This is are some notes about what I eat, how I eat, and why.

see /diet/2022 for an older version of this article.

Short checklist #

  • Vegan diet
  • Drink caffeinated drinks (e.g. coffee) to suppress appetite.
  • Sodas are a great way to suppress appetite.
  • Target 1.6g protein / kg body weight day.
  • Target 45g fiber / day.
  • Try to get as close to zero for saturated fat intake.
  • Target 1400kcal for cutting, 1800kcal for bulking.
    • when bulking, do a slow bulk to build muscle.
  • targetting low carb diet (50 carbs / day).

Example diets #

Food Calories Protein Fiber Carbs Time
1/2 Soy Latte (180ml) + fiber 32 2.5 4 0.5 8:00am
Keto Bread + 60g Protein Spread 100 16 8 3 10:00am
Sparkling water or diet soda 0 0 0 0 11:30am
Keto Bread + 50g Protein Spread 100 16 8 3 12:00am
1/2 Soy Latte (180ml) + fiber 32 2.5 4 0.5 1:00pm
Huel Black (1/2 serving) 200 20 4 9 2:00pm
Powder 120 20 4   4:00pm
Keto Bread + 50g Protein Spread 100 16 8 3 5:00pm
whatever for 20g protein defecit ?? ?? ?   after work
Total 840g 100g 45g    

Major Ideas #

Mostly vegan (plant-based diet) #

People who eat a plant-based diet live 7 years longer.

It’s hard for me to go completely vegan (I like my seafood and dairy), so I try to go for vegan meals most of the week at home. When I eat out I eat vegetarian or seafood.

From what I read in Blue Zones (above), eating meat once a week still helps you get a lot of the longevity benefits.

Those who have plant-based high protein diets also tend to have better kidney health than those who dairy / meat based high protein diets.

High-protein #

I eat 1.6 grams of protein per 1KG of body weight a day at minimum. Studies have shown that this is the amount that has shown to maximize muscular hypertrophy. I strive to maximize muscle mass ultimately for increasing my healthspan.

With a vegan diet, that number likely should be higher: vegan proteins are not always complete, and may not be in an easily digestable form unlike meat.

However, I do strive for foods that have a diaas score close to 1 or greater:

  • soy protein isolate, soybeans, soymilk, tofu.
  • pea protein.
  • beans (kidney, fava).

Targetting Caloric Restriction #

I’m currently in the middle of trying to lose weight: my last Dexa scan in 2022/10 put me at 21% body fat, which is much higher than I’m hoping. My current target is 15% body fat, which means I have to lose 12 lbs of body weight.

To that end, I’m looking at some minor caloric restriction: at 1700 kcal / day, and assuming I can build up a daily caloric expendature of 2100 kcal, that would be me at 3500 / (2100 - 1700) ~ 8.75 days to lose a pound of weight. And ideally I could my weight in 108 days (~4 months).

I’m mixing that with lifting weights to try to guarantee muscle hypertrophy.

In reality my caloric intake is often higher due to limited self-control, but I’m working on that.

Other Tips #

Sucralose may cause NAFLD #

When I started eating four servings of Huel protein powder a day (to try to up my protein intake, those 80 grams help) along with drinking a sugar-free sweet coffee daily, I found that my ALT and AST numbers have grown significantly (11->16 and 17->25, respectively over 10 months).

I’m not sure the precise cause, by after doing some research I found some research in mice that shows sucralose and stevia (and regular sugar) consumption increasing ALT and AST.

Correlation is not causation, but I’m currently (2023/04) trying to lower my Sucralose consumption significantly to see if my numbers change at all.

Only Allulose and Stevia for non-nutritive sweeteners #

Several non-nutritive sweeteners have downsides:

  • Aspartame may cause an insulin response.
  • Erithrytol may cause blood clotting, and impact the blood/brain barrier.
  • Sucralose may cause NAFLD.

Which leaves a limited set of non-nutritive sweeteners to choose from:

  • Allulose
  • Stevia

Specific Food Recommendations #

To hit a 50 carb target with 1400 kcal, you need to target foods that provide roughly 1 carb per 26 kcal or less.

Also, unlike most low carb diets, I prefer to stay low in saturated fat as well. It’s a hard balance but I try to make sure these foods have relatively low saturated fat.

For my specific dietary preferences, my recommendations are:

Food Calories Protein Fiber Carbs
1/2 Soy Latte (180ml) + inulin fiber 32 2.5 2 0.5
Huel Black (1/2 serving) 200 20 4 9
Nature’s own Keto Bread 35 6 9 1
Simple Truth Protein Crackers 120 10 6 4
Almonds 160 6 3 3
Spinach (100g) 23 2.9 2.2 3.6

Nespresso #

I like to drink Nespresso every morning. I generally may make a mezzo (half americano, half soy latte) with the following:

  • Mezzo with Tropical Coconut Flavor + 180ml soy milk.
  • Straight: Peppermint Pinwheel.
  • Bianco Doppio with 120ml milk.
  • 2x Altissio with 180ml milk (I like this because they offer a decaf option).

Sometimes I replace the soy with a larger volume of macadamia milk (fewer calories).