What diet is right for me? What ratios of foods should I be eating for my most optimal health and why? Should I “count my macros” or not count them?
I’m going to attempt to answer these questions based on personal experience trial & error and what I have found to work in my own practice over the years — Metabolic Typing.
In plain English, Metabolic Typing is what works for optimal health at a basic foundation principle level of: “what foods should I eat”.
How so?
We are all biochemically unique, metabolically individual and we each have our own food and nutritional requirements for “macros” and the often forgotten “micros”, or cellular satiety of vitamins, minerals, secondary compounds, and more. Your requirement for food is as unique as your fingerprint and manufactured at the genetic level. What works for one person has little to no effect on another person, or worse, can cause functional pathology and loss of vitality, energy and athletic performance.
“What is food to one man is bitter poison to others” -Lucretius
Metabolic Typing can get pretty technical and in-depth with a bunch of anatomy, physiology and biochemistry-type terms, so for this article in particular, I’m going to break it down in layman’s terms. If you get just two main layman’s points from this article, it would be:
1. Eat real, whole foods from nature like our ancestors ate.
2. Eat these foods based on your family lineage and where they evolved & adapted to their environment (and in turn, passed down and is programmed in your genetics).
Once you understand these and learn your metabolic type, you’ll understand you won’t ever have to do a crash diet, fad diet, “celebrity” diet, count calories or yo-yo back and forth with results, ever again.
Let’s dive in…
Metabolic typing in its simplest form comes down to geographical location – where is your ancestry from. And specifically, what foods are available in that specific region that generation after generation ate.
In the early 20th century a man by the name of Weston A. Price studied indigenous tribes from around the world (here is his book, a must read for anyone in the health profession). He found that they all had one thing fairly in common – they were healthy. So much so that some of them didn’t even have a word for “cancer” in their language.
What did these people from different locations all around the world with different available food supplies have in common that gave them general good health?
They ate whole, organic foods that were local to their ecosystem; and so did all of their relatives before them to the beginning of human history.
Yet as soon as these people from all across the globe began eating a non-traditional diet of “white man’s” food, functional pathology soon began and they got sick, diseased, experienced growth & development disorders in their offspring/children and much much more.
Three points to consider for this article:
- We have to remember, commercial refrigeration wasn’t around on a mass scale until about the 1940’s and we didn’t invent the airplane to fly food all over the world until right before that. So our homo sapien species evolved and adapted to eating (like all organisms do) to what was local to our ecosystems and our body and genetic programming is accustomed to that. It’s not like today where food industry companies can add chemicals like 1-MCP (1-methylcyclopropene) to produce for example to inhibit the spoiling process and store away in cold warehouses for months to even over a year at a time (see the tips section in this post for more), and then hyper-ripen it with ethylene to bring it out on the store shelves when the produce is out of season. We ate local to our ecosystem and we ate to the seasons throughout all of human history.
- We also have to remember the human genome is not quick to change. The foods we ate thousands of years ago are the foods we are designed to eat for optimal health today. They didn’t have boxed cereal and non-fat skim milk back in the day, right?
- Finally we have to realize we only have “organic” labels today because we have commercial farming today (uses pesticides, chemicals, etc), which became more prevalent in our overall world ecosystem during the 20th century. So today we need labels to tell the difference, even though pretty much from the mid-19th century and before that to the beginning of human history, we all ate 100% organic – that’s all there was, and it’s what your body is designed to function on for optimal health & performance because how food is grown within a functional organic soil ecosystem is what actually gives plants and animals nutrition — that we then eat at the top of the food chain (health starts in the soil).
So what does this mean today with all the diets and diet books available?
The Three Metabolic Types: Protein, Mixed and Carb.
There are three basic Metabolic Types.
People with ancestry from a northern latitude region, for example, are usually Protein Types via food availability. The farther north we go from the equator, our ancestry would have to eat progressively more meat. During the winter the ground freezes over in these regions and plant life doesn’t grow in an ice field, right? So if you didn’t eat animal foods during the winter, you’d starve! (remember point #1 to consider above). So an Inuit/Eskimo tribe a couple hundred years back in a northern region like Alaska would eat roughly a 90% fat/protein diet because that was what was available to these people and they would thrive. Today, that looks something like the Atkins Diet or Ketogenic diets we see.
