It is of utmost importance to start by saying; that no matter what you are told, nor whom you are told it by, there is absolutely no such thing as a one size fits all diet. While there is a plethora of eager corporations, excitable chefs, dodgy doctors and quasi (ok in some case A-list) celebrities who will seek to tell you otherwise, the fact is; we humans all have very individualised biology which simply is not in keeping with the average.

Think of your diet as clothing. Were you to walk in to a shop that only sold ‘average’ sized clothes, your personal height, weight and overall proportions are most likely not bang on the average, so there is a good chance you would walk out unable to find what you wanted, or dissatisfied with the fit of what you purchased. The same can be said for your biological make-up, it is by no means average. Add to this, differences in lifestyle and it becomes even more difficult to see how any one diet could possibly meet your personal needs.

From our sensory, cultural and psychological relationship with food, through to how we consume, digest and metabolise food will all vary from one individual to another (the latest research in this field shows that even identical twins will not process the same foods in the same way). Within the last decade the increase in research related to gut health has shown the impact it has on both our physical and mental state. We now understand that many of the rising global health concerns are directly influenced by our diets.

Once you take this perspective on food it can be both liberating and confusing. Liberating because you begin to understand the functional aspects of food i.e. what you eat can make you healthier, smarter, more alert and happier, but also confusing as you discover the challenge of finding real expert advice. A Google search for “pizza weight loss diet” shows 51million results; articles with titles such as “You CAN eat pizza and lose weight, expert says”. It goes without saying these are a bad idea, but what about diet plans which are based on tough and rigorous cutting-edge science?

The answer is that there are very few mainstream dietary plans which have any real top quality, rigorous science to back them. Many of the popular theories around calories, carbs, fat and salt have been debunked over the last 30 years, yet their messages live on. Even if they do pass the test, studying what people eat 24/7 for long periods of time is very difficult (partially because we lie when self-reporting about what we eat).

Most studies in this field are done on small numbers of people, over short time periods. In these cases, culture and lifestyle factors are often ignored reducing the overall relevancy of these results. At the same time, large-scale and long-term studies, or studies which aggregate data from lots of smaller studies, often show that most diets simply do not hold up to the health claims they make.

But it is the new year and many of us are looking to improve ourselves going into 2021 - surely that is why you are reading this article. So why not start 2021 with a fresh perspective on our relationship with food and its functional and curative properties?

Instead of another fad diet, we suggest that you start to integrate a “functional foods” mentality in 2021, using it as a means of improving not only your physical health, but also your mental clarity, presence and intelligence. Here are a few considerations that will get you well on your way towards a happier and healthier new year:

• The good news is that there are some occasions where common sense is supported by science. A diet made up mainly of a diverse range of fruits and vegetables, a good dose of bio-active fermented foods and modesty when it comes to meat, will generally put you on the path towards achieving good health.

See here our Sauerkraut Buckwheat Pasta Bake

• Rather than planning a diet based on what you can’t include, change the focus to what you can. Variety and balance, both play a key role in maintaining gut health. What fruits and vegetables do you walk past at the supermarket? If you are not sure how to cook them, the world wide web will surely furnish you with a multitude of ways to turn them into something spectacular. When cooking vegetables be sure not to overcook them, this not only leads to a loss of flavour, texture and colour but more importantly nutrients. Boiling tends to be the most common culprit, so think about steaming, roasting, shallow frying or even sous-vide cooking as an alternative.

•If you ever feel sluggish or out of sorts after eating certain foods – you could be allergic. Try excluding these for a couple of weeks, if you notice an improvement this could be worth considering. Allergy tests can be provided by your GP, so it is worth getting this diagnosed as soon as you can – one small change to your diet could have a big impact on your wellbeing.

• However, keep in mind that when you cut out a food altogether, let’s use bread as an example, you also forgo all the other beneficial nutrients that it provided. Are you replacing these missing nutrients in your diet? If you are cutting out certain food groups from your diet, inevitably your body will become less accustomed to processing them efficiently and this can make the problem worse. So again, the message is; focus on the nutritional functions of your food and what you can do to keep these balanced.

• The more diverse the bacteria in your gut the better. Fermented (not pickled) vegetables like sauerkraut or kimchi, probiotics such as yoghurt, kefir and kombucha, all work a treat to ensure you are keeping your gut healthy. However, it is important to note that due to pasteurisation and other large scale processes, some of these foods when sold in a supermarket do not contain all the healthy bacteria they should, and some, none at all.

• Be aware that if you choose to follow along with millions of others and adopt a ‘plant-based’ diet, this does not automatically make your diet healthy. Many highly processed and ready-meal style plant-based foods contain plenty of other ingredients; bulking agents, flavourings, texturisers and the like, which are not necessarily going to lead to a healthier diet and feeling. Cooking from scratch, or at least making sure to get fresh fruits, vegetables, pulses, legumes, nuts, seeds and other natural sources of unprocessed plant based foods into your daily diet is essential.

• Meat is not the enemy. If you do have carnivorous tendencies, then feel free to indulge yourself in a moderate amount of good quality meat on a weekly basis. Meat is densely packed with highly beneficial nutrients, minerals and vitamins which are more readily and abundantly available than the other food groups. It is also the ultimate source of protein – something we all seem to have gone crazy for in recent years. When cooking meat, getting the method and technique right is key to both flavour and retaining the nutrients. A great way to seal in both is using sous-vide cooking, in which the meat is sealed in a vacuum pouch and cooked at a lower temperature around 65-75C (which is key to retaining the nutrients) in a steam oven.

• Not wanting to complicate things further, but the foods we eat are complex organisms in themselves. Where and how they are grown, along with how they are processed all lead to differences in their aesthetics, flavour and nutrient content. A tomato grown on a large greenhouse farm in Spain will undoubtably be very different in both flavour and nutrients to an organic tomato grown in some grandma’s garden in the south of Italy. So when you are told that eating tomatoes may lead to health benefits including reduced risk of heart disease and cancer (on account of the antioxidant lycopene), it really does depend on where that tomato is coming from. For more on this take a look at the HYPERFOODS cookbook.

Fermented foods like sauerkraut have always been considered to have positive health benefits and are a hyperfoods powerhouse. Jozed Youssef, the creative force behind Kitchen Theory has shared a recipe for a healthy start of the year.

Chef Jozef Youssef is the creative force behind the Kitchen Theory design studio and award-winning immersive Chef’s Table Supper Club. Find out more about chef Jozef Youssef and Kitchen Theory here.