Is The Pro Metabolic Diet Another Fad?
Learn what the Pro Metabolic Diet is and how it compares to the Mediterranean Diet. I also include a food list and meal ideas if you’re curious!
There’s a new, increasingly popular diet that’s hit the health and wellness market called the Pro Metabolic Diet. I’m not exactly sure where it originated, but like the Mediterranean Diet, it’s an eating lifestyle that focuses on clean, nourishing and unprocessed foods. The goal is to support a well functioning metabolism, and to avoid foods that slow the metabolism. It claims to support weight loss and inflammatory diseases like heart disease, autoimmune and cancer. Metabolism is also more than just weight loss, it’s the process to create energy and fuel all cells in the body.
But the Pro Metabolic Diet goes further than just food choices. It’s about lowering stress, easing inflammation and balancing blood sugar. It doesn’t restrict or avoid entire food groups either. Though, this ‘diet’ is not reinventing the wheel. It’s similar to the Mediterranean Diet, combined with good nutrition principles and a catchy name.
The Pro Metabolic Diet actually aligns with how I’ve eaten for the last decade, which has helped me improve my own health and maintain weight loss. Many of the recipes on my blog also fit this eating lifestyle. I love the Mediterranean Diet but tend to choose more high quality animal based foods for dense protein. I’m a bit relieved that a new popular diet is rooted in good eating practices, and doesn’t feed toxic diet culture with more restriction or loose health claims.
Feeling overwhelmed or in a rut with meal planning and healthy cooking? Learn how to get organized and stop staring into your fridge figuring out what to make for dinner, here!
Please note, this content is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It’s important to consult your medical provider or dietitian for personalized guidance.
What Is the Pro Metabolic Diet?
High Quality Carbs
A philosophy behind Pro Metabolic eating, is that when you restrict carbohydrates in a low carb or no carb diet (like the keto diet), it triggers the body’s stress response. This stress response can increase inflammation, cause blood sugar imbalances, affect thyroid function and other hormones and accelerate signs of aging.
Instead, being mindful of portions and choosing high quality carbohydrates from whole foods like whole grains, beans, fruits and natural sweeteners like maple syrup and honey, can fuel the body with its preferred energy source, glucose, without causing blood sugar spikes like refined carbohydrates, sugar and white flour, do. This is also a recommendation in the Mediterranean Diet and a good nutrition practice.
Eat Clean
Clean foods are simply whole foods that aren’t processed, or packaged foods made with real food ingredients. Eating clean ensures you’re getting the most nutrition in the calories you eat, which supports the biological and metabolic processes in your body, so you feel well. Eating real food ensures you avoid food additives and fillers that increase inflammation and displace nutrients (aka ‘empty calories). Shopping mostly on the perimeter of the food store and reading packaged food labels is key. I wrote a blog post about processed food ingredients to avoid here.
Less Restriction
The Pro Metabolic Diet encourages most whole foods, unless a person has an intolerance or allergy. This eating plan limits processed foods, fried foods and refined carbohydrates, but doesn’t restrict or limit calories or carbohydrates. There’s a lot of flexibility and choice.
Balanced Meals
In my opinion, this is one of the most important practices of general healthy eating. So often, people eat unbalanced meals and snacks, which can have surprising consequences like high or low blood sugar, more food cravings and appetite, overeating, moodiness and fatigue. The Pro Metabolic Diet recommends against eating carbohydrates alone (sometimes called naked carbs), and to balance with protein and fat for meals and snacks.
Don’t Skip Breakfast
An important aspect of the Pro Metabolic Diet is to eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking. I think this recommendation is especially important for women, and for those who are stressed, have unstable blood sugar, under-active thyroid or hormone imbalances. Some studies show that intermittent fasting is less beneficial for women than men, and may contribute to these health issues.
Don’t drink coffee on an empty stomach
Caffeine is a stimulating substance and people often forget that it can have negative biological affects. Some unhealthy effects of coffee (caffeine) include racing thoughts, faster heart beat, heart palpitations, increased stress hormones, disrupted sleep, high or low blood sugar and blood vessel constriction (impaired blood flow). So with that said, if you experience these negative effects after caffeine, it’s best to reduce or avoid it. To minimize some negative effects of coffee, even for those who tolerate it well, the Pro Metabolic Diet recommends to avoid drinking black coffee, or on an empty stomach. The diet plan encourages drinking coffee with or after a balanced meal, even just a small one.
Include High Quality fats
The Pro Metabolic Diet encourages eating less polyunsaturated fats and more high quality saturated fats. I take this recommendation to mean limiting refined oils, getting omega 3s from wild fish, being mindful with nuts and choosing pasture raised animal fats.
Refined cooking oils are especially inflammatory (basically, anything fried) and a major source of polyunsaturated fats in the typical American Diet. Refined cooking oils include vegetable oil, soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and vegetable shortening. These oils are more shelf stable but less heat stable, so they’re more inflammatory after cooking. The nutrition and medical field seem to be slowly shifting focus from saturated fats to polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) as a risk factor for heart disease. It’s increasingly recognized that PUFAs contribute to chronic inflammation and arterial disease more than saturated fats, even though saturated fats increase LDL cholesterol.
This topic is nuanced and overly simplified in this diet, and it needs more research. I understand that choosing high quality fats, unprocessed oils and including a variety of fat sources is best. Personalized guidance can be very important.
Adequate Hydration
Dehydration can actually slow the metabolism. Hydration includes both drinking enough water and consuming minerals/electrolytes. You can get minerals like calcium, sodium and potassium from food, but sometimes people choose to use hydration/mineral packets. Coconut water is also a great natural electrolyte beverage. Including salt throughout the day can also help with hydration.
Pro Metabolic Diet Food List (as tolerated)
Fruits and cooked vegetables
Dairy
Meats & poultry (including organ meats)
Eggs
Seafood
Whole grains
Beans
Nuts in moderation
Coconut oil
Butter
Apple cider vinegar
Ginger
Chili peppers
Bone broth
Pro Metabolic Recipes
Chicken Tinga Tacos
How is the Pro Metabolic Diet Different From the Mediterranean Diet?
The two diets are very similar. Both encourage whole foods, unprocessed foods and lots of plant based foods. Both recommend limiting refined cooking oils and commercially fried foods, as well as refined carbohydrates like sugar and white flour. The Pro Metabolic Diet differs in encouraging more saturated fats and more animal based foods. The Mediterranean Diet encourages protein from plants based foods, includes poultry, dairy and eggs in moderation, and prioritizes using olive oil and nuts for fat.
The Mediterranean Diet is well studied, and shown to improve health and prevent chronic diseases. The Pro Metabolic Diet itself is not well studied because it’s so new, but many of the recommendations are evidence based and health promoting.
- - - - - - -
Overall, the Pro Metabolic Diet is strong from a health stand point. It’s good to remember that there isn’t a universal perfect way to eat, and there’s a lot of flexibility and gray area when it comes to eating best for you. The body functions best when supported with nourishing and balanced meals, managed stress, good sleep and joy in life, even if you sometimes eat mozzarella sticks, ice cream or a cheeseburger and fries.
Resources
https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/4/3/294/4591609
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting-women