For a Mixed Type, think Hawaii where seafood is readily available and plant life can be farmed year around. Today, this is sort of like our Zone, South Beach and Mediterranean diets that follow the 40/30/30-type ratios.
A Carb Type think regions right near the equator. Plant life year round and not a lot of big game like deer, buffalo, elk, etc. that we would hunt. We see this today as the Ornish and Pritikin-type diets that are dominant fruit and vegetables.
As for the ratio of foods to eat, think of metabolic typing in terms of your plate and listening to your body. If you’re eating real, whole foods according to your metabolic type, most people are usually good to go unless there is some underlying functional pathology, fungal or parasite infection, sedated organ/glandular system, etc that needs to be addressed that could be throwing off your results. For example, if your family tree is from a northern latitude region descent and you tested as a Carb type, there could be something going on like a parasite infection. Remember, metabolically speaking, usually you won’t test as a dominant plant eater (carb type), when your genetics have been programmed to be animal food dominant (northern latitude region). So why is this testing off? Fungus and bacteria outside of the body are what’s called saprophytic – or feed on decaying matter (animal dies, lays on the ground, the decomposers kick in). Inside the body, they become parasitic – or feed on the host. That’s us! And they love to feed on sugar. It’s actually kind of rare to find a Carbo type, so if you tested as one and you don’t have family lineage predominantly from an equator region, these little guys could have thrown off your test scores. What I mean by that is, that they send off signals in your body for more sugar as their means to survive, so your answers could have been carb dominant. Do you have sugar cravings? Could be these little guys talking. Something to think about and feel free to contact me for more info regarding – too much to get into for this particular post.
The disconnect that I see with “diets”, dieting and diet advice these days is that everyone seems to have THE diet that works. I did a search on Amazon for books related to diet under the subcategory of ‘Books’ and found 79,000+ results. For real? Is FOOD really that difficult that we need that many books related to diet written? No, this isn’t rocket science. Eat real food.
As for the ratios of those real foods, that’s where metabolic typing comes in. No one diet fits all because people have different genetics and come from all over the planet where different foods are available. So by definition, it’s impossible for us to all eat the same. If any health professional no matter what their title tells you you should eat these specific “macros” based on something like Choose My Plate (which recommends grain and dairy at each meal per the Choose My Plate symbol/image), and more specifically, that everyone should eat like that…my suggestion is find yourself another person to work with. It’s geographically, genetically, scientifically, biochemically, and every other “-cally” impossible for everyone to eat the same for all the reasons I mentioned above.
Case in point:
Let’s say in my Inuit/Eskimo example above that a person (let’s call him Bob.. Hi Bob!) went to the doctor for a yearly check up, and the doctor asked what his diet is like. Bob would describe his 90% animal fat/animal protein dominant diet and what do you think the doctor would say? More than likely he would hear, “Bob, you’re eating too much saturated fat”, and recommend Bob needs to be on a more Standard American Diet (SAD) which includes processed grain, dairy, etc.. foods Bob’s digestive mechanics and body as a whole probably haven’t ever seen before.
So what do you think would soon happen to Bob’s health?
He, his family, and everyone in his family before that ate a certain way of high fat/high protein based on availability…will his health improve or get worse?
In my experience, and based on the correlation of massive chronic disease epidemics the past 100 or so years, it would likely get worse. Did you know 100+ years ago infectious disease was the top leading cause of death and now the tops are chronic disease like obesity-related, heart disease, cancer, etc. Why is that? You can argue “well we have better sanitation, vaccines, etc now so infectious disease is much lower”, absolutely true, won’t argue with you there. However the total amount of chronic disease has increased on an epidemic level in the past century (even taking into account population growth). Simple example you can apply to yourself to show this is pull out a picture of your great or great great grandparents and see if they were obese/overweight. If you don’t have one, google ANY obese person pre-1900’s. Not to many of them, huh? I can tell you that 7/10 of our great or great great grandparents, or anyone during that time, were not obese, yet a century or so later, we’re at 70% of the population overweight/obese.
Food, and the state of our food supply today and how we forgot our eating “roots” is absolutely a piece of that epidemic puzzle in my view.
Here is the key to understand with Metabolic Typing and your ratios specifically:
First, if you haven’t taken my in-depth questionnaire to determine your metabolic type, you can get it here.
You can try all the different diets, spend the money on books, spend the time with trial and error… or you can learn your metabolic type in a few minutes taking the in-depth questionnaire and save yourself all that time and money.
