My metabolic “flow” model is based on the supply-and-demand concept of energy flow in nuclear power we used on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the Navy, which transfers heat from fission to steam to create electricity, turn the propellers, and launch jets. Our flow stems from the electrons in the food we eat being transferred to the oxygen in the air we breathe to energize our life and build protein encoded in our DNA. I have been teaching these concepts at Stanford and researching them at UCSF since 2002. Here I am outlining the applied takeaways for everyday life in 30 steps including detailed charts on how to eat for different food preferences and metabolic goals, meaning any goal that benefits from driving cellular metabolism. From the lowest intensity to the highest these goals are longevity, health, weight loss, muscle gain, and fitness.
This short book is 12,741 words in 18 pages including 17 charts:
Its audio is 77 minutes and alternates between my voice & Little Metabolic (Maya):
Long emails get clipped so I am only putting the 1st few points after listing its 30 headlines:
Managing your metabolism
Gauging Your Metabolism Subjectively: Sleep, Soreness, and Energy Levels
Charting the Course: Basic nutrition needs as defined by the National Institute of Medicine & credible sports organizations
Our basic macronutrient needs do not account for even half of our Calorie needs
That our macro needs do not meet even 1/2 our Calorie needs means any diet can be made healthy
Adjusting any diet to protect and nourish lean tissue
Why dieting is hard: our brain rewards us for eating Calories, carbs, fats & particularly both together
Slowing your digestion with protein, dietary fats, and particularly a “vegetable PARACHUTE”
Engineer your diet so you can continue eating things you love (think pizza or ice cream)
Diet strategies manipulate macronutrients, food options, feeding schedule, or our reward response
Even extreme diets can usually accommodate needs & foods you like to make them more effective
Fixing your natural pattern: small adjustments in what you do can provide large benefits
The 80/20 nutrition principle: most benefits from nutrition come from relatively small adjustments
Balancing a meal balances the food groups making up less than half the Calories of the meal
There is no best way to eat, but there are basic needs
Metabolic nutrition protects & nourishes lean tissue, which includes sports nutrition
Protect lean tissue (PLT) to STAY FASTED instead of allowing your body to transition to starved
Restricting Cal for weight loss: spread out the Cal for a continuous mild fast instead of “fasting”
Refueling workouts is critical to a) protecting lean tissue, b) recover & c) reduce sports injury risk
A fast-digesting starch after hard workouts is “ESSENTIAL garbage”
Sports nutrition is based on protecting, nourishing, recovering & adapting lean tissue
Meal frequency can be anywhere from 1 to 12 feedings per day
How to break and go into a fast
If you are suffering from hunger a) balance your entire meal, b) eat earlier & c) refuel hard workouts
Cravings stem from earlier low blood nutrient levels and are not satisfied by eating enough food
There is relief in simplicity
Meals are easily modified for any type of diet
Eating anywhere from 1 to 12 times per day
Designing your SNACKS for the specific reason you are snacking
In summary, metabolic nutrition takes care of your cells using foods you like or at easily tolerate
1. Managing your metabolism
While metabolism is complex, in simple terms it is a superficial gauge of how many Calories we burn per pound of body weight each day. Metabolism is highest in our lean tissue (as opposed to body fat). Managing our metabolism therefore comes down to managing our lean tissue by both protecting and nourishing it. If the body does not get enough of what it needs, it will partly shut down to survive. Metabolic rate can drop by hundreds of Calories per day from strict dieting or exercise and especially when doing both, working directly against the very reason many are doing the dieting and exercise to begin with.
People competing to lose the most weight on the Biggest Loser television show had a suppressed metabolism by as much as 800 Calories per day 6 years after being on the show, making it practically impossible for them to maintain any weight loss. Similarly, the Calories burned from the fight-or-flight response of stress or low sleep raises metabolism at that moment but hurts it afterwards because stress hormones break down lean tissue. Cutting Calories (lowering the supply) or burning up more Calories (increasing the demand) can clearly backfire by suppressing metabolism, particularly when the cutting and burning are done at the same time. However, we can control our metabolism and avoid metabolic suppression by protecting our lean tissue (PLT).
Protecting lean tissue (PLT) means minimizing stress hormones that break lean tissue down. PLT requires sufficient sleep, stress management, and from a nutrition perspective stabilizing both blood protein and blood sugar levels. Hydration facilitates the digestion, delivery, and use of nutrients, making hydration central to both protecting and nourishing lean tissue. Nourishment implies growth and vitality, so nourishing lean tissue (NLT) goes beyond PLT. Nourishing lean tissue starts with DNA gene expression and therefore begins with deep quality sleep and any stress management that contributes to sleep. Omega fats and vegetables then build upon sleep to nourish the body further. Movement, physical activity, and exercise drive metabolism further, going beyond protection and nourishment.
