In this solo nutrition monologue, JJ Virgin explains why she prioritizes seven foods in her daily diet and how she sources and prepares them for optimal health benefits. She begins with red meat, highlighting its creatine, bioavailable protein, essential amino acids, and iron, and stresses choosing grass‑fed, grass‑finished cuts from suppliers like ButcherBox and Piedmontese sirloin tips. She then moves to wild salmon, emphasizing its omega‑3 fatty acids, astaxanthin, and creatine, and recommends wild‑caught salmon from Vital Choice. Next, she discusses Greek‑style yogurt, noting its casein (slow‑digesting protein), calcium, and low‑calorie profile, while warning against sugary fruit‑on‑the‑bottom varieties. Eggs are presented as a “perfect food,” with a recommendation to combine whole eggs with egg whites (2 whole + 4‑6 whites) for maximal protein absorption and choline intake, preferably from pastured sources. Collagen and bone broth are described as essential for connective tissue, skin, hair, nails, and joint communication; she advises daily intake via bone broth, protein powder, or added collagen in smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, or coffee. Berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries) are praised for fiber, polyphenols, antioxidants, and glycogen‑replenishing carbs. Finally, lentils are highlighted as the top legume for their higher protein, quick cooking, fiber, and low‑glycemic carbs, supporting steady energy and glycogen restoration. Throughout, JJ provides practical sourcing tips, portion ideas, and the functional rationale behind each food.
Chapters
Why do I love red meat so much? Well, first of all, it's got something called creatine. Now, if you've been watching my channel, you know I'm a bit obsessed with creatine. So we make about a gram, we need to intake about a gram every single day. Where do we get that from? Biggest source, red meat. Great source of very bioavailable protein, really good essential amino acid profile. Remember, amino acids, essential amino acids, are why we're eating protein in the first place. One other great thing about red meat is that it's a great source of very bioavailable available iron. So what am I doing to eat red meat? I'm going to give you a couple ways that I love to consume it. Now, there is a huge difference from eating some processed red meat burger at one of the fast food places and eating some grass-fed, grass-finished, lean cuts of beef. Let's be clear here. I order most of our red meat from a couple different sources. One that I love is ButcherBox. I tend to pretty much focus on New York steaks, picanhas, and grass-fed, grass-finished ground beef. So that's what I love to do the most. I also get these little sirloin tips. I get those from something called Piedmontese. Next up thing that I get in every single week, and quite often 2 or 3 times a week, is wild salmon. Now with salmon, I'm hardcore on the wild. I will not eat farm salmon. Salmon are an amazing source of protein, but also there's a couple other key reasons I love salmon specifically. So I'm getting omega-3 fatty acids, I'm getting astaxanthin, And crazy enough, fish has creatine in it. We do salmon at home. We order it from Vital Choice. We tend to do it 2, 3 times a week, but it's also one of my go-tos when I'm out and I see wild salmon on the menu. That's one I love to order. All right, next up, Greek-style yogurt. Now, you might be surprised to hear me talk about Greek-style yogurt because in the Virgin Diet, I talk about pulling out gluten, dairy, eggs, corn, soy, peanuts, sugar, and artificial sweeteners. Greek-style yogurt can be amazing for you. It's got casein, which is a very slow-digesting protein, calcium, calcium-rich and super low calorie. I do nonfat, plain, organic Greek-style yogurt. That's what I focus on. You can make a good thing bad very quickly with Greek-style yogurt by getting one of those fruit on the bottom, which means you just turned your great thing into a sundae because that fruit is like fruit and sugar. Another big shocker is probably going to be eggs. Oh my gosh, eggs to me have always been one of nature's perfect foods. Not in the United States so much though. Today I was at a hotel and I had eggs for breakfast and there's that pale yellow yolk. You want those yolks to be bright yellow. So in the United States, get yourself some pastured eggs. The way that I like to do eggs is I will eat a combo of whole eggs and egg whites. What we do know is that you're actually going to absorb more protein if you do the combination. And so what I like to do is take 2 eggs and then 4 to 6 egg whites as my combination for breakfast, and then I'm getting the choline from the egg yolk, which is really important for fatty acid metabolism. Collagen. Here's the deal with collagen. It is actually the most abundant protein in our body. It doesn't help you build muscle, and it's not, you know, a complete profile of essential amino acids. However, I think bone broth and collagen are super important to include in our daily diet. This is how we make our connective tissue, our hair, skin, and nails. As you start to lift weights for the first time, your muscles and nerves need to learn how to communicate. The other thing that collagen is important for is great skin. Super important for great skin. So how do I do this? If I can, I have some bone broth. My son makes it for me at home, but a lot of times I'll be out at a restaurant, and if they have homemade bone broth, I'm having it. I don't generally do that that often, so what I make sure so that I get collagen in every single day, I'll either do my Bone Broth Protein Powder or I'll add in collagen into what I'm doing. So either a morning smoothie, you can load it into oatmeal, you can put it into Greek-style yogurt. That's my favorite way use it, or you can just dump it in your coffee. I make sure that I get it in, in some form, at least once a day, quite often twice a day, because of all the amazing benefits that it has. One of the things that I eat every single day is a variety of different berries. I tend to focus on blackberries and blueberries, but I add in a couple raspberries here and there too. Why do I love berries so much? All that bright color has great fiber that feeds your gut microbiome, but it also is rich in polyphenols and antioxidants. And they're also a great carbohydrate that you can then store into your muscles to have energy for when you work out next. I really love lentils. Of all of the legumes, I think lentils are the superstar. They're higher in protein than the other ones, and they're really easy to use. Lentils are easy to throw into things. They cook quick and they give you a great source of fiber and slow, low carbs. So it's great for getting that— those glycogen stores back up and having some great slow, steady, sustained energy.