Once you have your type, you must understand that this is a starting point and not an exact science. The diet gurus who say their diet is the only way to go are lying- it’s impossible. We are all biochemically and metabolically unique and require different foods for optimal health (in fact when you look at Metabolic Typing it sort of takes into account all the different diet lifestyles and pinpoints the best one for you based on your results!). You’ll want to take personal responsibility with your results you get by dialing in what works best for you. Meaning, there will be some trial & error, but you know your starting point based on your type.
Protein types should be eating 60%+ animal foods to 40%- plant foods. That means start there in terms of food on your plate and see how you feel for a week. Try 70/30 and see how you feel. Keep dialing in. Or if you can easily trace your family lineage say like Bob, start with 90/10 and see how you feel and work backwards closer and closer to 60/40.
Mixed types means you should be eating roughly half your plate in animal foods and half your plate in plant foods.
Carb types are the opposite of Protein types, 60%+ plant food to 40%- animal foods, and in the same way, play with the ratios that work best for you. If you’re eating like a vegetarian for example you can be in the upper 90%+ plant foods like the Bob example above for animal foods. However, are you eating like a vegetarian now, but tested as a protein type? Something maybe to look at. Remember, the questionnaire answers are based on how YOU feel (think of it like your biochemistry & genetics talking on a cellular level of what it needs, interpreted through your answers). If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, I’m not challenging your beliefs at all – you’re free to your own beliefs and I respect that. There is no “attachment” to metabolic typing, but just remember vegetarians/vegans if your lineage came from a protein type region, you wouldn’t have been able to be a vegetarian/vegan 100+ years ago to the beginning of human history. Remember, the ground freezes over during winter (and we didn’t have planes then) which means no plants, fruits or grain, so it would have been impossible to eat it. You would have starved.
I’ve had to personally rehabilitate many people who were predominantly eating vegetables & fruit (because we have the plane, refrigeration, etc now and it’s available year round at any major grocery store), by simply giving them high quality, pastured & humanely raised organic meat because they didn’t know they were a protein type.
With metabolic typing, all I care about are the real foods that make you feel good, think well, move well and in general you’re healthy and happy. It essentially encompasses all food lifestyles or diets – paleo, raw, vegetarian, etc – and pinpoints what is right for YOU.
Here is a link to William Wolcott’s book, the original creator and innovator of Metabolic Typing. One of my top 5 books in my library and I highly recommend picking it up if you want to learn all the science and everything there is about it.
Wondering why you’re not getting the results you want in your diet/lifestyle?
Step #1 is always food. Try switching to eating according to your metabolic type as a foundational start. Eat real, whole foods based on your type and try avoiding the food-like products. If you’re confused if a food is something you should or should not eat, simply ask yourself “would I have found this in nature / my local ecosystem 100+ years ago?”. Bread, rice cakes and tortillas don’t grow on trees. As a general rule, when I consult I tell people shop the borders of your grocery stores (minus pasteurized juice and milk) and stay away from the middle aisles. We find our whole, real foods on the border usually (plant foods, animal foods, etc), and we find our food-like products disguised as real food down the aisles. Simple tip you can give anyone yourself if they ask you about food.
Are you eating according to your metabolic type? Did your test results come out different than the current lifestyle you’re living? For example eating Atkins/Ketogenic-type diet but tested as a Carb type? Or maybe eating Vegetarian but tested a Protein type? Let me know and happy to answer any questions in the comments.
Awesome info Jon!
Thank you Rebecca, glad you liked it!
Great post, makes sense. I’m a protein type.
Thank you JP, I lean protein type as well.
I’m definitely a protein type, but I’m pretty overweight. Should I avoid dairy, or just eat certain kinds of dairy?
Hi Jessica, if you’re currently eating like a protein type I would try avoiding dairy (grains too if you eat them) for a few weeks and see what happens. This is what I mean by dialing in and learning what works for you. See if you feel better or lose any pounds without changing anything else and let me know. Cheers
I’m not currently. Avoid all grains and all dairy? And sugar too I’m assuming?
Yes, exactly right.
Okay. What do you suggest if it’s hard for me to find grass-fed meats and pasteured eggs? Are organic eggs and regular meat okay? I know they aren’t ideal.
where are you located? Try FarmPlate.com for your area. see if anything pops up.
Thanks! There is an organic co-op in the city I’m moving to. I live in Oklahoma.
