5 Foods I Eat DAILY as a Nutrition Expert

Hey, it's J.J. here.

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I'm JJ Virgin PhD dropout. Sorry, mom turned four time New York Times bestselling author.

Yes, I'm a certified Nutrition Specialist, Fitness.

Hall of Famer, and I speak at health conferences and trainings around the globe. But I'm driven by my insane, insatiable curiosity and love of science to keep asking questions, digging for answers, and sharing the information I uncover with as many.

People as I can. And that's why I created the well.

Beyond 40 podcast to synthesize and simplify.

The science of health into actionable strategies to help you thrive. In each episode, we'll talk about what's working in the world of wellness, from.

Personalized nutrition and healing your metabolism to.

Healthy aging and prescriptive fitness.

Join me on the journey to better.

Health so you can love how you look and feel right now and have the energy to play full out at 100.

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So I'm sharing the five foods that I eat every day as a nutrition expert because I'm constantly asked, what do you eat? I'll talk about my personal food rules, the foods I make sure to eat consistently, and my favorite ways to prepare them fast. Plus, when I really think about cheat meals, let's talk first about my personal food rules. And I have these because they're like my bumpers, my guard rails that make everything easier. So here's the thing. If you feel like you're kind of out of touch, the first place I always start is with a food audit and committing to tracking. This is super important. While you're getting new habits in place or if you feel like you kind of lost your way a bit, I got to tell you, I still track what I eat and I literally travel with the food scale. It just makes it so much easier to stay on track track. So I have a mantra. Eat protein first. This is because I want to make sure that you get your protein in. And I hear too often, oh, I didn't get all my protein and I got too full. First thing you do is identify how much protein you need. 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of target body weight. If you're not sure, go to jjvirgin.com forward/protein first. I got the calculator there. You're going to eat protein first, you're going to put it on your plate. Next one is upgrade your plate. I like to think of adding before you take away. My plate has protein, fiber from loads of non starchy vegetables, maybe a little slow, low carbs and healthy fat. And that really is a trifecta for satiety and blood sugar balance. So that's what you're going to see on the plate. Then make sure that you're staying well hydrated because quite often you've heard you're not hungry, you're thirsty, but even mild dehydration can actually make you store fat. And then of course, not only you're eating by the plate, you're also eating by the clock. And this is really important because when you align your meal timing with your body's internal clock to optimal optimize your health, this is all Dr. Satchin Panda's work. It's eating with that normal circadian rhythm. This means that you're going to eat 90 minutes to about two hours after waking up and you'll stop eating two to four hours before bed. This is going to be so much better for blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity. And it really ensures that you're eating food when you're most likely to use it. Now let's talk what to eat and I'm going to share my favorites that I regularly incorporate into my diet. And then after that, I'm going to walk you through what a typical day of eating looks like for me. First up of course is protein. And I go for clean, lean protein sources. I'm looking for where I can get the right balance of the nine essential amino acids. I eat protein first. And here's what I'm doing when I'm eating protein. I'm getting great satiety. I'm not as hungry, right. I'm getting great satisfaction. It helps with cravings. I've got a better thermic effect from the food because protein is the most thermic of the macronutrients. And of course you need protein to detoxify. If you're not sure how much you need, just go to jjvirgin.com 7day the number 7 to get my 7 day challenge on protein protein calculator. Now, which type of protein do I eat? Here it is. I try to about three times a week or more eat wild seafood. I do this for a couple different reasons. Number one, because it's rich in omega 3s and seafood is really good for gut healing. And also I really love to get wild salmon because of the astaxanthin. It's a great antioxidant. So I try to get that in at least three times a week. The next one up is pastured chicken. Now I will tell you, I'm obsessed with pastured chicken thighs. The way my husband makes them on the barbecue. Amazing. So he makes a bunch of them and they are what I have for lunch. The other thing I like to have for lunch is grass fed and finished beef burgers. So we'll get lean ground beef and I go for 90, 10 or 93.7 lean lean grass fed beef. And the reason I love grass fed beef is it's a great source of B12 and B6, of iron and