How I would start eating for my health (if I had to start over)

I went from knowing nothing about nutrition, living off cereal and vending machine snacks as a junior doctor, to reversing my heart condition, eating healthy meals every day, and helping thousands of people use food as medicine daily. But if I woke up tomorrow with zero nutrition knowledge, here's exactly how I'd start healthy eating again from scratch in just five steps. First thing I would tackle is breakfast. Most common breakfasts like toast, jam, cereal, granola bars, or just a coffee are low in two big anchors your body needs first thing in the morning, and that's protein and fiber. Getting 20 to 30 grams of protein at breakfast can change how your whole day feels. It keeps you fuller for longer, prevents cravings like that mid-morning biscuit that can derail healthy eating habits for the rest of the day. It improves your blood sugar. Plus, good quality fiber is what your microbes in your digestive tract need first thing after being fasted overnight, not a sugary croissant. The great thing about breakfast is you don't always need to cook a full meal. You just need two or three solid breakfast options that you can rotate through. Some of my go-tos are a jar of Greek yogurt with nut or seed butter, frozen berries, and seeds. That will give you over 25 grams of protein, and it takes two or three minutes to make. Protein overnight oats, flax seeds, shelled hemps, mixed nuts, cacao, and lots of berries. I use this all the time. Couple of eggs on toast or egg muffins on the go, a tin of lentils or beans warmed up with olive oil, cumin, garlic, maybe a poached egg on top if you've got five minutes, and leftovers from dinner. Honestly, there is no law that says you can't eat a stir fry or a curry in the morning. And if you're a regular viewer of my Instagram stories, you will know how true this is. I think of a high-protein, high-fiber breakfast kinda like making my bed first thing in the morning. If you sort it out, everything else feels easier and falls into place. You'll make better decisions, you'll feel more energized, and honestly, it's kinda like the backbone of healthy eating. But you also wanna be careful of things that can steal your energy during the day. When I look back, one of the sneakiest sources of sugar and calories in my diet came not from meals, but from drinks and snacks. The flavored latte at 11 a.m., the energy bar mid-morning, the bottled smoothie that's basically just fruit juice concentrate. What's worse are that packaged snacks, even those marketed as healthy, are packed with sugar and refined carbohydrates with little fiber or protein. Plus, they lose the whole food structure, which means they are quickly digested. So they give you this quick hit and then the slump, which is why you find yourself hungry again an hour later. And look, having them once in a while is not gonna be an issue, but day to day, they add up. They're terrible for your metabolic health and they can disrupt your gut. What I would do is swap granola bars that can be super sugary for a handful of nuts, seeds, and maybe even some dark chocolate, making sure it's over 80%. Instead of juice and bottled smoothies that are really high in sugar, have actual whole fruit or berries that have the fiber and anti-inflammatory benefits. If you love fizzy drinks, swap that for flavored sparkling water that you can make yourself with lemon slices, frozen berries, or even a jug of homemade iced tea. I personally love hibiscus tea. It's sweet and tart and feels like a treat without the sugar overload. Energy drinks were shift workers' best friends when I was a doctor. Swap that for green tea, black coffee, or even homemade matcha. You get those energy-generating chemicals without the sugar. And look, if you crave something sweet after a meal, which I often do, instead of going for cookies and processed snacks, opt for whole fruit, a date with nut butter, or a square of delicious dark chocolate. As a bonus, something that I recommend people do is ask themselves some questions when they're having a snack. Are you eating out of boredom, emotion, habit, or are you craving because you haven't had enough protein that day? When you ask yourself these questions, you can become a lot more intentional about whether you actually need to have the snack or drink in the first place. And this can start the process of lasting healthy eating patterns for life. This step sounds almost too simple to work, but adding greens to every meal is one of the easiest ways to add a nutritional boost to your plate. Leafy greens are packed with magnesium, fiber, and plant compounds called carotenoids that have powerful anti-inflammatory effects. Now, I talk a lot about protein, but magnesium is also really important for not just muscle health, but it's critical for over 300 reactions in the body, and you can get enough from food. Yet many people don't get enough magnesium in their diet, so getting daily greens can really help cover your magnesium needs. In addition, they feed you gut microbes, which we now know play a role in everything from improving inflammation levels and even your mood while the gut-brain axis. And here's the key thing I love about this step. Even if you're not ready to cook a full meal from scratch, you can still add