I tested as a mixed type and that’s how I eat and I’m in great health! Really great post, Jon.
Excellent!
This all makes so much sense, thanks.
You are welcome Julianna 🙂
I tested a Carb type. I would dread eating carbs so much I tried going vegetarian, paleo, high protein diet anything you name it. I noticed when i was on a high protein diet i’d eat 10 time more than normal and ultimately not reach my goals. after reading this post and taking the test i am thinking of not dreading carbs now and cutting down on protein. Also my GI has told me to be on a FODMAP diet so what carbs would me more beneficial for me? and does it matter white / brown rice? cause the diest restricts me from gluten. HELP!
Hi Kriti, you’ve got a few questions/concerns here so please email me directly – jon@nyct.me. Cheers
Living in HI, I would say that it is difficult to find fresh fish at reasonable prices unless you fish for your own and the waters here are also overfished.
I hear you Ariel, definitely two concerns.. but when it comes to the body and biochemistry, fish being over priced and over fished waters are two separate topics. Whether they are or aren’t, your genetics & biochemistry don’t know if you paid $5/lb or $25/lb for some fish, right? So if for example you’re Samoan and your biological tree comes from an island region like such, you probably do well on fish, metabolically-speaking.
I just read this entire post, twice, and I have to say it’s probably one of the most interesting perspectives I’ve ever read. Makes so much sense. I just purchased the metabolic type assessment, anxious to see my results. Thank you.
Awesome Greyson, good luck!
I got a mixed type, but I’m a vegan! What should I do?
Hi Paxton, I’ll answer your question with some detailed examples, keeping everyone in mind who took the test and reads this comment thread:
The answer to “what should I do?” comes down to a lot of factors, including your personal health history, charts, etc. So example.. if I were assessing you in person and you told me you were vegan but tested mixed or protein type, one of the first things I would ask/need to know is how long have you been vegan? The reason how long is because someone 1 month, 6 months, even 2 to 3 years or even longer could be doing totally fine eating vegan, feel great, awesome energy, radiant skin, etc etc. It’s only after a long time (usually) functional pathology can begin, symptoms then begin to arise and then eventually disease can take place in the body (Note: I’m not saying only for a vegan, I’m referring to the process in general for anyone obtaining any disease goes through these progressions steps and it usually takes time. In other words, you don’t hurt your back because you took the groceries out of the trunk, something was going on before that and the groceries were the ‘straw that broke the camels back’).
Quick example is male/female sex hormone production like testosterone, estrogen, etc: A guy for example can lose his sex drive after a few months or even weeks when eliminating animal foods because he isn’t producing sex hormones efficiently and resources are being diverted to make stress hormones (cortisol for example) which are vital for keeping us alive on a daily basis. Think of this like the priority “to do” list for the body, it wants to stay alive first (rule #1 genetically programmed in all species innately: survival), so it will yield resources to survival (on a biochemical level) before making the resources for reproduction (more genetic programming for all species, but not as important as surviving: reproducing). Here’s a great chart showing this process: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Steroidogenesis.svg.
Along with the question how long have you been vegan, I’d also need to know your current health- any unrelated symptoms, conditions, pain, chronic disease, anything like that going on already. If the answer is ‘YES’, from there a lot of different things we would check out.. but depending on what it is, your MT test results/diet I would recommend exploring because food/diet is very foundational for everyone. You can’t feed tigers leaves and you can’t feed giraffes meat. In other words, if you test out MT one way, but are eating the opposite, it could be contributing to something going on and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t point that out- doesn’t matter if you’re vegan or pure carnivore. That being said the choice is always yours to explore diet modifications, etc. I’m never one to lecture someone or say “you must do this or else”.. I only provide tools and make recommendations.
Now if you’re vegan and healthy and doing great then I always say more power to the person (but again, see time frame I mentioned above in regards to ‘how long have you been vegan’). And there are those people that go their entire life all vegan (carb type) and do fine. And one step further there are those that are protein types but need temporary diet modification to eat vegg (cleansing, balancing pH, etc). Again, everyone is different.
