Food First, Supplements Second

My approach to health optimization, biohacking, and longevity is nature first.

That does not mean supplements are useless. It means I do not want supplements to become the foundation. The better first question is: what nutrients do I need, where can I get them from food, and how do I prepare that food so I get the benefit instead of destroying it or blocking absorption?

My current order is simple:

1. Food first.
2. Labs and body response second.
3. Supplements third.

The seafood diet that forced the issue

I used to joke that I was on a seafood diet: I see food, I eat it.

I was not inactive. I was mountain biking, snowboarding, going to the gym, and doing plenty of things people associate with being healthy. But eventually I had to be honest that my diet was not matching the health I wanted.

I watched Forks Over Knives, went all-in on plant-based eating, and for a while it helped. That matters. It would be dishonest to pretend it did nothing. Compared with the way I had been eating, going plant-based cleaned up a lot.

But after about two years I did something smarter than following a documentary: I tested. Advanced bloodwork and a functional-medicine review suggested the plant-based diet was not serving me as well as I thought. I was losing muscle, libido was down, estrogen was high, testosterone was low, and the overall picture did not match the health identity I had adopted.

That was the lesson: a diet can solve one problem and create another.

How I landed on food quality over diet identity

Around that time I found Dave Asprey and the Bulletproof Diet. I would not say any diet gets everything right, but that framework made more sense to me than most because it pushed me toward food quality, toxins, nutrient density, and stable energy instead of just a label.

The biggest changes were not exotic. I cut grains, dairy, and ultra-processed foods. I paid more attention to fats and oils. I leaned more paleo than strict keto. A lot of chronic issues improved: fewer sinus infections, less need for antibiotics, better resilience, and a body that felt more like it was working with me.

That is why I care less about whether someone says "vegan" or "carnivore" and more about what is actually on the plate.

The supplementarian trap

One danger with long-term restrictive diets is that people can slowly become supplementarians. The diet stops being a food pattern and becomes a stack of pills, powders, fortified products, and specialty foods needed to keep the whole thing from collapsing.

Vegan diets are the obvious example because vitamin B12 is not optional. Depending on the person, omega-3 status, iodine, iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, protein quantity, and protein quality may also need attention.

I think Bryan Johnson's Blueprint is the public extreme of this conversation: a longevity system built around aggressive measurement, strict eating, and a very large supplement stack. It is an interesting experiment. It is not where I would tell a normal person to start.

The better question is uncomfortable: if a diet only works because it needs constant patching, is the diet actually working?

Vegan can be clean. Vegan can also be junk food.

Vegan only means no animal products. It does not automatically mean minimally processed, nutrient-complete, high-protein, low-sugar, low-seed-oil, local, seasonal, good for hormones, good for digestion, or good for training.

A clean vegan diet can be useful. An ultra-processed vegan diet can be junk food with better branding. That is where a lot of people go wrong: the diet label becomes the only metric for success.

Carnivore can be a reset. I would be careful making it a religion.

I understand why carnivore works for some people. Meat, especially beef, is nutrient-dense. A mostly beef-based reset removes a lot of foods that cause problems for people: grains, seed oils, sugar, processed snacks, many plant irritants, and restaurant mystery ingredients.

For a period of time, that can be powerful. But I would question treating it as the default chronic long-term answer for everyone. Fiber, polyphenols, antioxidants, microbiome diversity, and individual lipid response still matter. The useful frame is reset tool, not tribe.

Seed oils: the clean-food question hiding in plain sight

Seed oils are controversial because you can find studies and arguments on both sides. My bias is to group modern industrial seed oils with ultra-processed foods and avoid them when possible.

This is also where restaurant food gets tricky. A meal can look clean because it has meat and vegetables, then become much less clean because of the oil, dressing, sauce, or marinade. Jason's older Chipotle review is useful because it shows the exact question to ask: where are the oils used, and does the "healthy" option stay clean after preparation?

Eggs show why preparation matters

Eggs are a simple example of food-first thinking. The better question is not "what supplement replaces eggs?" It is what nutrients eggs provide, how to source them, and how to prepare them.

Egg whites and yolks are different. Raw egg white contains avidin, which can bind biotin, and cooked egg protein is generally more digestible than raw egg protein. The practical idea is to cook the white enough while keeping the yolk gentler if you tolerate it and want to preserve more heat-sensitive qualities.

Do not turn that into a universal law. Use it as a reminder that clean eating is not just what you buy. It is also how you prepare it.

Plants are not automatically safe because they are plants

Clean food does not mean raw food. This is especially true with plants. Many plant foods contain compounds that are better handled through cooking, soaking, fermenting, peeling, or choosing a different food entirely. Some people tolerate them well. Some do not.

This is the useful middle ground: plants can provide fiber, antioxidants, minerals, flavor, and microbial diversity, but preparation and tolerance matter.

Eat local and seasonal when it makes sense

Nature gives clues. In North America in winter, eating tropical fruit all day makes less sense to me than eating more meat, root vegetables, warming foods, sleeping more, and letting the season tell the body to recover.

Thailand changes that context. Tropical fruit, fresh herbs, markets, and year-round produce are part of the environment. That does not mean unlimited sugar is suddenly optimal. It means the clean-food question has to respect place, season, activity level, sleep, light exposure, and goals.

Clean animal foods start before the animal reaches your plate

If you eat animal foods, "clean" starts with what the animal ate and how it lived. Cows should ideally be eating grass. Chickens and pigs should be raised in a way that matches their nature as much as possible. Fish, eggs, beef, pork, and chicken all need item-level scrutiny rather than blind trust in the brand.

This is why Healthy Farang is careful with supplier claims. A source can be promising without being verified. Public recommendations should be earned.

Thailand makes clean eating practical and imperfect

Jason's older Eat Clean in Thailand article gives the practical field-note version: use markets, grocery stores, health shops, simple restaurants, and basic Thai phrases to make better choices. It also points to growing food, connecting with gardeners and farmers, and treating Thailand as a place where clean eating can be lived rather than merely theorized.

The Healthy Farang update is to add stronger evidence labels: what is verified, what is supplier stated, what is community reported, and what still needs proof.

The food-first filter

Before arguing about diet identity, ask better questions:

• What nutrients do I actually need?
• Can I get them from food first?
• What is the source quality?
• What did the animal eat?
• Was the produce sprayed?
• What oil was used?
• Is this food ultra-processed?
• Does preparation improve or reduce nutrient value?
• What do my symptoms, performance, sleep, libido, digestion, and labs say?

Related Jason Ryer resources

Read the older foundation pieces: Clean Eating Lessons, Clean Nutrition, Eat Clean Foods, Eat Clean in Thailand, and the Chipotle clean-food review.

Send a clean-food source

If you know a source for clean eggs, well-sourced meat, organic or low-spray produce, lower-seed-oil restaurants, or clean prepared meals in Thailand, send it privately with what you buy, how often it is available, and what makes you trust it.

Send a clean-food source