greens. Throw a handful of rocket or kale on top of your eggs. Stir spinach into a stew or a stir fry. Blitz leftover green salad leaves into a smoothie, or just add fresh herbs to whatever's on your plate. I think of greens as a non-negotiable. Every dish, like my lunch or dinner, gets dressed up in green. There are no naked plates. And here's a bonus step. Once you've got greens down every single day, you can then progress to what I call BBGs. It's a simple daily checklist where I get beans, berries, greens, seeds, and nuts every day. If you're able to tick these off every single day, you're getting fiber, anti-inflammatory ingredients, all without having to track or necessarily cook from scratch every single day. Frozen foods are such an underrated hack for healthy eating. They're cheap, really quick to cook, and such an easy way to add more nutrients to meals that you're already gonna make, especially on busy weeks. Let's debunk one annoying myth. Frozen fruit and veg are not less healthy. In fact, most frozen fruit and veg are picked at their peak state and frozen straight away, which locks in their nutrients. Sometimes they're even more nutritious than fresh produce that's been sitting in transit or on shelves for days. So if you're changing your food shop, I would start by making a dedicated freezer staples list. And here's what I always have in my freezer. Frozen proteins, minced lean beef, chicken bones to make stock and a healthy broth, and even leftover batch-cooked meals that will get me out of trouble when I literally have no energy or time to cook. Frozen berries. I literally use these every single day. They're one of those ingredients that really earn an honorary place. They don't go off. They're cheaper than fresh, especially out of season. They're great sources of vitamin C, fiber, and incredible plant compounds called anthocyanins, known for their anti-inflammatory effects. I use these as a snack after dinner. I put them in overnight oats. And simply combined with a bit of peanut butter and coconut flakes is a lovely little treat. Frozen peas are probably one of the most versatile ingredients that I use. I blend them into dips, stir them into stews, and they're full of plant protein, fiber, and folate. In a similar vein, frozen edamame are one of my favorite ingredients. It gives you high-quality plant protein, about 12 grams per 100 grams, anti-inflammatory isoflavones for bone and heart health, and sometimes I even just roast them as a quick snack with chili flakes and a bit of soy sauce. These can go into stir fries and curries super simply. Frozen spinach is incredibly convenient. You don't need to wash, chop, or prep anything. And if you've ever had that experience of cooking fresh spinach, it wilts to nothing. Whereas when you buy frozen, they're in compressed cubes, so you're getting a lot more bang for your buck. These days, there are so many options for frozen foods, mixed vegetables, pre-chopped onions, even frozen chopped avocado, which I buy all the time to make my avocado dips. As long as they're whole foods, these are great ingredients to rely on when there's no time to cook or shop. I think of them as my safety net to up the nutrient value and plant points of any meal without any extra prep. My freezer is absolutely chocker with these healthy whole vegetables. But let's be realistic. No matter how well you plan or shop, there are gonna be nights when you are so tired and you cannot be bothered to cook. It happens to me all the time. And that's when you need a get-me-out-of-jail recipe. That's a meal that you know how to make with your eyes closed, not something fancy or Instagram-worthy, not something that you have to Google. You want something solid in your repertoire, and it needs to be super quick, made using ingredients you generally always have on hand and that you like, and covers all your nutrition bases with a core protein source, greens, colorful veg, and a whole grain or starchy carb. This could be a tray bake, if you like something hands-off, with tomatoes, spices, and chicken. If you like something warm or comforting, maybe that's a stew or a curry made with coconut milk, spices, tomatoes, and chickpeas. If you prefer something fresh and light, it could be a protein bowl with pre-lentils, whole grain rice, and some peas on the side with a nice little sauce. My personal go-to is a green pea stew situation with lean red meat and chickpeas. The key is just to pick one and make it a few times until it literally becomes second nature. And when you've mastered one, you can then add a second and a third. I personally now have at least 20, and I can make and flex them with any ingredient at hand, but I started with just one. And when you're building your own repertoire of these healthy meals, you will soon be one of those people that can open up the fridge, look at whatever you've got, and make a healthy meal from scratch. The main thing to remember with all these five steps is that you don't need to do all of them at once. And over time, you'll find that healthy eating isn't something that you have to consciously think about. It's something that you just do as second nature. And look, if you want to start with breakfasts, these are my three go-to breakfast options on the go, and I'll show you how to do that right here.