Nutrition · Protocol 1 of 7
Make nine in ten bites real food
1In 30 seconds
Build at least 90 percent of what you eat from single-ingredient foods such as vegetables, fruit, dal, eggs, chicken, fish, rice, oats and atta. Keep packaged snacks, sweet sauces and ready meals rare. Real food fills you up, and your taste buds soon learn to prefer it.
2Picture it
3Why do it
- 1
Packaged foods are designed to be easy to overeat, so cutting them helps you eat the right amount without counting.
- 2
You cut down on hidden added sugar, which turns up in ketchup, bread, biscuits and even savoury snacks.
- 3
Within a few weeks, simple home food starts to taste richer as your gut and brain recalibrate.
4How to do it
- Stock your kitchen with single-ingredient foods: vegetables, fruit, eggs, meat, fish, dal, beans, rice, oats, whole atta, olive oil and a little butter or ghee.
- Season freely with spices, herbs and salt, because these do not make food processed.
- Read the label on any packet, and skip sauces, spreads and snacks that list sugar in their ingredients.
- Choose plain full-fat curd, yoghurt or cottage cheese, and sweeten it yourself with fruit, a little honey or some cinnamon.
- Keep nut butters small and simple, with only nuts and salt in them, and skip them entirely if you are trying to lose fat.
- If sugar has a hold on you, try one full week with no added sugar; the cravings usually fade after the first few days.
5Make it work in India
- Swap packaged namkeen, bhujia and biscuits for roasted chana, a piece of fruit, a boiled egg or a bowl of curd with cucumber.
- Bottled ketchup, sweet chutneys and many breakfast cereals carry added sugar. Make green chutney at home with mint, coriander, lemon and salt instead.
- Let mithai and fried street snacks like samosa or jalebi be a weekend or festival treat, about once a week, rather than daily staff-room food.
6The long read: the science2 min read · tap to open
Your gut and your brain are in constant conversation. One line of talk runs along the vagus nerve, a fast two-way cable between your organs and your brain. The other runs through hormones. Your stomach releases ghrelin as time passes since your last meal, and ghrelin nudges a small brain area called the hypothalamus to send you looking for food. Other gut signals, such as GLP-1, tell you that you have had enough.
Here is the catch. Special cells in your gut lining, called neuropod cells, sense sugar, fats and amino acids and signal the brain, which releases dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical of wanting. It is why one spoon of ice cream quickly turns into the thought ’I want more’. Studies in mice and people show the brain can detect sugar even when it cannot be tasted.
Food companies know this. Sugar gets added to sauces, breads and savoury snacks because it makes you buy and eat more. Over time this resets your taste, so plain food seems dull.
The good news is that the system rewires in both directions. Eat mostly whole foods for a few weeks and the same circuits start rewarding you for dal, fruit and a well-cooked piece of fish. Whole fruit is fine because its fibre and water slow the sugar down. Juice lacks that fibre, so it spikes and then drops your blood sugar.
Good evidence Large studies link heavy ultra-processed food intake to heart disease, diabetes and depression, and one careful ward trial found people ate about 500 extra calories a day on processed food, but most of the evidence is observational.
Questions people ask
Is fruit juice okay since it comes from fruit?
It is best kept rare. Juice loses the fibre, so its sugar rushes into your blood and can leave you tired and hungry soon after. Eat the whole orange instead.
Are diet drinks and sweeteners allowed?
The book says stevia and aspartame look safe, while sucralose and saccharin may upset your gut bacteria. Some people find diet drinks calm their cravings and others find they feel hungrier, so notice which group you are in.
Is there anything unusual that helps with sugar cravings?
The book suggests 100 percent cacao chocolate or five or six raw cacao beans a day. It also mentions 3 to 5 grams of L-glutamine powder in water two or three times a day, an idea backed mainly by the author’s own experience, so talk to your doctor first.
7Be careful
If you have diabetes and take medicine for it, cutting sugar quickly can shift your blood sugar, so check with your doctor before big changes. Talk to your doctor before trying L-glutamine or any supplement, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or managing a health condition.
8Try it for 7 days
Tap a day each time you ate 90 percent real food.
From the book: “90 Percent or More of the Food You Eat Should Be Unprocessed or Minimally Processed” (Nutrition Protocol 1). Evidence rating and India notes are our own.