Phases of Deep Nutrition

This is a framework I have created to simplify the importance of basic nourishment practices and habits. The idea is to focus on mastering the pieces in Phase One before moving in to Phase Two. This may take months or even years. It ok to take time. Go slow. Baby steps to build self trust and really solidify nourishing, wholesome habits that will feed us for life.

*if you do not have all the phase one tasks really dialed in but you really feel called to do something in one of the other phases, you should follow your internal guidance and calling. This is simple a framework to jump off into your own unique healing journey from. I have prioritized them in the way I see you getting the most “bang for your buck,” and in the most regenerative way, but you know yourself best and I trust that.

PHASE ONE:

1. Follow the 10 Principles of Ancestral Eating (adapted from Weston A Price Foundation and Dr. Cate Shanahan’s work) 

  • Properly raised animal and fish protein and fats (eg, animals eat what they evolved to eat)

  • “Nose to tail” eating. Eg eating organs, using bones, sinews, not only choice muscle meats. 

  • Minimally processed dairy products 

  • Meat Stocks and Broths 

  • Ferments

  • Fruits eaten seasonally, locally and ripe or preserved (frozen, canned, cooked etc)

  • Vegetables cooked well to make them easily digestible (there are 0 traditional cultures that are salads).

  • Legumes eaten after soaking for at least 8 hours and cooking well.

  • Grains eaten soaked and sprouted or fermented 

  • Do this 80% of the time.  

2. Start Meal planning and/or orienting your life to eating three meals a day. No “forgetting to eat” anymore or feeling like food is a big stressful thing. Creating systems around nourishment. 

3. Most women need to start VERY SLOWLY increasing their calorie intake and calorie intake consistency. We would ideally be eating our healthy weight in Kg x 45 = basal daily calories to avoid an Low Energy Availability (LEA) state. For example: 150 lbs would be 150/2.2 = 68 kg x 45 = 3068 calories a day. Working up to this over a long, long time depending on what your baseline intake has been. You are building the metabolic fire by adding little amounts of extra fuel. It might take you a year or multiple years to get to your ideal calories intake if you’ve been under eating most of your life. Increasing the amount of calories you can eat a day without gaining weight is one of the most important steps you can take towards healing.

4. Meal Timing 

  • Eat within 30-45 min of waking 

  • Bedtime snack if you’re waking up a lot at night. The best bedtime snack is a slice of raw cheddar cheese, a cup of bone broth and some raw honey. If you’re not having blood sugar issues at night, ideally stopping eating 3-4 hours before you go to bed.

  • Eat every 3-4 hours, focusing on animal based protein and quality carbohydrates (starches or more sugars, depends on what you feel best with.

  • Day-load your calories. Eat most of your calories in the morning and midday. This is when our digestion is primed for the most food. It really helps with so many things to really eat bigger meals towards the middle of the day vs the end of the day. 

5. If you have been avoiding dairy, start adding in good quality dairy (ideally raw, but if not then organic, grass fed, A2 etc). If you do not tolerate dairy well, you will need to develop a plan to reintroduce it.  

6. Raw carrot salad/raw carrot daily (1 large carrot, sprinkle of sea salt, MCT or coconut oil, and Apple Cider vinegar) 

7. At least 1 hour of natural sunlight, ideally first thing when you wake up, solar noon, and sunset. But as much natural light as possible is ideal. *If you have issues with sleep having sunrise be the first light that touches your eyes in the morning can be one of the biggest game changers. *see Circadian Reset for more information on light hygiene. 

8. At least 30 min walking and relaxing on any other intensive exercise until you’ve got these basics down, make sure you walk 8-10k (total) steps a day before you add any additional training in. Movement is more important than “exercise.” It’s better to take three 10-minute walks throughout the day than to go hard for one hour. Our body needs to move throughout the day. Make movement part of your daily life.

9. 10pm bedtime (or going to bed soon after it gets dark).

10. Reducing alcohol consumption, estrogen stays high for 24 hours after we drink, so if you drink 3-4 times a week it can mean your estrogen is always high. 

11. Switch out fats (no seed oils eg canola, sunflower) using properly raised tallow, lard, butter, ghee to cook with. But also.. don’t go crazy on the fat. We’re not trying to be “low fat” but we also want to be considerate of our fat levels especially if we are not wanting to gain weight. 

12. Add structured hydration, eg drinking natural spring water, herbal teas/infusions, milk, juice and water mixed together. **I do not recommend adding sea salt, electrolyte packets/powders, trace mineral drops, RO water filters, or drinking adrenal cocktails.

PHASE TWO: 

1. Focus on getting enough quality protein (around 110 g of protein a day, maybe more depending on the size of your body). 

2. Find a good source for grass-fed, pastured meat (most economical is to buy in bulk and put in freezer.)

3. Start making big batches of meat stock with lots of gelatin (adding things like knuckle bones and chicken feet to broth) and having it ready to go in the freezer. Using it to cook all your properly prepared grains. 

4. Making raw dairy part of your daily diet. Finding a raw dairy source. 

5. Find a good source of pasture raised eggs

6. Eliminate alcohol 

7. Filtered water; getting a filter for your house or figuring out how to get good quality water. I reccomend Alta Water Systems and Greenfield Water Systems for filters. The Greenfield guys will do a free phone call with you to talk about what you might need. I do not recommend Reverse Osmosis (RO) or alkalizing water, these strip your body of minerals.

8. Supplements personalized to you. 

9. Learn more about minerals and start prioritizing them depending on your symptoms/needs. 

PHASE THREE: 

1. Start strength training and building muscle (I recommend Adina Rubin’s Strength Training for Healthy Hormones or Tim Matz Move Like Human group or Train 2 Change with the Strong Sistas and Tyler Woodward). Building muscle is so important for women and their vitality as they age. 

2. Clean up skin care products. I recommend: Forever Healthy Hair LLC, Kossma, Lilfox, and Living Libations and Mythic Medicine herbal body oils.

3. Cleaning up air environment. I recommend Air Doctor filters.

4. Work on iron overload and copper dysregulation 

5. Start tracking macros/temps + pulses/HRV (biofeedback) to start to get more data points for how you respond to certain foods and exercise. 

6. Learn more about macros, food combining, and, possibly, start tracking your macros more intentionally and carefully.

 

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