The Body Book by Cameron Diaz (2014): Food list

The Body Book (2014) is a whole-body book that covers eating, exercise, and believing that your body is beautiful.

• Eat whole, unprocessed foods.
• Protein throughout the day, whole carbs, unsaturated fats, veggies and fruits.
• Drink lots of water.
• Avoid fast foods, processed foods, added sugars, saturated/trans-fats.

Below is a description of the food recommendations in the diet.  What to eat  |  Foods to limit or avoid.  There’s a lot more in the book.

Use this page as a cheat sheet alongside the book. Send this page to friends, family, and anyone else who you want to understand what you’re eating on this diet.

Get a copy of The Body Book for exercise/fitness tips, mind/having power over your life, choosing healthy eating over comfort eating, and planning for nutrition.

The reasoning behind The Body Book

This book argues that you are what you eat – you must act as a nutrition delivery system for your cells, finding and consuming the most nutrient-rich foods possible, so your cells can do everything they want to do: protect you, energize you, heal you, as well as enable you to keep thinking and breathing. If you eat garbage, you’re going to feel like garbage. If you eat good healthy food full of energy, you’re going to be full of energy.

The Body Book diet plan – what to eat and foods to avoid

What to eat  |  Foods to limit or avoid

Foods to eat in The Body Book

Eat foods that grow in the earth or are sustained by the earth and that have not been tampered with by technology

• Meals
  • Breakfast – don’t skip it – e.g. oatmeal or eggs and vegetables
  • Snack a few hours after breakfast – e.g. nuts and fruit
  • Lunch, including vegetables, grains, and chicken or fish
  • Afternoon snack
  • Dinner – taking into account what you’ve been doing during the day and how much energy you think you’ll spend over the evening – usually don’t need as many carbs for energy at night so focus on vegetables and a smaller portion of protein for dinner
• Nutrients
  • Fiber – 100 grams of fiber every day might be ideal, these days the recommended allowance for young and adult women is 25 grams, 26 grams for teens
  • Protein should make up roughly 35% of your total daily calories, included in each meal – eat small portions of protein steadily throughout the day (not a huge slab of meat at the end of the day). The more active you are, the more strength training you do, and the more your body weighs, the more protein you need to support your form and let your body heal and rebuild
  • Fats – eat in moderation
  • If you are a vegetarian, you should be consuming almost double the recommended daily intake of iron to prevent a deficiency. The best plant sources of iron include legumes (soybeans, tofu), nuts, dried fruits (e.g. apricots), dark green leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach, collard greens, kale, turnip greens), fortified cereals
• Whole grains
  • E.g. barley, millet, steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, black rice, red rice, wild rice, wheat berries
  • Processed whole grains e.g. brown rice pasta, couscous, quinoa pasta, whole grain bread
• Proteins
  • Eggs (mostly whites but include 1 yolk / mix in some egg whites so you’re not eating too many yolks)
  • Low-fat dairy (if you’re not intolerant to it) – e.g. cheese (cottage cheese, cheddar, Colby, brie, blue cheese, Monterey Jack, swiss, etc.), milk, yogurt
  • Fish and seafood – e.g. salmon, tuna
  • Poultry – e.g. chicken, turkey
  • Meat substitutes – e.g. meatless burger, tofu
  • Meat – occasionally – e.g. beef, pork
• Fats
  • Polyunsaturated fats – found in vegetable oils (e.g. corn oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil) as well as nuts and seeds
  • Monounsaturated fats – found in e.g. olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, avocados, nuts
  • Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fatty fish (e.g. salmon, tuna, mackerel) and a few plant-based sources (ground flaxseed, walnuts, soybeans, soy oil, canola oil, marine algae)
  • Coconut oil is okay despite being a saturated fat as it can help boost your “good” cholesterol and your thyroid function
  • Use for salad dressings, marinades, and dips: walnut oil, flaxseed oil, extra-virgin olive oil
  • Use for sautéing, sauce making, stir-frying, and oven baking: olive oil, canola oil, coconut oil, grape-seed oil, sesame oil
  • Use for searing, browning, and panfrying: safflower oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil
• Vegetables
  • E.g. arugula, asparagus, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery, chili peppers, collard greens, cucumbers, dandelion, eggplant, garlic, kale, mushrooms, peppers, pumpkin, shallots, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnip greens, watercress, zucchini
  • Fresh vegetables are the best choice, especially in the summer when they are in season. Frozen vegetables are the next best thing. Canned vegetables should be your last choice, because canned food loses a great deal of its nutrient value during processing, and often salt, sugar, or other preservatives are added
• Herbs and spices
  • E.g. parsley
• Beans/legumes
  • E.g. black beans, chickpeas, edamame, lentils, pinto beans, split peas, soybeans
• Nuts and seeds
  • E.g. almonds, flaxseeds, peanut butter, sunflower seeds, walnuts
• Fruits
  • E.g. apples, apricots, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe melon, grapefruit, grapes, lemons, melons, oranges, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon
• Naturally fermented foods
  • E.g. yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, umeboshi plums, probiotics
• Beverages
  • Water is your best source of water. Your body needs about 10 cups of water a day to stay hydrated. The precise amount of water you need on a daily basis will depend on your age, your healthy, your activity level, your environment, and your diet. Your intake of water should match the losses of water from your body every day (via sweating, peeing, etc.)

