There are three food groups in the plan. You know them all but you will soon know why I separated them in this specific way. You will be choosing one small fist sized portion from each of the three groups at every meal.

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First group is protein. What I tell my clients is that a protein either is an animal or came from an animal. So, from the morning on we have eggs, then chicken or turkey, fish, lean meats, and dairy, (which has the highest protein value of any dairy product? Cottage cheese, which at 13 grams per half cup, sports as much protein as a protein shake). Now, you may not like fish, for instance, so make other protein choices for all three meals. If you are on the vegetarian track, be careful and consistent to get enough protein each day. You will be using soy in many forms, combinations of rice and beans, quinoa grain, almonds and seeds and good fats support your minimal protein intake. For the rest of us, a free range steak is a great choice and don't forget deer, bison etc. Meat is fine when tempered with the other two categories in my plan.

Moving on to the second of the three groups which is woody, starchy dry carbohydrates. Now, stay with me on this. Do not fall into the trap of jumbling up my categories. A carrot or celery stick is not in any way a woody, starchy, dry food, is it? No. So let me fill you in on the second group. From the morning on we have: Oatmeal or oat based cereals. You can have any cereal without a mass of sugar (sugar is not a food; try stevia or xylitol or agave) and oats are less inflammatory in the body. So, isn't oatmeal a woody, starchy dry carb? You bet. So use your intuition and feeling to put these foods in the right categories. Let's move on through the day with rice, the number one body builder carb, along with Yam. You can never get fat on sweet potato because they take so doggone long to digest (up to 6 hours) Yeah, there is a little water in a yam but it is, for sure, a woody, starchy food. Next we have potato, then whole grain pasta and whole grain bread (Remember that multi grain is a farce because, by law, they can use a minimal amount of whole grain and a lot of flour and still call it multi grain). So, do you understand my version of carbs, a woody, starchy, dry, mealy food.

Now we can move to the last group which is my “hydrated fiber” group. These are the crunchy, wet, fruits and veggies we need at every meal. So, my faves are apples, oranges and berries in the fruit area. Berries are the most nutrient dense of all foods. I’m talking, vitamins, minerals and enzymes which we all need to live. Now, in the veggies, we can go on forever: Broccoli and spinach leaves are probably the most nutrient rich of the common vegetables, but you can have anything you want.

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