Where the MT comes into play with your question and example of “I’m vegan, but tested mixed” is with someone who is strict vegan/vegetarian, and THEY ARE SICK or have something going on, then it’s usually always my strong recommendation to explore diet modifications if they’re eating the opposite to how they’re testing out. Like I mentioned in the blog post, there are people who have been strict vegan/vegetarian but tested as Protein type, had different problems going on, and I’ve had to rehabilitate them simply by giving them clean sourced, humanely raised organic animal foods (I’m strongly against all factory farmed, inhumanely raised animals)..and their health improves. Conversely, there have been people I’ve worked with who have been strict keto/animal food eaters, not much plant foods at all, and they needed more plant life in their diet to balance out.. the body always strives for equilibrium.
So the nutshell summary is: Each person is unique and different, and what I recommend for each individual specifically comes down to very specific assessment and program design unique for that person.
Hope this helps. This is the best answer I can give for you specifically since I don’t know your health history, if you are healthy/not healthy, internal charts (my HAQ gives me a reading on 29 organ/glandular systems we chart at high-med-low priority), current physiological load, and so much more that I use to customize program design for individuals. If you want to email directly jon@nyct.me with the answers to the basic questions I would ask (how long vegan, MT results, symptoms/anything going on), I can discuss a little bit further with you since I’ll have some more specific info about you in particular.
Cheers
This was an awesome post John. My test results were protein type which is how I eat so the reassurance was great. Thanks
That’s great Ryan, glad you enjoyed the read
I seriously love your instagram and everything you stand for. thank you for providing the questionnaire to us all. I just downloaded it and have it saved to take tomorrow. xx -Jess
I appreciate it Jessie, thank you. Check back in on this comment thread if you have any questions about your scores. cheers
Just tested as a CARB type???? But I usually eat more protein or sometimes equal amounts of protein and carbs. I often find I am low on energy, but am afraid of eating to many carbs because I feel puffy, bloated and I gain weight with too many carbs. I also have experienced unbalanced hormones and menstrual cycles for the last 1 1/2 years…. any thoughts.
Love your info!!! Great stuff
Hi Tandra, thank you glad you enjoy all the info!
Re: your questions/concerns.. you’ve got a few… but let’s take a look:
How old are you/how much weigh? I’d want to look at your digestive function (your ability to pull nutrients/energy from food) because you mentioned low energy. Age definitely plays a role in this as our food supply is so poor now, it taxes our digestive mechanics and we can get depleted in hydrochloric acid (HCL), enzymes, etc which are crucial for digestion.
And then my first thoughts when I see your scores is you’re not a carb type, even though you tested as one. Reason being specifically because you mentioned eating too many carbs you get puffy/bloat and gain weight. If you were a true carbo type this wouldn’t happen. So could have a fungal/parasite infection (~90% of the population has some sort of parasite infection so you’re not alone and they can be tackled with proper food/supplementation), which I mentioned in the blog post these little guys send out signals for sugar (sugar cravings for example), so even though you took the test, those little guys could be influencing your answers to each question.
Unbalanced hormones/menstrual cycles can be many things, but foundation-wise your food and your ability to digest would play a role in this. I’d look at that first to see how you respond, then further dialed in-type assessment like heavy metal & chemical toxicity, fungal/parasite infection, sedated organs/glands, etc.
You can either reply here in comments or email me directly if you want to explore further. You’ve got a lot of common issues many people have and my ReBoot Transformation Protocol addresses these. However, depending on where you are in the world/US, I can refer you to someone who can tackle your specific concerns with in-person assessment as well. feel free to email me jon@nyct.me
Thank you for the descriptive response/questions.. others reading your comment will be able to relate and address as well.
Cheers
My result was Mixed Type. I have been eating this way for almost 2yrs now. I began to due to illness (Lupus, Sjogren’s, Hypothyroid) I do feel better and I am currently med free because of drastic changes in my lab test results and symptoms. My problem is weight loss. I don’t seem to lose the unwanted 20lbs I have. Any suggestions?
Hi Denise, first off congrats on your transformations thus far with lab tests improving and off meds.
This is another one of those questions that the answer can be vastly different for each individual. Example, four people that need to lose 20lbs that have totally different reasons to be addressed, in order to lose the weight effectively:
1. first person may not be losing because they have a food intolerance that’s causing inflammation and stress to the system
2. the other could be because they have high toxic load from a commercial food supply (fat stores toxins)
3. the other could be because they’re eating a lot of dead/processed foods, their body isn’t pulling energy from the food, so on a cellular level the body thinks its starving and will “hold onto” resources (it’s fat) to stay alive and insulated
4. and the other could be because they’re total physiological load is high (mental stress, nutritional stress, workout stress, electromagnetic stress, etc). Stress in the body is the same biochemical reaction no matter the stressor source, fight or flight/sympathetic nervous system response.. and these stressors summate.. so total physiological load looks at this: coffee & bagel for breakfast, take out food for lunch, microwave dinner.. mental stress, boyfriend broke up with me, have to prepare for that meeting, on my cell phone all day, 60 minutes of cardio—-all stresses)
These are a few common examples.. there could be many more, even more advanced stuff like organ/gland sedation that is reflexing to certain areas causing you hold weight (that kind of stuff is assessed in person).
