Tech Exec who has become CEO of the Nutrition Society has improved the diet in 5 stages

• Jonathan Wolf was a technological director who ate a lot of ultra-transformed foods before co-founding a nutrition company.
• Wolf has improved its diet by making small changes over a few years.
• They include eating less upf and spending milk with dark chocolate.

When Jonathan Wolf co -founded the nutrition company Zoe eight years ago, his diet was “not great”. He ate a lot of ultra-transformed food and tons of sugar, he told Business Insider.

But he began to make additional changes to his food in 2017, after meeting the co-founder of Zoe, Tim Spector, an epidemiologist who studies nutrition and intestinal health at the Kings College in London.

Wolf was previously the product director in an advertising technology company. Spector made him aware of how he could improve his diet, including taking care of his intestinal microbiome, or microorganisms that live in the gastrointestinal tract. The evidence suggests that a diversified intestinal microbiome, partly obtained by eating fibrous and fermented foods, is linked to better physical and mental health.

Here are the positive steps Wolf has taken.

1) Eat fewer ultra-transformed foods

Over the past 18 months, Wolf has become more aware and reluctant to eat ultra-transformed foods, he said. UPFs are manufactured using industrial processes and can contain additives such as preservatives and emulsifiers. They were linked to 32 health problems in a recent study, but the authors said that additional research was necessary to confirm that there is a link between the UPFS and poor health.

Wolf tries to eat fewer upfs, in particular by avoiding artificial sweeteners or food in restaurants likely to be ultra-treated.

“We eat these foods that are made with ingredients that have never been available in the kitchen, to which our bodies have never been exposed before. While our grandparents were eating any ultra-suitable food,” said -Ali said. “I suspect that it will prove to be a large part of the health crisis that we have.”

It can be difficult to cut fully upfs because they are omnipresent, especially in Western countries. Nichola Ludlam-Art, a dietitian, previously told Bi how they could be integrated into a healthy diet.

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2) Pass the development of exclusion to the addition of food to its diet

Wolf had ceased to eat foods in which he was led to believe was not in good health, like gluten.

But research on the intestinal microbiome published in 2021, with which Zoe was involved, showed that a more diverse intestinal microbiome was associated with better health markers, including lower blood pressure and a lower risk to have A foie gras.

Participants who ate a variety of plant -based healthy foods had more diverse intestinal microbiomas, revealed that the study.

Wolf realized that he needed to eat more Whole foods to increase the diversity of its diet and, therefore, its intestinal microbiome.

3) Work to eat 30 plants per week

Spector was part of an American Gut 2018 project study on the number of food fiber types, found in plants, are necessary for a diversified microbiome. Fruits and vegetables have been taken into account, as well as other plants based on plants such as spices.

He concluded that 30 plants per week seemed to provide enough, which Wolf tries to aim.

“I didn’t get there in one step. In fact, it took me years to go to 30. But I did it regularly, and I think that the greatest thing that helped was the awareness that canned food and frozen foods can in makes you really healthy, “he said.

He tries to keep nutritious foods at hand, such as frozen spinach, canned beans and nuts, so that he can easily throw a meal that contains at least a few plants.

4) Gradually pass from dark chocolate milk

Wolf was happy to discover that he could still eat chocolate every day as part of a healthy diet.

“If you eat high quality dark chocolate, there are a lot of science that says it’s really good for you,” he said, in part because it counts as one of your 30 Plants per week, contains fibers and is fermented.

It went slowly from the consumption of milk chocolate, to 50%cocoa, to 60%, and up to 90%. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants, fibers and polyphenols.

5) Eat fewer foods that increase its blood sugar

The wolf reduces foods that have caused its particularly high blood sugar, especially white bread and tea with a lot of sugar.

The blood sugar peaks are a safe and necessary part of food digestion. But having an always high or low blood sugar can lead to a higher risk of chronic diseases, Sarah Berry, professor of nutritional sciences at King’s College in London, previously told Bi.

The wolf replaced the white bread with rye bread because it Has not increased his high blood sugar and gradually reduced the amount of sugar in his tea.

Zoe sells continuous glucose monitors, who were initially developed so that people with diabetes can follow their blood sugar. However, experts are divided to find out if they are useful for non-diabetics and fear that they can unnecessarily lead people to avoid certain foods.