This part of the book deals with nutrition. I first look into a popular diet: the paleolithic diet. My aim is to understand the rationale behind it, and demonstrate how one might investigate its claims scientifically. Next, I try to separate fact from fiction regarding the most debated elements of nutrition: calories. Some of the findings may come as surprises.

Being an engineer, I am not content with mere knowledge; I have to engineer a solution. I have four primary objectives for a diet plan:

1. It should encourage healthy eating, not just weight control.
2. It should be sustainable--something that can be followed forever, rather than a crash diet.
3. It should minimize stress, guilt, or any kind of negative feeling about myself.
4. It should offer the best return on investment of time and effort.

The result is the Positive Eating Plan. Here's the spoiler: it's essentially an actionable version of "eat a little of everything."

In my discussions with people about the Positive Eating Plan, two questions come up all the time:

1. Why don't you count calories?
2. How can I eat less without feeling hungry all the time?

The answers can be found in the chapters, but these questions resonate with people so much that I think they deserve a more user-friendly version of direct responses.

PositiveEats is the completely free iOS app that helps you execute the plan. It has an intuitive user interface. Here is a quick tour of the app.