I can tell you the answer is NOT workout more.. unless proper assessment is done to the individual first.
So I would have to assess your diet first to give you true suggestions for you (I usually won’t give a blanket answer like “just workout more” because your body could already be under a ton of stress..adding more to the system is counterproductive and will make you hold MORE fat). I’d also look at your current physiological load and toxic load. Are you stressed? How long? traumatic events recently (even in the past), as well as many of the examples I mentioned above.
Re: toxic load, this is often the number 1 thing I find. Fat stores toxins on the body to protect the organs, glands, nervous system and such. It’s what the body does as it’s own protection mechanism. When we clear these toxins, the fat melts with it. My ReBoot Transformation cleansing protocol would address this. It’s why I created it.. this is usually the #1 thing for most people- years and years (even decades) of toxic build up over time = fat cells being laid down over time. You can read about ReBoot more and see different individuals transformations here: bit.ly/nyctreboot
Weight loss-wise, my males usually lose 20+ lbs in 3 weeks. Females 15+ lbs. And I don’t have you work out.
Overall the protocol has a very high success rate for individuals.. If I personally assess you, I always offer a money back guarantee as well.
Email me direct jon@nyct.me if you want more info or interested.. i’ll get you taken care of with a discount code for being open and leaving a great comment.
Cheers
Thank you!!
Thanks for the free test. I am a mixed type. My biggest hurdle is that I just eat too much. I have a normal BMI, but have always thought I carrry an extra 5-15 lbs. I am really sensitve to caffeine and too much red meat, it affects my mood dramatically. My score was 19-28-14, could I be more of a Carbo type than I think?
Hi Diana, eat too much in terms of you’re always hungry? or you just keep eating, even when not hungry? two different things.. let me know.
That’s a complicated question. I perceive that I’m always hungry, but am gaining some awareness that I might not be hungry for food. Usually by the time if figure out I ate too much ( feel over-full), it’s too late.
It’s also a complicated answer in terms of it could be multiple factors.. like you said, could be an awareness thing. it could be stress. it could be sleeping habits. It could be digestion (how old are you?…as we get older, our ability to digest foods diminishes from a lifetime of eating from a poor food supply that has radically changed in the past century). If you’re not digesting foods properly, you’re not pulling nutrients/energy from food, so on a cellular level you could be experiencing hunger, and thus you get the hunger signals from the brain to eat more. I’d recommend HCL and Digestase (digestive enzymes) with all cooked meals, as well as Adaptogen 3x in the AM. If you click “the shop” at the very top, you can search these from my clinical supplement line. HCL is one of the cheapest insurance policies in terms of cost for anyone as it’s a foundational supplement- if we can’t digest our foods properly, a plethora of cascading problems can arise.. including weight gain (your concern about 5-15lbs). It’s one of my products I call “biggest bang for your buck” because it can address a lot. Feel free to email me directly if you want and we can explore a little more – jon@nyct.me.
Hi Jon! Thanks so much for allowing us to take the assessment free of charge. I follow you on IG. I found out I’m a protein type and that makes sense because I already know I need protein foods at every meal or else I get irritable and tired.
I also have a question. Even though I eat protein at every meal, I get hungry every couple of hours. I can’t go to sleep unless I have a snack before bed and when I wake up I am very hungry so I have to eat breakfast right away. I’m a “normal” weight but almost bordering on being overweight. What could be causing me to be hungry all the time? I’m also thirsty all the time and drink about a gallon of water a day.
You’re very welcome Elena, glad it provided some reassurance for you.
As for your question, see my comment just above to Diana I just addressed regarding digestion. Also, let me know your age. Feel free to email me as well and we can discuss further.
Waking up in the AM hungry is normal for Protein Types… you’re all good there!