Other recommendations

• Never ignore your hunger
  • Humans get hungry 5 or 6 times a day
  • Note that this is different from appetite, which the author describes as the desire to eat because the sight, smell, or taste of food makes you want to eat even though your body is nourished. Our appetite is roused by forces outside of us
• Diet and exercise
  • Give your body fuel and water before and after your workout
  • 2 hours before exercise, drink at least 2 cups / 16 oz. of fluid, preferably water. Then about 15 minutes before exercising, drink ½-1 cup more to top off your body’s water stores. 2 hours before moderate exercise (e.g. a 3-mile jog, a spin class, or a hike) eat a combination of carbs, protein, and fat
  • During exercise – drink approximately 6-12 oz. every 15-20 minutes. An average “gulp” is 1 oz. If you are doing endurance exercise, like training for a marathon, talk to your coach or trainer about what snacks will give you ready access to additional glucose
  • After exercise – replace fluids as quickly as possible – you should have a big bottle of water ready for the end of your session. About 45 minutes – 1 hour after exercise, eat a recovery meal, which should ideally contain both carbs and protein in a 4:1 ratio
• Eating mindfully
  • Before your meal: Instead of grazing mindlessly on whatever food is available to you, wait to satisfy your hunger and choose foods that you like and that will give you the fuel you need
  • During your meal: Eat slowly and focus on the enjoyment of your meal. How does the food smell? How does it taste? Is it crunchy? Smooth? Spicy?
  • After your meal: Consider how the food you ate is making you feel. Do you feel alert? Sluggish? Energized? Bloated? Is it a feeling you want to have again? Is it a food you want to eat again?

Foods to avoid or limit with The Body Book

If you get a craving for these foods – remind yourself about how you’ll feel after you eat that meal

• Fast foods
• Processed foods
• “Low” foods – fat-free, low-carb, etc.
• Sugars
  • Added sugars, e.g. agave nectar, brown sugar, cane crystals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, crystalline fructose, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup HFCS, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt syrup, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, sugar, syrup
  • Foods containing added sugars, including ketchup, pretzels, conventional nut butters / peanut butter, cereal bars, cereal, protein bars, sports drinks, instant oatmeal, spaghetti sauce, barbecue sauce, yogurt, salad dressing, granola
  • Artificial sweeteners, low-calorie sweeteners, non-nutritive sweeteners (and foods containing them)
  • Note – Cameron will share a dessert with friends every once in a while, but on a daily basis her sweet treat is fruit
• Bad fats
  • Limit saturated fats, found in fast foods and also dairy products (butter, cheese, milk), meat products, and coconut oil and palm kernel oil (found in many processed sweets). Note that quality fresh meats and cheeses still offer your body some nutrition, and can be indulged in occasionally; but fast food is just empty calories
  • Avoid trans fats – found in margarine and vegetable shortening, and in many fast foods and processed foods
• Beverages
  • Energy drinks
  • Iced tea, lemonade
  • Coffee
  • Alcohol
  • Juice
  • Soday

Health benefits claimed in The Body Book

The diet in this book claims to reduce the risks for: bloating, constipation, diarrhea, low energy, fatigue, food addiction, heartburn, low mood, pimples, bad skin, stomachache

As always, this is not intended to be a replacement for professional medical diagnosis or treatment for a medical condition. Consult your doctor before starting a new diet. This page describes what the authors of the diet recommend – Chewfo is describing the diet only, not endorsing it.

Get a copy of The Body Book for exercise/fitness tips, mind/having power over your life, choosing healthy eating over comfort eating, and planning for nutrition.

How has this diet helped you? Please add a comment or question below.