Choosing the Right Diet: Insights from Peter Attia and APEX PWR

Nutrition is one of the most misunderstood and debated areas of health and wellness. Everyone has heard arguments about keto, carnivore, vegan, or Mediterranean diets. Each has its champions and each has critics, but for most people the endless back-and-forth only leads to more confusion. On a recent Drive podcast AMA episode, Dr. Peter Attia provided a refreshing framework to cut through the noise. Rather than focusing on which diet is “best,” he emphasized the core principles that any diet must satisfy to truly support health.

At APEX PWR, this approach reflects the way we guide both individuals and organizations. We work with athletes, busy parents, corporate teams, and professionals across Portland who often ask the same question: What diet should I follow? Our answer is consistent: the best diet is the one that matches your physiology, fits your lifestyle, supports your health & performance goals, and that you can sustain long term.

The Five Non-Negotiables of Every Diet

Dr. Attia shared five criteria that every eating pattern must meet. These are not optional—they are the foundation of sustainable nutrition.

Energy balance: To lose fat, maintain weight, or fuel performance, calories consumed must align with calories expended. No diet works without addressing this.
Metabolic health: Nutrition should support stable blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular health, and long-term disease prevention. Our nutritionist, Jennie Carolan, MS, adds, “You need a balance of healthy fats and carbs. You don’t want to be too heavy in one area and for optimal hormone health, we want 25% of calories (at minimum) coming from fat.”
Adequate protein: Protein intake is essential for building and maintaining muscle, enhancing recovery, protecting against age-related decline, and promoting satiety.
Micronutrient sufficiency: A diet must deliver the vitamins and minerals your body needs for energy, immunity, and resilience. Jennie chimes in, “Fiber cannot be overlooked! This is why we teach the importance of fiber at week 5 in the 12 Week Challenge to help people create a complete approach from a macro and micro level.”
Adherence: The best diet is meaningless if you cannot stick to it. A sustainable plan matters more than a trendy plan.

This framework moves the conversation away from food tribes and toward practical outcomes.

Why It Matters for Everyone

Nutrition is not just for athletes or people trying to lose weight—it influences every part of daily life.

For athletes: Nutrition determines recovery speed, performance capacity, and injury prevention.
For professionals: Balanced fuel enhances focus, energy, and productivity across long workdays.
For parents: Proper nutrition provides stamina to juggle family, work, and personal goals.
For older adults: Food choices protect against bone loss, muscle decline, and chronic disease risk.

In other words, the food you eat impacts not just how you look but how you think, move, perform, and age.

APEX PWR’s Perspective on Nutrition

At APEX PWR, we align closely with Dr. Attia’s pragmatic framework but add our own philosophy: nutrition should be measured, personalized, and functional.

We combine objective data with coaching so clients can see exactly how nutrition impacts their health and performance. Some of the tools we use include:

DEXA Scans for Body Composition: Measuring fat, lean tissue, visceral fat, and muscle distribution.
DEXA Scans for Bone Density: Identifying risk of osteopenia or osteoporosis early.
VO₂ Max Testing: Assessing cardiovascular fitness and endurance capacity.

When combined with our Nutrition Coaching Programs, these tools create clarity. Instead of guessing whether a diet is working, clients see progress through hard numbers and evidence.

Practical Insights from Dr. Attia

Dr. Attia’s discussion also highlighted a few important takeaways:

Diets like keto, carnivore, vegan, and Mediterranean can all work if they satisfy the five non-negotiables. None of them are “perfect” in isolation. Jennie adds in, “While Dr. Attia is being friendly about it, keto and carnivore diets can’t ever hit the nonnegotiables (listed above) because they completely eliminate certain foods and entire food groups.”
Micronutrient gaps are common in restrictive diets. If you choose a specific eating style, plan for supplementation or food variety to avoid deficiencies.
Adherence is often overlooked but is the deciding factor in long-term success. A moderate, sustainable approach will outperform an extreme diet you cannot maintain.
Tools like DEXA scans, fasting insulin tests, hemoglobin A1c, and even continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) can help confirm if your diet is improving your health.

Our Beliefs at APEX PWR

We agree: there is no single diet for everyone. At APEX, we add that nutrition should also be functional for your life. Whether your priority is climbing the corporate ladder, raising a family, training for a marathon, or staying independent into your 70s, your nutrition should support those goals.

Our team of physical therapists, nutrition coaches, and performance specialists work together to create plans that balance science, practicality, and personalization. We do not believe in gimmicks or extremes. Instead, we help you build sustainable systems that improve energy, confidence, and long-term health.

Key Takeaways

Nutrition confusion is common, but the five non-negotiables provide clarity.
The right diet meets energy balance, supports metabolic health, delivers enough protein and micronutrients, and is sustainable.
Objective data from DEXA scans, VO₂ Max testing, and blood work ensures that diet changes are measured, not guessed.
The best plan is not keto, vegan, or Mediterranean, it is the plan that you can follow consistently and that works for your goals.

Start Your Journey

At APEX PWR, we bring hospital-grade and athlete-level resources to everyday people and organizations. From personalized Nutrition Coaching to performance testing and corporate wellness solutions, we help individuals and teams achieve real results with science-backed strategies.

Nutrition Services to Get You Started:

One Time Macronutrient Breakdown – Get a winning blueprint to a successful nutritional approach.

12 Week Challenge – Includes a Macro Breakdown with 12 weeks of ongoing nutritional education, coaching, and email support to help you reach your goals.

1 on 1 VIP Concierge Nutrition Coaching – This is our highest end nutrition service designed for those that wanted expanded support.

If you are ready to take control of your nutrition, schedule a consultation with APEX PWR today. Visit apexpwr.com to learn more.

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