Introduction

The most powerful lever you have to pull on when it comes to health and fitness is your food. What you eat has more influence on how you look and feel than any other habit available to you. Sleep, exercise, and the right supplements are important, but they can’t drive change like your nutrition will.

There it is, the N word. Most people grimace when they hear the word nutrition, for good reason. To many of us it means giving up on foods that bring us joy and comfort without any noticeable return on that investment. Nutrition means no fun with what you eat only to maybe see some tiny improvement in how your clothes fit or possibly a modest bump in energy.

I can tell you from having coached hundreds of people just like you, there’s so much more to be gained from changing what you eat, if you do it right. The changes are so profound that you might never go back to the way you were eating before. All it takes is 14 days of eating according to very specific rules.

If you can follow the rules below for two weeks straight, without any exceptions, it just might change your life.

The Rules

The power of this challenge comes from being very specific about what you’re eating. For two weeks you’ll eat only meat, vegetables, fruits, and fats (MVFF). These are foods that all humans tolerate well and they include all the essentials for optimal health.

Meats: Keep your choices lean including chicken, fish, lean beef, lean pork, game meats, and shellfish. There are no plant protein substitutions or protein shakes that will work. You must eat meat. Men at least 24oz per day, women 16oz per day.
Vegetables: This can include but is not limited to Spinach, Kale, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Bell Peppers, Cauliflower, Swiss Chard, Asparagus, Collard Greens, Green Beans, Bok Choy, Squash, Zucchini, Cabbage, Arugula… you get the idea. Most of your vegetables should be cooked
Fruits: This can include but is not limited to berries, apples, oranges, and stone fruit. Limit tropical fruits like pineapple mango and papaya
Fats: Only from olive, coconut, avocado, sources. Nuts and nut butters are ok, but seeds are not. Grass fed butter is acceptable. Animal fats like beef tallow are also acceptable.

That’s it. These foods (MVFF) will make up the entirety of your dietary intake for 14 days. If it seems like a gray area or you’re not sure, don’t eat it.

The foods to avoid

Wheat and grains
Dairy
Eggs
Sugar
Alcohol
Drinks with calories
Artificial sweeteners
Sugar alcohols
Seed Oils
Beans
Corn
Processed and packaged foods
Restaurant meals or premade meals

These foods cause problems for some or all people. If you eat something on the avoid list your 14 days start over at zero. Yes, just one bite of a sandwich or a spoonful of ice cream constitutes a failure and will compromise or completely eliminate your results.

What will help

Eat breakfast within one hour of waking up. This will stabilize your blood sugar for the first half of the day and kickstart your metabolism. If you’re not used to eating breakfast you will have to force it for a while. After a few days most people wake up ravenous as their body starts to expect fuel in the morning
Eat every 3-5 hours. This means 4 meals per day for most people.
Confine all of your calorie intake to these 4 meals. There is no snacking during the challenge. If you get hungry between meals despite keeping to the timing, increase your portion size, particularly your meat.
Season your food well, including lots of salt. This means herbs, spices, and salt. If using spice blends read the label and be wary of items on the avoid list above. When in doubt avoid ingredients you don’t recognize.

What you can expect

When you make it to the end of the two weeks you will have likely experienced several of the following:

Weight Loss: Most people will lose between 5 and 10 lbs. This is dependent on how big of a human you are as well as how dramatic of a change in your food quality this is. The bigger the change, the larger the weight loss
Improved Digestion: Bloating and being uncomfortably full will be a thing of the past. GI issues often completely disappear
Uptick in Energy: A reduction in reliance on caffeine and a significant increase in afternoon energy are common
Better Sleep: Waking up less frequently as well as rising in the morning feeling more rested are reported frequently
Reduction in Cravings: Sweets and junk food cravings tend to go away around the 7-10 day mark for most people

What to do when you finish

Once you complete the challenge, note the changes you’ve experienced. You can keep eating this way for the rest of your lifetime if you want. There’s no health reason why you should stop.

If you miss a particular food you’ve cut out, try reintroducing it and see how it makes you feel as well as its effect on your body weight. Note that a short term change in body weight is in inflammatory response, not a change in body composition.

Lastly, if you like the changes you experienced and want to go further down the rabbit hole, consider booking a consultation for the Holistic Transformation program. In the Program we go beyond this challenge into other powerful habits such as:

Optimizing meal prep
Improving sleep quality
Understanding macronutrients
Using a calorie deficit to predictably lose as much body fat as you want
What supplements actually make a difference and which are a waste of time
How to run your own blood work, interpret the results, and adjust behaviors to optimize your metrics

… and much more.

Not only will you learn all of the above, we’ll provide you with friendly coaching and accountability to help fit these habits into your life including what to do when you travel or have a celebratory event.

Feel free to address Challenge questions and comments to us on Instagram @TrainWithNHP!

The NHP 14-Day Challenge