The three diet rules nutritionists actually follow – and three mistakes to drop

If you want to be healthier, you need to eat well. That’s the advice we’re usually given – but what does “eat well” actually mean?

As with everything in the fitness industry at the moment, the advice around whipping up a nutritious meal can feel rather garbled and overwhelming.

Eat bread; don’t eat bread; prioritise protein; you don’t need much protein; fibre is the most important thing; carbs are the enemy; carbs are brilliant; use supplements; swerve all supplements; eat your five-a-day; you need more than five-a-day… and so it continues.

So in this week’s newsletter, I set out to find three food rules that actually work for improving your health — and three common mistakes to avoid. No hot air, just hot (and nutritious) meals.

Rule one: find the formula for a healthy plate

First, I wanted to learn the formula health-minded chefs use when creating tasty-yet-nourishing meals. For this, I quizzed Sasha Watkins and Jesse Kempner of Mindful Chef.

Flavour is paramount, they agree. If something doesn’t taste good, people are unlikely to eat it again. Once taste is secured, they build the plate in layers to cover off all nutritional bases.

Meals should aim for 20g or more of protein to support muscle maintenance and growth, says Watkins. Fibre – via wholegrains, beans, pulses and vegetables – is another important area where most people fall well short of the government’s 30g RDA. This can have ramifications for their gut health.

“A useful visual guide is to fill roughly half your plate with plants [‘Aim for things which are in season, such as British asparagus for spring or tomatoes in the summer, as they always taste far better,’ Kempner advises].

“Then a quarter of your plate should be protein-rich foods and another quarter should be whole grains or fibre-rich carbohydrates,” Watkins continues. “I also encourage people to think about diversity.

“Different coloured fruits and vegetables provide different vitamins, minerals and polyphenols, so variety across the week is just as important as balance within a single meal.”

Rule two: focus on things you can add into your diet, rather than things you can take out

This advice has cropped up repeatedly during my time reporting on the health and fitness space, and I rather like it.

Many diets fixate on restriction, ordering you to eradicate all traces of chocolate, crisps and anything less than squeaky clean. But this quickly leads to a mental mutiny that sees most people fall off the fitness wagon.

However, if you focus on adding nutritious items into your diet, not only do they provide health-boosting nutrients but they also have a science-backed knack for displacing less-nourishing items out of it.

For example, Fat Loss Habits author Ben Carpenter kicked his sweet tooth by eating an apple after dinner each day. Now, it’s ingrained in him to reach for the fruit bowl each evening rather than the fridge.

“People often concentrate far too much on restrictions, but health improvements can come from simply adding more good things to your plate before worrying about eliminating specific foods,” says Watkins.

“Try swapping your snacks. Instead of reaching for a daily bag of crisps, chocolates or biscuits – though it’s of course fine to enjoy these treats once in a while – try switching to healthier choices like Greek yoghurt with berries and honey, a date dipped in dark chocolate or a handful of mixed nuts.”

Rule three: make water your default drink

This is an odd one, but over the years I’ve found it makes a significant difference to your health and weight management efforts.

“Sugary soft drinks, sweetened coffees – which are all the rage at the moment – and energy drinks can add significant calories and added sugars with little nutritional value,” says Watkins.

Trimming down a couple of coffees or cups of juice each day can free up hundreds of calories, giving you more flexibility in your wider diet for foods you enjoy.

Mistake one: don’t fixate on calories to the detriment of nutrients

Vitamins A through to K, as well as all manner of minerals and other dietary compounds, deliver a wide variety of health-boosting benefits that allow your body to be at its best.

For the most part, you don’t have to obsess over any one in particular. Eating a variety of colourful whole foods will deliver most in sufficient quantities. But sometimes people miss out on these nutrients because they’re blinded by a meal’s calorie count.

“While calories matter, they don’t tell you much about nutritional quality,” says Watkins. “Two meals with the same calorie content can have vastly different amounts of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.”

Opting for a range of colourful whole foods as opposed to ultra processed alternatives (even those with myriad health claims plastered on the packet) is a good general rule for remedying this.

Mistake two: don’t put all of your eggs in one basket

I, and many others, tend to pour most of my love into my final meal of the day: dinner. I have time to cook, I’m sometimes celebrating the end of a stressful day and I want a meal I can enjoy.

My lunches and breakfasts, on the other hand, often comprise whatever I can cobble together from the cupboards and fridge. Or, if I’m lucky and planned ahead, leftovers.

“Underestimating protein and vegetables at lunch is another common issue,” warns Watkins. “Many people rely on refined carbohydrates or convenience foods that are lighter on protein and vegetables, which can leave people reaching for snacks later in the day.”

Digestively, it also pays to eat your larger meals at an earlier hour, according to neuroscientist and The Age Code author Dr David Cox.

“There was a fascinating study in France looking into tips [around meal timing] for preventing heart disease,” he says. “They found the two most important things were not skipping breakfast and eating an earlier dinner.

“If you eat a small breakfast, a small lunch and a colossal dinner, as most of us do, your insulin response to help your body process blood sugar won’t be working as effectively in the evening. You’re going to be more likely to gain weight and visceral fat over time.”

Mistake three: one meal won’t make or break your diet

When people want to get in shape, they aim for perfection early doors. Usually, that means a week of hour-long workouts and painstakingly curated meals, swiftly followed by burnout and a return to old ways.

“I’d encourage people to think beyond individual meals and focus on their overall dietary pattern,” says Watkins. “Not every meal needs to be perfect. What matters most is what you’re doing consistently across the week and month.”

“Planning ahead can also make a significant difference,” adds Kempner.

“Keeping simple staples at home, such as frozen vegetables, canned beans, eggs and whole grains, makes it much easier to build balanced meals when time is limited.

Diet is defined as “the food and drink usually consumed by a person.” As such, one unhealthy meal isn’t going to cause the world to come crashing down.

Likewise, one nourishing one isn’t going to transform your health. The key is to eat fairly well as often as you can.

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