Managing your metabolism: protect, nourish, and drive lean tissue (PLT, NLT, and DLT):
To protect lean tissue avoid high cortisol levels, which breaks down lean tissue. This is achieved by maintaining stable hydration, blood protein, and blood sugar levels. Also, avoid chronic stress and sleep loss.
To nourish lean tissue, you must also provide quality omega fats, vegetables, and circadian sleep.
To drive lean tissue, you must regularly activate your muscles even if you don’t get out of your chair. This keeps your muscles idling out of the super relaxed state. Specific exercise intensities both for cardio and for strengthening address separate individual steps in our metabolic flow.
Protecting Lean Tissue: PLT | Nourishing Lean Tissue: NLT | Driving Lean Tissue: DLT |
Protein & blood sugar levels Hydration Sleep & stress management | Vegetables & omega fats Quality sleep Stress management for sleep | Movement through the day Endurance exercise Strengthening exercise |
2. Gauging Your Metabolism Subjectively: Sleep, Soreness, and Energy Levels
Our waking restfulness gives us a sense of our sleep quality, which is correlated to the efficiency of DNA gene expression. Our genes encode our proteins and are therefore the first step of protein production to maintain the vitality of our cells. Muscle soreness and weakness tells us how well we are recovering from exercise or from everyday wear-and-tear, giving us a sense of how well we are producing the proteins encoded by our genes. Our mental and physical energy levels tell us how well we are fueling basic function and the entire recovery process. Sleep, soreness, and energy therefore give us a direct perception of the three key physiological steps of cellular maintenance. Protein production is a crude measure of vitality, and yet it is the simplest starting point from which all else follows. In summary, pay attention to you
Waking restfulness as a gauge of your rate of DNA gene expression
Recoverability from everyday wear and tear or from exercise as a gauge of protein production
Energy levels as a gauge of fuel availability to fully enable sleep quality and protein production
Subjective measure of metabolism | Contribution to our metabolism |
How rested you feel when you wake | Sleep quality drives DNA gene expression |
Muscle soreness or weakness | Recovery is correlated to protein production |
Mental and/or physical energy levels | Energy levels are correlated to energy supply |
3. Charting the Course: Basic nutrition needs as defined by the National Institute of Medicine & credible sports organizations
The National Institute of Medicine (NIM, formerly called the Institute of Medicine) reviews the scientific literature to establish nutrient guidelines for the average person to stay healthy. The PLT and NLT chapters use the NIM’s guidelines to form the basis of what the body needs to be protected and nourished. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Association for Sports Nutrition (ISSN), and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) are organizations providing credible sports nutrition guidelines for athletic individuals to not only maintain their fitness but also their health.
Meal balance at its core demands that we meet our basic physiological needs, such as by considering the dietary recommendations from the NIM and IOC. Diets that are chronically low in meeting a single basic need can hold your body back, whereas meeting at least the bare minimum of all needs keeps your body going. Meeting one small need that has for a while not been met can therefore have unexpectedly large benefits.
Our basic nutritional needs come down to the following:
Protein: 0.6 grams per kilogram body weight per day on average. Diving the daily needs by the number of hours of the day tells you how much protein you need per hour. Your hourly needs multiplied by the hours until your next meal tells you how much protein you need in your meal to provide your needs until that next meal. Protein digestion rate determines how long a protein is available.
Carbohydrate: 60 grams fuel for the brain unless in ketosis, plus that much or more for physical activity and to accelerate protein production to recover from exercise.
Vegetables for fiber and micronutrients: roughly 1 cup for every 800 Calories in the diet. The timing of vegetables is not critical unless slowing the carbohydrate digestion rate.
Omega fats: 1.35 g omega-3 and 14.5 grams omega-6, which can be bunched up on some days with less on others since the body can store them. Since omega fats degrade easily, it is best to have a diet lower in fat when eating out or traveling and shifting to a higher-fat diet at home where you control its quality.
The key targets with sports nutrition are to refuel lost muscle glycogen, increase protein intake, and replace electrolytes if perspiration exceeded roughly 1% of body weight.