zinc. Things that are critical for brain health, for your energy levels, for a great immune system. Plus, it's such an easy thing to cook up for lunch. In the morning, I'm generally either starting with a protein shake or I'm starting with Greek style yogurt. And I rotate in now some dairy into my life, but I keep it to whey or Greek style yogurt. If I'm doing Greek style yogurt though, here's what I do. I get the fat free and I stir in some of my all in one paleo protein shake. That's bone broth. So I'm going to get some additional protein and collagen into it as well. The other thing that I'll do, and I actually had this for lunch today, was I did an egg and egg white scramble. Why do I do it? Because I'm not going to get enough protein by the eggs alone. Push too much into fat. I love eggs because they're sulfur rich, which is great for detox. They're rich in choline. What I did today is what I love to do. I got some deep green leafies, threw in some mushrooms, scrambled it up. You can also take some of that ground beef that we were talking about and throw it in there too. That thing's called a Joe's Scramble. For protein shakes, I have a couple different that I like. I will use a little whey protein. If you are not dairy intolerant, try whey protein. It doesn't have the casein if you're doing the isolate, so it might be okay if you're doing that. I would highly recommend doing whey protein and stirring in some bone broth prote, getting the collagen as well. Or try a pea protein shake. Again, add the collagen in there. And the reason I'm emphasizing doing one of those types of protein and then also adding collagen or bone broth is because collagen and bone broth is so good for your joints, for your hair, your skin, your nails, and for healing that gut. It's one of the ways that I was able to heal my leaky gut. A lot of the reasons people don't handle dairy and eggs well is because of leaky gut. Now the other cool thing is it helps with skin regeneration because it's giving you these specific essential amino acids that you need for skin health, for rebuilding cartilage and restoring elasticity of the joints, for reducing pain and stiffness, and also good for your bones and might help reduce the risk of things like osteoporosis so collagen for the win. After I put protein on my plate, the next thing I add in are non starchy vegetables. So I eat protein first, non starchy vegetables come second. Why am I eating them? For the antioxidants for the fiber, because they're got such great nutrient density with so few calories. And the first thing I really go for are sulfur rich vegetables. Those are the ones like cauliflower or broccoli or brussels sprouts. And I'm going to give you a couple ways that I love to make them. Number one, I love to do a cauliflower peel off. So I will get organic frozen cauliflower rice and then I will add in leftover vegetables. So it might be like some onions, some garlic, some mushrooms. Whatever I've cooked the day before goes into the cauliflower pilaf the next day. I also get frozen broccoli rice. I love me some fresh broccoli with a little bit of ghee on it. I also love shaved brussels sprouts. That's something you can saute up or you can even put into a salad. Now I'm always looking for ways to get more fiber in.1, because we know that fiber is great for satiety. Number two, because it's so good for your gut microbiome. And number three, because helps you poop. So good for all of these things. The other thing, of course that these do is support detox. And especially when we talk about deep green leafies because they support something called methylation. And this is a super important biochemical process that involves the transfer of single carbon units to support DNA repair and then the creation of vital compounds and detoxification. And in fact, when you methylate well, it decreases the risk of genetic mutations and cancer development. So this is things like arugula, spinach, kale, chard. Now I gotta be honest, I hate rock spinach, kale, chard, hate, hate. The only deep green leafy I really eat is arugula raw. The rest of them, what I do is I buy this super greens mix and then I stir it into either the egg egg white scramble or a cauliflower pilaf or a easy peasy. The other thing that I love to stir into my pilafs are mushrooms. Ever since I talked to Dr. Sarah Ballantyne about our Nutribor scores, I've been obsessed with mushrooms. Mushrooms are packed with nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants. What really sets them apart are their unique compounds, these beta glucans that support that immune system and Heart health and can help support cancer treatments. And then something called ergothioneine, that's a potent antioxidant that protects cells from oxidative stress. And then there's these polysaccharid like chitin and chitosan that are known for their anti inflammatory and cholesterol lowering properties. So mushroom. Here's my most favorite thing. When we are doing burgers or we are doing some of our grass fed grass finished steak, shout out to butcherbox. I do a blend of mushrooms. I'm kind of into shiitakes right now, but