Welcome to class!

In this episode, we dive into the B.rad Nutrition Guide—a simple, practical, and totally free resource you can download at bradkearns.com. Print it out in full color, stick it on your fridge, and use this tiered ranking system to navigate the world’s most nutritious foods with ease. It’s really this simple: ditch the processed junk and aim for maximum dietary nutrient density. At the very top? Meat and fruit. That’s the next big dietary trend—global All-Stars like red meat and fresh, locally grown fruit that taste great, provide essential nutrients, and deliver healthy carbs and fiber.

This show will walk you through the guide step-by-step, highlighting nutrient-dense favorites like pasture-raised eggs, wild-caught oily fish (think sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon, and herring), shellfish, animal organs, high-fat dairy, and the best plant foods like avocado, dark chocolate, fermented foods, raw honey, and more. I get into the details on choosing the highest quality oils, the importance of saturated fats for cooking, and why industrial seed oils are a major no-go. We also hit on smart supplementation with whey protein and creatine, the importance of mineral water, and which beverages get the green light. It’s a comprehensive, practical, and refreshingly simple approach to eating that you can start today.

Download free B.rad nutrition guide here!

TIMESTAMPS:

Brad reviews his B.rad Nutrition Chart. Step one is to get rid of the processed food and strive for maximum dietary nutrient density food. Meat and fruit are at the top of the list. [00:51]

Oily cold-water fish are accessible and affordable. Shellfish have great nutritional value.  [02:45]

If you want dairy in your diet, choose organic high-fat, preferably raw dairy. If you are looking to eat chicken, turkey and pork, look for sustainability and humane care of the animals. [04:07]

Colorful, nutritious, easy-to-digest plant foods include avocado.  It is actually a fruit.  Anything with a seed is a fruit. When it comes to dark chocolate, look for bean to bar. [05:50]

Fermented foods have many benefits. Navigate carefully with vegetables. [07:06]

Honey is a great thing to add to your daily routine. Nut butters are very helpful. [08:33]

There are many differences when we look at the various oils. Saturated fats are best to cook with. [09:46]

We all need protein.  Not just athletes. [12:50]

As far as beverages go, mineral water and kombucha are at the top of Brad’s list. [13:51]

LINKS:

• Brad Kearns.com
• BradNutrition.com
• B.rad Whey Protein Superfuel – The Best Protein on The Planet!
• Brad’s Shopping Page
• B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
• BornToWalkBook.com
• B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
• Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes

LISTEN:
We appreciate all feedback, and questions for Q&A shows, emailed to podcast@bradventures.com. If you have a moment, please share an episode you like with a quick text message, or leave a review on your podcast app. Thank you!

Check out each of these companies because they are absolutely awesome or they wouldn’t occupy this revered space. Seriously, I won’t promote anything that I don’t absolutely love and use in daily life:

• B.rad Nutrition: Premium quality, all-natural supplements for peak performance, recovery, and longevity; including the world’s highest quality whey protein!
• Peluva: Comfortable, functional, stylish five-toe minimalist shoe to reawaken optimal foot function. Use code BRADPODCAST for 15% off!
• Ketone-IQ Save 30% off your first subscription order & receive a free six-pack of Ketone-IQ!
• Get Stride: Advanced DNA, methylation profile, microbiome & blood at-home testing. Hit your stride the right way, with cutting-edge technology and customized programming. Save 10% with the code BRAD
• Mito Red Light: Photobiomodulation light panels to enhance cellular energy production, improve recovery, and optimize circadian rhythm. Use code BRAD for 5% discount!
• GAINSWave: Enhance sexual function with high frequency shockwave therapy. Buy 6 and get one treatment free with code BRAD
• Online educational courses: Numerous great offerings for an immersive home-study educational experience
• Primal Fitness Expert Certification: The most comprehensive online course on all aspects of traditional fitness programming and a total immersion fitness lifestyle. Save 25% on tuition with code BRAD
• Male Optimization Formula with Organs (MOFO): Optimize testosterone naturally with 100% grass-fed animal organ supplement

Brad’s Favorites on Amazon

I have a newly organized shopping experience at BradKearns.com/Shop. Visit here and you can navigate to my B.rad Nutrition products (for direct order or Amazon order), my library of online multimedia educational courses, great discounts from my affiliate favorites, and my recommended health&fitness products on Amazon.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brad (00:00):
Welcome to the B.rad podcast, where we explore ways to pursue peak performance with passion throughout life without taking ourselves too seriously. I’m Brad Kearns, New York Times bestselling author, former number three world ranked professional triathlete and Guinness World Record Masters athlete. I connect with experts in diet, fitness, and personal growth, and deliver short breather shows where you get simple actionable tips to improve your life right away. Let’s explore beyond the hype hacks, shortcuts, and science talk to laugh, have fun and appreciate the journey. It’s time to B.rad.

