of death etc.

What Tim explained in the book was enough to convince me at least. So now I eat about 2 small squares of 90% dark chocolate every other day or so, or when we have it at home. Make sure to check the label however. You don't want there to be that many ingredients and no emulsifiers. Maybe this could change and I'm not that fussed about getting my chocolate in every day but I think it's a welcome addition.

2. Kiwi

They are just great aren't they, love kiwis. Just make sure you're not allergic.

A great Jeff Nippard video on Kiwis.

3. Kefir

Another food that aids the gut microbiome as it is made by fermentation of milk. I drink about a glass every day (when we have it at home).

4. Olive oil

I use it when cooking anything. It's apparently amazing and has been proven in a number of studies to be great. Associated with the Mediterranean diet and is a large part in that diet having a positive impact on life expectancy. Get extra virgin, worth it.

What I eat in a typical day, subject to change

Thinking about maybe starting to fast in the mornings so I could just get straight to the gym and perhaps maintain a higher clarity of mind but here's roughly what I eat in a day. It has changed in meal timings and in which order I eat things as I was a shift worker for the past year and a half (which by the way is terrible for your health, perhaps another thing to write about) but the contents are always mostly the same.

I don't count calories, not really, as the calorie has been debunked as a definite measurement for how much energy a food provides. This is something that recently has changed my view as I was a hard believer in the concept of calories. However, I still think it's a good tool to estimate roughly how much food you need to eat. I just track roughly how many of something or how much (weight) I eat.

Is this the best diet? Probably not. There's a lot of optimising you can do apparently, but this is what works for me. And I think it could be a lot worse

Breakfast

A bowl of porridge (1.5dl oats, 3dl water, salt), a staple in my diet since I was a child
Three bananas, quick, light energy
Oatmilk with no added sugar

Lunch

250g of a carbohydrate source, usually some pasta because of convenience
200g of a protein source, usually a lean meat or fish ie. chicken or salmon
A salad, (that I honestly could be more consistent with) usually consisting of kale or a leaf spinach with tomatoes
Oatmilk or water

Dinner

The same as dinner but most likely with different food choices (hopefully)

Fika (snack)

I need to get better at eating further away from my bed time but after dinner I'll usually have "Fika" as we say in Sweden, although I'm not referring to a coffee with a cookie.

Two slices of dark, wholewheat bread with high fiber and protein. To that I add about 50g of peanut butter (no sugar, recommended no salt if it's convenient) and some frozen blueberries.
About 70g of nuts and seeds, usually it's pumpkin seeds and cashew nuts because I find those easy to consume.
4 eggs, great source of protein, vitamins etc.
Kefir, if we have it
Oatmilk
A fruit, like a clementine or satsuma, an apple, kiwi, pear, other examples of fruits; you know what fruits are

And that's it!

That's pretty much what I eat. It isn't anything special and most would probably call it boring but it works for me. It might change and become more exciting in the future, with new meal ideas but for right now this works well.

As for the principles I don't see them changing any time soon, unless I get overwhelming evidence that they should.

I hope you got some value from it!

Hugo