I've been doing some oysters as well. I saute those up with some onions as well and those go on top of the burgers or steaks. After I do the non starchy. Next up is fruit. I focus on getting two servings of fruit a day. Pretty much I stick with berries and I rotate between blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. I love berries because they've got great antioxidants, loads of fiber and a lot of vitamin C which I just was talking about. Collagen. C is essential for collagen production. Now blueberries, I eat blueberries every day and they are like just packed with phytochemicals, especially something called anthocyanins. Those are the natural pigments in the plant that's responsible for that blue color that have antioxidant and anti inflammatory properties and can help help protect your heart, your brain and overall health. In fact, studies show blueberries have antioxidant and anti inflammatory powers that support your healthy blood vessels and help control blood sugar. So here's how I eat my berries. This is a great little treat. So I will take a cup of berries. I will take some Lily's dark chocolate chips or another type of dark chocolate chip that's got either allulose or stevia type of sweetener. Or monk fruit. I'll use a little bit of so delicious whipped coconut cream or sometimes I'll make my own. And then I use a little bit of something called RX sugars syrup. And the reason I use RX sugar syrup is it's allulose. And allulose actually lowers blood sugar. None of the calories get absorbed from it, doesn't do any gastric distress and it raises GLP1. All right, now let's talk fat. When you're eating clean animal and seafood protein, it comes with fat. Now I like to choose lean sources. First, grass fed beef, lean chicken. But salmon, I'm not salmon. I'm actually really working on Getting the fatty fish because it's high in omega 3s and omega 3s are critical for your heart health. They reduce inflammation, they're big for your brain health, they help maintain the elasticity of your arteries, they help prevent excessive blood clotting, and they can also help lower cholesterol. Now one of the ways you can tell if you have the right amount of omega 3s because it's all about balance, is doing a test called an omega quant. And you're really going to want to look at your omega 6 to 3 ratio of somewhere in the 4 to 1 ratio. Now it turns out that you can also get omega 3s from grass fed beef. And this is one of the big differences between grass fed and finished beef versus corn fed beef is that it will be higher in omega 3s. Another thing that grass fed beef is rich in is something called cla, conjugated linoleic acid, which can potentially help drop fat, improve muscle mass and especially fat around your belly. And also thought to have anti cancer properties and may help prevent cancerous growth. First off, what I do is, and this is where I use a food app, I see how much fat I got just from eating those clean animal protein sources. Then I try to add add with whole fat sources first. What would that be? That's something like an avocado. When I look at an avocado it's like a two for one because it's rich in fiber, which of course promotes great digestive health. Regular bowel movements, helps with blood sugar levels. But also it's a great source of monounsaturated fats, specifically something called oleic acid, which is good for your heart and can help with normalizing cholesterol levels. Plus avocados are rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, E, carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin. These can help protect the cells. Free radical damage, might reduce the risk of chronic disease. And also there's a bunch of great nutrients packed into avocados. Potassium, magnesium, vitamins K and B6, folate and riboflavum. So you're just getting a lot of goodness. The other fat that I like to use, when I'm looking at oils, I would pretty much stick with three. I stick with extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil and grass fed ghee. But I pretty much stick with extra virgin olive oil because it has so many amazing health benefits. It's predominantly made up of monounsaturated saturated fats. Again, oleic acid like avocado, which of course can support heart health, can help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels. And it's got powerful antioxidants like vitamin E and polyphenols. And these compounds can protect your body just like avocados from that free radical damage which is such a big deal in aging. Extra virgin olive oils, anti inflammatory, can protect your brain. And studies suggest that a higher intake of extra virgin olive oil is associated with improved brain function and a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. Now let's go back to fiber. And the ones that I'll try to put into my diet are beets, lentils and other legumes. Specifically, I'll do chickpeas and black beans. Now I got to tell you, I don't eat a whole lot of starchy carbs, I just don't really like them. But I really look for how to incorporate in these legumes and beets. So a couple different things that I'll do is