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The concept of Nutrivore is very simple: Choose foods such that the total of all the nutrients contained within those foods adds up to meet or exceed our daily requirements for the full complement of essential and nonessential (but still very important) nutrients, while also staying within our caloric requirements. The easiest way to do this is to have the foundation of the diet be a wide variety of nutrient-dense whole and minimally-processed foods including selections from all of the nutritionally distinct food families.
Defining Nutrivore
How do we define Nutrivore? The goal of a Nutrivore diet is to fully meet the body’s physiologic needs for both essential and nonessential nutrients from the foods we eat, also called nutrient sufficiency, but without consuming excess energy (i.e., staying within daily caloric requirements).
The Nutrivore calculus takes into account the full cadre of essential nutrients—vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, and essential fatty acids—in addition to fiber, phytonutrients, nonessential and conditionally-essential amino acids, nonessential health-promoting fatty acids, and nonessential vitaminlike compounds. This ensures both nutrient synergy as well as prioritizing the full complement of nutrients our bodies need to thrive.
What Does a Nutrivore Diet Look Like?
The three most important action steps to up your nutrient game are: choose whole foods more often (both animal foods and plant foods), eat a varied diet, and eat more veggies and fruit. An additional takeaway for Nurivore? Every step we take will deliver health returns, so progress > perfection in achieving a healthy diet.
Whole foods are those in which the inherent nutrients are still intact. These food may be completely unprocessed—such as raw carrots, apples, or berries—or minimally-processed foods, which can include removal of inedible parts (like shelling nuts or peeling citrus fruit), drying, crushing, cooking without adding ingredients (roasting, boiling, steaming, etc.), freezing or pasteurization—such as roasted chicken, steamed broccoli, a peeled banana, or unsalted nuts. Even a cursory glance at the Nutrivore Scores for whole versus processed foods reinforces the incredibly nutritional advantage whole foods deliver.
Studies show that the more different foods we eat (preferably whole or minimally processed), the better! One way to measure this is Dietary Species Richness, the number of different species represented in the diet during a 1-year period. One of my favorite diet biodiversity studies was published in 2021, and included nearly half a million people, living in nine European countries, and followed for 22 years! The people in the highest quintile of Dietary Species Richness (81 or more different species in the diet over the course of a year) had a 37% reduced risk of all-cause mortality (a general indicator of health and longevity) than those in the lowest quintile of Dietar for ey Species Richness (48 or fewer different species in the diet over the course of a year). The authors calculated that, for every additional 10 species we consume annually, all-cause mortality decreases by 10%! The authors further analyzed 10 different food groups (vegetables, tubers, legumes, fruit+nuts+seeds, dairy, cereals, meat, fish+shellfish, eggs and condiments) and showed that, while variety in veggies was maybe slightly more important, there was no one food group that was substantially more important to mix it up than any other. Quite simply: the more different foods we eat, the healthier (on average) we’ll be!
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What Does it Mean to Be a Nutrivore?
Being a Nutrivore is about the overall quality of the whole diet, and not about a list of yes-foods and no-foods. You do not have to follow a specific meal plan dictating you must consume legumes, shellfish, sweet potato, and organ meats, or consume a specific ratio of macronutrients which requires you to limit carbohydrates. Even though eliminating empty calorie foods helps to achieve nutrient sufficiency without overeating, no food is strictly off-limits. In this way, being a Nutrivore is a diet modifier rather than a diet itself—a nutrivorous approach can be layered atop of other dietary structures (ex AIP, low-carb, or paleo) and priorities in order to meet an individual’s specific health needs and goals. For those diets that eliminate all sources of specific nutrients—such as a carnivore diet, fruitarian diet, and some implementations of a ketogenic diet—a Nutrivore approach can still be used to improve the quality of the diet even if the ultimate goal of Nutrivore may be out of reach. In these cases, it’s additionally important to work with a nutritionist, registered dietitian, or your doctor to identify nutrient shortfalls and supplement accordingly. The goal of Nutrivore is not weight loss, but long-term health.
Is Nutrivore 80/20 or 60/40?
Nutrivore is a sliding scale depending on your specific food choices and not a specific template! The Nutrivore philosophy appreciates the inherent nutritional value of foods, without labeling any food as good or bad. By extension, no singular food choice is a bad one, and Nutrivore fully embraces treats, cultural foods, and food traditions, without derision. Not every food you eat needs to be the most nutrient-dense food—your diet can meet your nutritional needs while including some low nutrient-density, quality-of-life foods. Furthermore, there is no one perfect Nutrivore diet—there is a ton of flexibility of food choice that aligns with Nutrivore principles. And, Nutrivore celebrates every small step you take towards consuming a more nutrient-replete diet. Nutrivore doesn’t require specialty foods or complicated food prep, the goal is to be accessible to all using inexpensive foods available at typical grocery stores.
Everything You Need to Jump into Nutrivore TODAY!
Nutrivore Quickstart Guide
The Nutrivore Quickstart Guide e-book explains why and how to eat a Nutrivore diet, introduces the Nutrivore Score, gives a comprehensive tour of the full range of essential and important nutrients!
Plus, you’ll find the Top 100 Nutrivore Score Foods, analysis of food groups, practical tips to increase the nutrient density of your diet, and look-up tables for the Nutrivore Score of over 700 foods.
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cITATIONS
Expand to see all scientific references for this article.
Hanley-Cook GT, Huybrechts I, Biessy C, Remans R, Kennedy G, Deschasaux-Tanguy M, Murray KA, Touvier M, Skeie G, Kesse-Guyot E, Argaw A, Casagrande C, Nicolas G, Vineis P, Millett CJ, Weiderpass E, Ferrari P, Dahm CC, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Sandanger TM, Ibsen DB, Freisling H, Ramne S, Jannasch F, van der Schouw YT, Schulze MB, Tsilidis KK, Tjønneland A, Ardanaz E, Bodén S, Cirera L, Gargano G, Halkjær J, Jakszyn P, Johansson I, Katzke V, Masala G, Panico S, Rodriguez-Barranco M, Sacerdote C, Srour B, Tumino R, Riboli E, Gunter MJ, Jones AD, Lachat C. Food biodiversity and total and cause-specific mortality in 9 European countries: An analysis of a prospective cohort study. PLoS Med. 2021 Oct 18;18(10):e1003834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003834. PMID: 34662340; PMCID: PMC8559947.