Brad (00:51):
Okay, welcome to class. Let’s talk about the B.rad Nutrition Guide. This handy guide is downloadable for free@bradkearns.com. You can print it out the beautiful colors, put it on your refrigerator and help you navigate through a tiered ranking system of the world’s most nutritious foods. Is it really this simple?

Brad (01:11):
Yes. We want to get rid of that processed junk is step number one and then strive for maximum dietary nutrient density. Your food choices are informed by what kind of nutrition it offers, and right there, the global All-stars at the top of the category, meat and fruit. That is the next dietary trend. You heard it here first. It’s pretty simple. And that is the essence of my diet, which has been streamlined and simplified with preferences on the top of the list, the stuff I like to eat the most, and also dietary nutrient density.

Brad (01:45):
So we have animal protein right there with the emphasis on red meat, the highest ranked type of meat in terms of sustainability, as well as nutritional value. And we have fresh fruit. Obviously the best is locally grown in season, but now we can have great access to fruit. You have tremendous micronutrient and nutritional overall value. They taste great, they’re delicious and a great centerpiece to help you get the healthy dietary carbohydrate you need as well as the fiber. That’s why meat and fruit are on top. And then as we go down the tiered ranking system, we have the plant foods talked about at the bottom, but right below the global All Stars, we have eggs, especially locally grown, pasture raised eggs and other eggs. If you can find them, I find duck eggs sometimes at the farmer’s market or in great stores. They’re a nice larger, richer tasting egg and some of the best eggs I’ve ever had pasture-raised from the farmer’s market best, and you can find other pasture-raised options in good grocery stores.

Brad (02:45):
Then we go down to wild caught oily cold water fish, and in the seafood category, the SMASH family are rated at the top. And guess what’s cool about that? They’re also the most accessible and the most affordable. So the SMASH family stands for sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon and herring, and of course you want to get the wild-caught salmon, even canned, wild-caught salmon has a lot of nutritional value. Uh, not those objections that we get from the over farmed salmon. That’s typically the Atlantic salmon variety that you find in restaurants. So finding that oily cold water fish, making that a centerpiece, not a huge budget impact. Same with the animal organs, which are the most nutrient=dense of any food on the planet, and they’re also very affordable. So try to get some liver, heart, kidney into your dietary game. What I do is I puree the organs with the ground beef and then I’ll cook that up so it’s not as unpleasant of a taste if you’re not used to that stronger taste of the organs meat.

Brad (03:46):
So we got the oily cold water fish. Then we go down to shellfish, oysters, clams, crab, lobster, mussels, octopus and scallops. Again, these are not in that objectionable category where we often hear about the pollution in the ocean and the objection to eating a lot of farm fish. So the shellfish have great nutritional value and sustainable minimal objections.

Brad (04:07):
Then we go down to organic high fat dairy if you prefer and want dairy in your life. It doesn’t have to be the centerpiece, but you can get some good nutritional value if you choose organic high-fat, preferably raw dairy. So that would be things like raw cheese, kein milk, cream cheese, heavy cream and sour cream, full fat yogurt. And we definitely want to try for organic because the conventional dairy products can have those hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, pasteurization and homogenization are safe, but they can also disturb your digestibility.

Brad (04:40):
So people who are lactose intolerant will have a hard time with that where they might even be better off eating that raw high fat dairy that doesn’t have that lactose and all that processing. Then we go down to chicken, turkey and pork. Now the factory farming and the concentrated animal feeding operations, we have strong objections for sustainability and humane to animals. When we look at the typical chicken farm or pig farm, that’s why red meat is so much more appealing, better nutrient density, and the cows have a better life. 80% of all cattle live out on the open range grass fed, and then they come into the feedlot at the end of their life. But chicken pigs, more filthy conditions, more objections, some cruelty, especially with the short life of the chickens. That’s boosted by hormones. So if you’re going to eat chicken and pork, find those highest quality pasture-raised chicken, pasture- raised turkey, or what’s called heritage breed pork, and then you can do that. But we wanna flip flop this notion that eating chicken and fish is healthier than red meat. Red meat is at the top in every possible category when you’re thinking about the best, most nutritious, most sustainable meat.

