Exceuting the Plan

When you get down to it, this plan is just a quantitative and operable version of “eat a little of everything.” Passive index funds have become so popular because picking a suitable investment is too hard. Warren Buffett said diversification is the defense against ignorance. Well, many fundamental questions in nutritional epidemiology remain unresolved. Significant gaps persist in our understanding of the chemistry and biology of the human digestive system. This plan can be likened to an index fund for nutrition, with the principle of “do not overeat” serving as the dietary equivalent of dollar-cost averaging.

A realistic diet should never entail constant testing of your willpower. Willpower is not a muscle you exercise to make stronger. It’s a resource that can be exhausted. This plan is designed to be low-stress, but it‘s not entirely effortless. Here are some tips to help you succeed:

• Get a kitchen scale and start measuring your food. You will quickly develop a sense of the weight of various foods and discover how misleading your intuitions can be. Being roughly correct is far preferable to being precisely clueless.
• It’s not the end of the world if you fail to record everything you eat, but acknowledge that you don’t know how much you have eaten. Don’t trust your intuition or recollection. Research has confirmed that “people (gaining weight) tend to substantially underestimate their food intake, by as much as 400 calories a day. You could put on more than two pounds every three weeks at that rate.”
• The hardest part of executing the plan is to drink 1,500 grams of water. So make it a priority. Plain water is the best. If you crave soda, you can put it in your “whatever else you want to eat” category. Don’t kid yourself that soda is water. As an added incentive: cold water has a slightly negative calorie count, as your body expends energy to bring it up to body temperature.
• Four hundred grams of spinach is a lot of spinach. You may be unable to fit it all into a small salad spinner. The important point to remember is that leafy greens are not the only vegetables. For instance, a single tomato can easily weigh 100 grams, and a 200-gram onion is by no means large.
• The most effective way to adhere to the plan is to cook your own food.
• Get enough sleep. At least 7 hours each night. If your metabolism is out of whack due to lack of sleep, your body will not be in a good place, no matter what and how you eat.
• Use these tricks to gently curb your appetite:
  1. Eat only in-season, local food. While each season offers a limited variety of foods, the selection changes throughout the year. This approach temporarily restricts variety, reducing the constant novelty that often drives overeating. As a result, you’ll naturally consume less without even noticing.
  2. Avoid prepackaged processed food. The issue isn’t just about health. These products are carefully engineered—using scientific research and advanced data analysis—to stimulate cravings and encourage overconsumption. By avoiding them, you decrease the likelihood of eating more than necessary.

Inevitably, you’ll encounter unforeseen challenges when following the plan in your unique circumstances. In such cases, the best course of action is to prioritize minimizing stress. Feel free to adapt the plan in ways that make it manageable for you. As long as you maintain a diversified diet and avoid overeating, it doesn’t matter what specific food you eat on any given day.