I’ve been a fit, healthy vegetarian for years now, most of my life I’ve followed a vegan diet. After testing “mixed type” it all made sense. I would feel hunger and have enormous cravings, sweet, fat, carbs and sometimes binge to “satisfy” my cravings.
After consulting with you and following your recommendations, cravings and hunger have subsided, on my first day of introducing white fish… Once… I’ve since included fish everyday.
I feel fantastic, like I’m back in control whilst living a hectic life…
I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge, passion and for your encouragement.
How cool Lyn, thank you for sharing and you’re so very welcome! We just started too.. isn’t that great how we can identify certain triggers with the assessment and make some minor tweaks that result in major transformations(fast)?! You’re doing great, much more to come.. Cheers!
Hey!!! We were talking on instagram about what category I would likely be in for metabolic rate, and I got 13 for A, B had 20, C had 24. Would that make me a protein type then or mixed? Love the quiz i took to, very informative!
Hi Bobby, I think you meant *metabolic type* not rate, but precisely you’re a protein type. Remind me again the problems/symptoms you were having?
I tend to either feel like Im not satisfied, which makes me eat more or I feel way too full. So its just hard for me to find balance of when I feel like I ate the right amount. I usually shoot for eating my body weight in grams of protein (about 140grams) My other biggest concern is just trying not to binge on sweets. Its like I eat really healthy until either lunch or dinner, then I have too many carbs.
Now that you have your results, try eating like that over the next week and check back in with me. We can do this in real time on the comment thread for people to see. Sounded like you’re eating closer to carb type ratios if I remember correctly? And you tested Protein type. One of the first things i’ll always check for when someone gets hungry an hour or two after they ate, has cravings, binge tendencies at night or in general, etc. is are they eating to their MT. For example, look at the comment above by Lyn. She was eating vegetarian and had same problems with cravings, hunger, binge tendencies.. she tested as Mixed so we balanced her ratios out and that all went away (actually with the first meal for her!)
So try your new ratios for a week and report back, my bet is we’ll see some improvement. If after a few weeks there is no improvement, then could be deeper issue like food source, impaired digestion, parasite infection, or something else we’d have to look at.. but would require further assessment otherwise we would just be guessing.
both my wife and I tested as mixed with about the same number of answers in each catagory 10A 29B 21C assuming we need to split our plate 50/50 and eat raw whole foods. does that mean that we need to have a balance of both at every meal or a balance of both in total at the end of the day? is there a guide available with sample meals or something so we could see on paper. I think we eat a fairly balanced diet with a less carb more lean protein focus. does the fact that we had a lot more C answers than A answers mean that we should be mixed with a heaver focus on protein or always 50/50? thanks again for the free test.
Hi Brady, first i’ll ask.. are you and your wife in good health? if so, then you’re doing something right and by the looks of your comment, you both eat great and pretty well balanced.
Re: balance of both- balance out the plate itself 50/50 animal & plant foods.. as well as a balance with raw foods. For example, big salad (raw) vs. lightly steamed vegg.
Re: guide- that’s part of my DialIN program for customized program design..if you click “the shop” at the top of the blog, then click “shop products”, it’s on the left. However i’m in the process of creating DialIN BASIC which will be a product that is not customized for the individual themselves, but custom to the Type! So there will be example grocery lists, food plans, meals etc for each type. Stay tuned on that.
Re: more answers than the other- this is where you’ll have to get into the dialing in yourself that I mentioned in the blog post. Try meals for a week that are more dominant of one.. keep track of how you feel, satiety, energy, etc. Try another week with less.. and so on.. Eventually you’ll get your ratios dialed in for you.
Cheers
Hi Jon!
Thank you so much for the opportunity to take the test for free!! Speaking as a student, that was a pretty significant opportunity.
I took the test and my breakdown was (A-26), (B-21), (C-10), concluding that I am a Carbo type.
I recently became a vegetarian in the past year (I now eat more fruit and grains) and I have noticed that my energy levels have greatly increased and I am not feeling so sluggish. My late night binges of sweets have also significantly degreased. After testing as a Carbo type, I think it makes sense why my newer lifestyle is working better for me.
Just wanted to say thanks again, I love, love your Instagram page!!
Hi!
I am also vegan as a previous comment said. I cannot and choose not to eat meat or animal products, largely due to the environmental impact, widespread cruelty and lack of regulation, and my own indigestion of meat, eggs, and lactose intolerance. However I have taken several tests that label me as a “protein type” through and through, despite my lack of interest in meat throughout childhood and lactose intolerance/severe stomach upset from dairy.
