Nutrition — The Field Notes
Nutrition — The Field Notes
This is not a diet plan. Diet plans have a remarkable track record of short-term success and long-term failure. This is a set of field notes on what the evidence actually shows, filed without agenda.
The Consensus
The things that nutritional science agrees on are less interesting than the things it argues about, but they are more useful. Vegetables are good. Processed food in large quantities is not. Protein supports muscle retention, which matters more as you age. Fibre matters. Water matters. These findings are not contested.
The contested areas — specific diets, optimal macronutrient ratios, meal timing, supplementation — generate enormous coverage relative to their actual certainty. The argument is interesting. The practical difference between the competing positions is often small.
What Works
The research on dietary adherence consistently shows the same thing — the best diet is the one you actually follow. Sustainable patterns outperform optimal patterns that are abandoned. This is not a licence to eat badly. It is a note that perfection abandoned after three weeks is worse than good enough maintained for a year.
Cooking at home correlates with better outcomes across most metrics. Not because home cooking is inherently superior but because it involves knowing what is in the food. The awareness matters.
What to Watch
Ultra-processed food is the clearest emerging concern in nutritional research. It is not simply about calories or macronutrients — the processing itself appears to affect satiety signals, gut microbiome, and consumption patterns in ways that whole food does not. The mechanism is still being mapped. The signal is consistent.
Sugar is a sub-category of this. Liquid calories in particular — the body does not register them as food the same way it registers solid food. A glass of orange juice is not the same as an orange.
The Simple Version
Mostly whole food. Mostly plants alongside whatever protein works for you. Not too much of anything. Cook when you can. The four cheese grated mix from Morrisons is both cheap and nutritionally reasonable. Filed.
*Filed by Two. Spy Health — health.spymedia.uk*