Brad (05:50):
Now we go into the colorful, nutritious, easy to digest plant foods category, avocado, high and monounsaturated fats, incredible nutrient density. It’s actually a fruit. Remember I said meat and fruit are the kings. So anything with a seed is actually a fruit that includes things like cucumbers, tomatoes, and so forth. But we typically refer to these as vegetables. That’s why I’m putting avocado down here. We got dark chocolate, which is a huge centerpiece in my diet. However, you really wanna navigate carefully to the most sustainable chocolates where you do not have that child-slave -labor element that happens with mainstream commodity chocolate. If you’re paying a few bucks for a chocolate bar instead of a premium chocolate bar, that can be 9, 10, 11, $12.

Brad (06:33):
You are supporting the worst of modern economy and child slave labor. Commodity products are unknown source, objectionable source probably where they over roast the beans and then they throw a bunch of sugar and flavoring in it. So you can’t taste the rotten beans. I strive for what’s called bean to bar dark chocolate. That means the maker actually knows where the bean source came from and roasted and constant did all the finishing at their own factories, starting from the bean ending with the finishing bar. So high-quality artisan bean to bar dark chocolate.

Brad (07:06):
Fermented foods is a whole category of nutrition that has so many benefits for the probiotics that you’ve heard about. And this is things like keifer, kimchi, kombucha, miso, nato, olives and pickles are fermented foods. Sauerkraut, temp pei probiotics nourish that. Healthy gut bacteria also have great fiber and minimal objections because they’re easier to digest than some of the vegetables that we consume, like the raw leafy greens that can be problematic for many people.

Brad (07:34):
That’s why I’m talking about vegetables, making sure that you can tolerate these will, that you don’t, don’t have those common side effects like gas, bloating and digestive pain in association with eating things that we think are healthy and nutritious. Like that raw kale smoothie with carrots and celery and beets thrown in there. That can be a problem for many people because vegetables have high levels of natural plant toxins. Yes, they offer health benefits, but it can also offer digestive disturbances. So navigate carefully with the vegetables and consume them in their most easy to digest manner that would be soaked, sprouted, cooked, fermented and so forth. Raw honey, what a fantastic dietary centerpiece. Did you know there’s research with both dates and honey that they don’t spike blood sugar. Maybe try it next time you’re wearing a CGM. Have a nice spoonful of honey to start your day and get your energy going and moderate that stress hormone production that might happen when you’re trying to fast for extended periods.

Brad (08:33):
And also ask a lot for your body with energy and exercise. I’m a big fan of honey, especially before and after workouts, Honey Plus ,here’s a plug for a product, has a actual healthy energy gel made with honey and natural salt and electrolytes, fantastic product with no objections like you might see from a processed sugar product that you’re consuming for exercise. So raw honey, big dietary centerpiece won’t spike. Blood sugar has a tremendous amount of micronutrient benefits with all the other stuff that’s in the honey besides the calories. Same with the date. That’s why it doesn’t spike blood sugar. It’s such a healthy item. Nuts and nut butters, if you enjoy those, appreciate those. I love macadamia nut butter, A healthy quality source, peanut butter, freshly ground, and that can be a nice little accoutrement or a treat, but doesn’t have to be a dietary centerpiece, right? Seaweed is a great source of iodine, vitamin D, vitamin B, selenium, and Omega-3. So a great entrant from the seafood family. We also have sweet potatoes and squash. So these are the best root vegetables or they’re actually category is tubers and they have a lot of nutritional value. That colorful paste inside is your indication that you’re getting better nutrition than, for example, from a white potato.

Brad (09:46):
And if you’re gonna use oils, I’m not saying that you have to dump a bunch of oil on all your foods because you’re following the Mediterranean diet, but source the absolute highest quality oil, which is first called pressed extra virgin olive oil from a domestic source. Do not confuse that term. Extra virgin olive oil, which has no official regulation. You can go to the big box store and pay 12 bucks for a giant plastic jug of extra virgin olive oil.

Brad (10:13):
This stuff has been tested by independent sources, finding that there are all kinds of other stuff in there, like vastly less pure types of oil. Same with avocado oil. The big darling of the alternative food industry got busted because they tested like 188 products and only a few of them had pure avocado oil in there. So I’m looking for an olive oil that stings, when you taste a spoonful of it that actually stings the back of your throat. That’s an indication that it’s fresh and it has high level of those ferrol antioxidants that cause that sting. If you taste an olive oil that tastes bland, you are talking about an old watered down product. It’s not cool that it’s imported from far away. If you think that’s the olive oil capital and the Mediterranean, I’m here in California, west coast, we have lots of choices for domestically grown, extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil.