I guess my main question for myself and to help others is whether there are any drawbacks to living a high-protein vegan lifestyle? There are many vegan sources of protein, and I find it easy to get 30% protein, 20% fat and 50% carbs in a day, but more is pushing it without supplements and seems unnecessary. However, to see the results I want to and operate at maximum ability, should I keep upping my protein? I find no satiation whatsoever from carbs, especially on their own, and find myself craving healthy fats, salt, and generally “heartier” meals. I also find that too much fiber (from beans and fruit) makes my system go a bit haywire – is there any tactic to use beans as a protein source without the effects of too much fiber?
Do you have any tips or comments on such a situation?
Thank you!!
Hi Megan,
Re: your main question about “myself & others living a high-protein vegan lifestyle”– the answer to that is going to be different for everyone. Like I discussed in the post, we’re all biochemically unique. Some people thrive on higher protein amounts, some don’t. Some people thrive on more animal foods than others.. some people thrive on more plant foods than others.. It comes down to our own unique makeup.. and we’re all unique as our fingerprint.
I can dive into this further and answer more of your other questions (ratios, too much fiber, protein sources, upping protein, cravings, system haywire, etc), but let’s jump on email for it or we can get a bit winded here in the comments.. please use the Ask Jon section to connect with me on email and I’ll be happy to go over it all with you in more detail.
Awesome post. Now I know what are the different metabolic typing and how to differentiate each types 🙂
Hi John,
I am a mixed type, grew up in Eastern Europe, and became vegetarian at 23. I am 41 now.
I do eat fish on occasion, but not every week
I am generally thin, athletic, with a small frame. In the last 10 years things have been changing slowly, progressively. I had a stretch of being vegan- about 4-5 years but that ended over 5 years ago.
Generally, I am really healthy, haven’t had even a cold in years. But constipation has been always a thing, and in the last year has become debilitating. Feeling bloated is normal. I don’t eat sweets, but have developed very erratic eating behaviors- eat sporadically, snacking often, overeating and feeling heavy and foggy easily, but skipping full meals often. The cycle with laxatives is hard to break. Without changing my diet much, I have gained 6-8 pounds in the last year and a half which is ver unusual for me…And I often feel like my relationship to food is confusing- don’t know how to structure it.
So, would you say it;s because I am not eating meat? My ancestors certainly did, and my direct lineage too…
Thank you for your time,
Leah
Hi Leah, I would have to review your diet/lifestyle in detail to address the specifics (constipation, bloating, sporadic eating behavior, relationship to food/confusing, etc.) first before intelligently answering the question about meat. It could have something to do with it in terms of overall ratios being off.. but just from your brief description, I’m thinking there is more going on. We can address this in detail over email, I can send you a Diet/lifestyle analysis to fill out. Please use the Ask Jon section to touch base further if you’d like and we can get to the bottom of it.
Hi! i’m a protein type according to the test but I crave carbohydrates (and stimes feel like i can t stop once i eat them) Pe, i always ate oatmeal with apple for breakfast : i tended to eat a double portion of this cause it really makes me go “yummyyy this is gooood”.Recently I tried breakfasts like eggs and avocado or beans and I just eat a portion, never take seconds but i seem to enjoy it way less, it feels like something in me is not as satisfied. Could this be a sign of parasites/fungi you were.mentioning earlier? When I assess what my body craves, I would definitely think I m a carb type (looove fruits, 5 a day, love oatmeal, sweet potato,raisins and dried cranberries etc) thanks!!
Hi Sarah, are you craving the fruits, oatmeal, raisins, etc. you mentioned in the sense that you eat them and then experience satiety for 4-5 hours or more? In other words, eat a double portion of oatmeal with apples for breakfast and you’re feeling good, no fatigue, etc. the rest of the morning.. or are you craving in the sense of the ‘i got to have this’ urge and don’t experience the satiety from it, and need to eat again only a few hours later or less? If it’s the latter, it could be fungal/parasite that’s saying the “yummy this is good” in the form of chemical messengers in the hunt for food (sugar) to survive.
I would need to know some more details to give you a more accurate and intelligent answer if you want to get to the bottom of it.. please use the Ask Jon section to touch base and we can dive into it further if you’d like.
i am a carb type but would like to go on a ketogenic diet for various health reasons. is this a good idea?