Tim Spector, co-founder of the nutrition screening company Zoe, gut health expert and leading authority on all things epidemiology has shared a video of his daily eating plan – and it’s full of nourishing ingredients that he says will help you live life on full power.
Here’s what he loves to eat every day…
Breakfast
First off, it’s coffee, of course. He may be a health nut, but he’s a human being. His coffee, though, puts an emphasis on good quality ingredients: “The most important drink of the day for me is a black coffee made from good, dry roasted beans, packed with polyphenols.”
After he has his morning coffee, he gets some Greek yoghurt out, and he opts for one that doesn’t have sugars, but it’s not low or no fat.
“The fat is important,” he says, “because I learned when I did my own Zoe screening that the breakfast I was having, cereal and muesli sort of stuff, even though it said ‘healthy’ on it, was giving really big, bad glucose spikes.”
He says that starting off with a ‘fatty’ breakfast in this way means he has a better metabolism and is less hungry throughout the day.
Then he moves on to kefir, which has five times the number of live microbes as yoghurt. He makes his own kefir which he says is easy to do if you fancy trying it at home.
Next up: more fat and protein, with some mixed nuts and seeds. “You don’t need super-brands that cost a fortune, or fancy ones like chia seeds,” he says. Simple mixed nuts and seeds will work fine.
To finish it off, he adds some berries to his yoghurt bowl. “People often don’t know this, but things like raspberries have the highest fibre content of any plant.”
“The greater the diversity, the better,” he says, when it comes to his breakfast ethos.
Lunch
He has a really simple lunch that he says gives him a 100% score on his Zoe profile and boosts his microbes and is good for his metabolism. What does it include? Avocados, of course.
“Full of fat and calories, but really good for you,” says Spector. He puts the avocado on a bread that’s a sourdough and rye mix. Sourdough is a great way to pack in some gut healthy bacteria – one study showed that it can act as a prebiotic.
He also adds extra virgin olive oil to the bread with the avocado and he’s “liberal with it”, saying not to worry about calories and that “if it’s high quality, it’s going to be really good for you.”
Next, he adds paprika and a few tomatoes, as he finds they’re gut health boosters for him. And sometimes he adds some zesty sauerkraut on top – fermented foods are great for gut health. But he says to make sure it doesn’t come in vinegar, as vinegar kills the microbes. The more you know!
Dinner
“My general theory for dinner is: plant-based, diversity, spicy, and simple. Something that doesn’t take too long,” he says.
He looks in the fridge to see what he has in terms of veggies, and he says it’s really important to get lots of spices for their health benefits, like turmeric, garam masala, mustard seeds, etc. He says that randomised controlled studies say that adding spices to your food every day will make your gut microbiome healthier.
He baked up some cauliflower, stirred in some kefir, and added some coriander for fibre, probiotics and lovely spices.
And there it is! An emphasis on diverse, colourful veggies and plant proteins, good fats, and high-quality, simple ingredients and you’ve got a meal plan that’s going to make you the happiest, healthiest you.