Brad (11:09):
And for cooking, you want to use these saturated fats like butter ghee rendered tallow. That’s beef fat. Things that are temperature stable. So the saturated fats are the best to cook with because they, they’re still stable when heated up to high temperatures. Unlike polyunsaturated fats, which are the worst, the worst thing that you can have in your diet are the refined industrial seed oils. Those oils in the bottle that many people still use for cooking. And unfortunately, almost all restaurants, especially fast food, all the way up to premium restaurants are still using refined industrial seed oils in their cooking. And finally, we get to supplements. I’ve been a big consumer of supplements for many years. I’ve been in the supplement industry. I sell supplements and I gotta tell you, I’m getting a little bit bit tired and burnt out of having to purchase all these bottles of supplements and remember to take them every day.

Brad (11:58):
Of course, I’m striving for peak performance and always willing to experiment and hear new information and try something new. But I’m really trying to focus and not have so many bottles that I have to pack up and travel with and so forth. So if we’re looking at that tiered ranking system, I’m going to put whey protein and creatine right up there at the very top. Protein intake is the foremost dietary objective for everyone. Not just young athletes and peak performers, but also the elderly who synthesize protein with less skill as they get older. So they need more dietary protein. A lot of the experts are recommending that we’re getting up to a gram per pound per day, which is much more than most people get, especially if they’re in that plant-based notion where they’re shying away from some of the highest protein foods, like the animal protein that’s at the top of the category here.

Brad (12:50):
So a quality whey protein supplement, that’s the highest ranked protein and grass fed whey protein isolate is number one. Of course, that’s what the B.rad Products are made with creatine. So much great research emerging now that it’s great for postmenopausal women, it’s great for brain health and protection against cognitive decline. And we’ve known as the most studied and celebrated supplement of all time that creatine is fantastic for muscle performance, muscle strength, muscle power, muscle recovery. So if you’re gonna do anything, please consider supplementing with whey protein and creatine, and there might be some others on there, especially if you’re deep into your health and want to experiment and explore. Magnesium is commonly recommended because it’s easy to get deficient in dietary magnesium. Our soils all depleted these days. You know where I get my minerals? Mostly I drink bottled mineral water. Yes, I’m kind of sad that I have to do that much recycling and buying glass bottles from across the world, but it’s one of the last bastions of great sourcing of natural minerals, right?

Brad (13:51):
The mineral water coming from the earth. So mineral water is a centerpiece of my diet, and I have a little thing right at the bottom talking about what beverages are approved. And this is an important category to consider often because we can get a lot of nasty stuff from beverages, right? Especially that ingestion of a lot of grams of sugar without the satiety that might be created. When we sit down and eat a fresh home baked slice of cheesecake, it feels fantastic. It’s part of celebrating life and we feel full after one slice. But if you have, uh, a 7/11 slurpee a couple times a day, that’s gonna be a little bit of a different story. So maybe water is the drink of champions, right? We’re gonna have that as the centerpiece. I also love to drink kombucha. It’s got the probiotic benefits that I mentioned.

Brad (14:35):
So what I personally do is I cut like three quarters, two thirds of three quarters mineral water with my kombucha. So I’m getting a very minimal sugar intake from the what’s left a little bit in the kombucha. No concerns there. Good probiotics, a tasty effervescent drink that feels like a soft drink. I’ll squeeze fresh lemon in there, and that’s one of my approved drinks. If you enjoy coffee and herbal tea, that’s great too. I personally don’t think that, uh, central nervous system stimulants are important in my life. I want to gain that energy naturally, and I want to feel tired when I’m tired, so I shy away from caffeine consumption, deliberate caffeine consumption, except that found in my heavy consumption of dark chocolate. So maybe I would be considered a coffee drinker in some ways if I’m getting a bar a day and how many grams of caffeine that is.

Brad (15:22):
So I have that on the beverages list, as well as bone broth and raw milk like I mentioned before in Keifer. So that’s the B.rad Nutrition Guide. Thanks for watching me take you through the whole thing. Print it out, put it on your fridge, and strive to stay up high. Get those pasture raised eggs from the farmer’s market. Find that grass fed ground beef, and the other exotic products like bison and venison that I’m seeing more and more availability. It’s so wonderful to see that. If you have any questions, email, podcast@bradventures.com. Listen to the B.rad podcast. We talk about this stuff a lot, but I’m so happy to bring it in. This handy dandy nutrition guide, one pager printed out@bradkearns.com.

Brad (16:05):
Thank you so much for listening to the B.rad Podcast. We appreciate all feedback and suggestions. Email podcast@bradventures.com and visit brad kearns.com to download five free eBooks and learn some great long cuts to a longer life. How to optimize testosterone naturally, become a dark chocolate connoisseur and transition to a barefoot and minimalist shoe lifestyle.