Mostly Whole, Minimally Processed Foods

Build most meals from whole or minimally processed foods—vegetables, fruit, eggs, meat, fish, beans, oats, rice, and other single-ingredient staples—while keeping ultra-processed foods to a small minority of intake. A common target across the recommendations is roughly 75–90% of calories from these foods, with only limited room for packaged snacks, refined sweets, and engineered convenience foods. This pattern is favored because it tends to improve satiety, reduce overeating, and support better metabolic, gut, and overall health than a heavily processed diet.