my cauliflower peel off, I'll stir in lentils, I'll do hummus, but I'm always careful with the oils. And I like to roast beets or get some julienned beets. Well, fiber of course we know can help prevent constipation, can help you feel fuller longer, can help your gut microbiome. And for beets, you're not only getting that, you're also getting these nitrates that can help lower blood pressure and improve your heart function. And then lentils, like lentils, when you look at anything for a plant based protein source, lentils are the definite winner in the legume family. They're high in folate, manganese, iron, phosphorus, so they are really rich. And just like the other legumes, are low on the glycemic index, super high fiber and really good for balancing out your blood sugar. So now I'm going to walk you through what a typical day looks like for me. I wake up, go to the bathroom, take my thyroid medication and do my oxaline pro scale and record it on my phone. Then I sit down and I meditate. Then I have a lot of black coffee and about 90 minutes to 2 hours later I will have either a smoothie or a yogurt parfait. My smoothie is made and I like to combine my different protein shakes. I have a pea based and a collagen inspired bone broth one. I like to mix them together or I will do a yogurt parfait of Greek style yogurt and I put in my paleo all in one shake into that. I Also add into that creatine, mitopure and fiber. And mitopure is something called urolithin A that helps your mitochondria basically stay young and regenerate. Then I'll go to the gym a little bit later and in my gym drink I make a big green tea. I try to get in, gosh, I've been really working on getting in 32 ounces of green tea a day. A lot of benefits with green green tea in terms of stress, antioxidants, insulin sensitivity. So I take a huge bottle to the gym that's green tea with more essential amino acids added into it and electrolytes. So my essential amino acid blend and my electro replenish blend go in there. If I didn't get my creatine before I throw it in there too. But usually I've already had it. Then I have lunch. Lunch. Here's what I always do. I make double protein. Like I said my husband was making chicken thighs. We make whatever so we have extra protein left over for lunch. And generally what I like to do at lunch is have that salad, that's where I'll throw the arugula in. Or I'll have leftover cauliflower, rice and left and my protein. And that's where I do some berries. And then I have a treat. Now I'm a fast caffeine metabolizer. The coffee we do at home is half decaf, half regular. However, I'm one of those people that can drink coffee up till about 2 o'. Clock. Doesn't impact me because I metabolize it very fast. There are a lot of people not like that. So I just am telling you that because if you're one of the slow ones, don't do this but you could do this earlier in the day. But what I like to do as a treat is I use something called living ratio Cacao calm. And it is this mushroom adaptogenic, no sugar added chocolate powder that I put into coffee. Then dinner. Dinner is always vegetables and protein. And a very common one would be a grass fed grass finish New York steak with those sauteed mushrooms and onions with a little extra virgin olive oil like I talked about with some cauliflower peel off with any leftover veggies thrown into that little lentils. And then if I want a little something something after that it's the berries, the dark chocolate and maybe a little of the whip and RX sugar. And here's the challenge. When they talk about the cheat meal or the cheat day, it just sets you up to fail because you have something and you want a little bit more of it and a little bit more of it and a little bit more of it. So remember, what I like to think of is why not just have a healthier version of something. Like we'll make keto pudding or a gluten free keto cake. So if we do something for holidays or whatever, I've got like a gluten free dairy free keto cheesecake that we make. I'll make a healthier version of something. Or if I want dessert. Like I talked about the berries, the whipped cream and chocolate chips with the Rx sugar syrup is amazing. And again, eat more protein, have less cravings. See what you think about that. The other thing that I've always felt like is it's just mean to bring something into the house that you can't handle. To me, if you can have three bites, have it. But if you're going to lose your mind, get it out of the house. The bottom line is it's all about habit building.

Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips and techniques you can incorporate into everyday life to ensure you look and feel great and are built to last. Check me out on Instagram, Facebook and my website jjvirgin.com and make sure to follow my podcast@subscribetoj.com so you don't miss a single episode. And hey, if you're loving what you hear, don't forget to leave a review. Your reviews make a big difference in helping me reach more incredible women just.

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Hey JJ here.

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