Applying daily recommended nutrient needs to the concept of hourly needs using foods that work for you:
Concept | PLT: Protein | PLT: Carb fuel | Nourish: Veggies | Nourish: Omega fat |
General & NIM average targets/day | 0.6 grams per kg body weight per day | 0-60 g/day for brain + non-exercise activity | 2 cups minimum average; goal based | 1.35 g Ω-3 14.5 g Ω-6 Fats 20-35% of Cal |
Life has hourly needs | Divide daily needs by 24 to estimate hourly needs; multiply hours between meals to estimate portions | Estimate meal portion by hours as with protein; slow digestion to last that long with vegetables | Vegetables are not needed to PLT so are not needed in every meal; ideally ≥ twice per day | Fats not needed to PLT so are not needed every meal; simply eat enough to meet average needs |
Choose what you like: happy is sustainable | Vegan: legume, soy Vegetarian: dairy egg Omnivore: muscle | Legume: lentil, beans Whole fruits Higher-Cal veggies* Starch: tuber, grains | Raw veggies/snacks Cooked veggies Leafy salad | Ω-3: chia / flax, walnut, fatty fish Ω-6: nuts & seeds Ω-9: avocado, olive |
Adjusting for weight loss, health, etc. | Wholesome sources; minimally processed; steady protein supply | Wholesome sources; minimally processed; steady blood sugar | Up to 3 times minimum based on goals & preference | Up to 3 times minimum based on goals & preference |
*Higher-Calorie veggies include tomato, carrots, beets & some types of squash, all ~25 g of fuel in 2-3 cups
Sports nutrition addresses the refueling and recovery needs layered into your diet
Sports Nutr | PLT: Protein | PLT: Carb fuel | Nourish: Veggies | Nourish: Omega fat |
Recovery meals | Up to an additional 1.2 g/kg/day | Recovery carb in meals to match recovery protein | Up to 3 times minimum based on goals & preference | Up to 3 times minimum based on goals & preference |
After hard workouts | ≤0.3 g/kg immediate protein for recovery | Up to 1 g/kg glucose immediate refuel | Not right after a workout; next meal | Not right after a workout; next meal |
4. Our basic macronutrient needs do not account for even half of our Calorie needs
The National Institute of Medicine’s (NIM) macronutrient recommendations do not provide for even half of someone’s Calorie needs. This is because the minimum amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fats, and vegetables are not based on getting enough Calories. Instead, they are based on physiological targets such as cellular protein production, fueling the brain, and providing enough micronutrients. These targets are unrelated to Calories.
A quick calculation shows how far our macro needs are from meeting our Caloric needs. The minimum amount protein needed is based on how much new protein our cells produce each day, which is 30 grams (120 Cal) for a sedentary 50 kg person, double this if they weigh twice as much or are athletic. The minimum amount of carbohydrate is based on feeding the brain 60 grams (240 Cal). The minimum veggies are 2 cups per day, which for broccoli would be 60 Calories. Essential fat requirements add up to ~150 Calories, bringing the grand total for a 50 kg person to 570 Calories per day. But a 50 kg person has a resting metabolic rate (RMR) of roughly 1,200 Calories per day, which is already at a bare minimum a 25% Calorie restriction since RMR does not include any food digestion or movement. Their actual Calorie use is closer to a minimum of around 1,600 Calories per day. The 570 Cal from obtaining the minimum macronutrients is significantly less than half of these. No matter who you are or how much you exercise, you need more than double the amount of food than it takes to meet the minimum macronutrient guidelines.
Meeting our macro (food group) does not even meet 1/3 of our daily Calorie needs or 1/2 our RMR Calories:
Macros v Cal | PLT: Protein | PLT: Carb fuel | Nourish: Veggies | Nourish: Omega fat |
General & NIM average targets/day | 0.6 grams per kg body weight per day | 0-60 g/day for brain + non-exercise activity | 2 cups minimum average; goal based | 1.35 g Ω-3 14.5 g Ω-6 Fats 20-35% of Cal |
50 kg person | 30 grams = 120 Cal | 60 grams = 240 Cal | 30 Cal/cup = 60 Cal | 150 Cal Ω-3 & 6 |
~ 42 % of RMR ~1,200 Cal | Of resting metabolic rate: 10% of Cal |
20% | Cal part of carb fuel |
12% |
~ 32 % of ~1,600 daily Cal needed | Of the total Cal the body actually uses: 7.5% of Cal |
15% |
Part of carb fuel |
9% |
It should not be a surprise to us that meeting our minimum protein, carb, fat, and veggie needs does not even get us to half our needed minimum Calories. Calories include getting enough fuel for our entire system to work properly and, of course, would exceed the bare minimum protein to build new protein and the amount of fuel for the brain. We are more than just building protein and fueling our brain.