For our Eat Well Program graduates
Your take-home guide for life after the program
Tap a drawing to jump to its Food Guide
Four weeks ago, you started something new. Meals arrived at your door, and each one was built to teach as much as to nourish. Take a moment to reflect on the questions below before turning the page. There are no right answers, only what you noticed.
Your answers stay on this device only. Nobody else can see them.
Whatever you noticed, it grew out of choices you made meal after meal. This guide is here to help you keep making them.
Your gut is home to trillions of microbes, and what you eat every day shapes what they have to work with. You don't need a perfect plate. You need a varied one. These are the five groups every program meal was built around.
Vegetables, legumes, whole grains like adlai and quinoa, and root crops such as Japanese sweet potato. Fiber is food for your gut microbes, and rice or root crops that are cooked then cooled add resistant starch.
Kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, and other live-culture foods bring beneficial microbes to the table. A spoonful on the side is a good place to start.
Deeply colored vegetables, fruits, herbs, teas, and spices carry polyphenols, plant compounds that your gut microbes help break down. Aim for several colors each day.
Meat, seafood, eggs, tofu, and legumes anchor the plate and keep meals satisfying. Choose well-sourced options when you can.
Extra virgin olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds round out a meal and help your body absorb fat-soluble nutrients.
Add before you take away. Each week, bring in one new vegetable, one fermented side, or one new color. Eating a wider variety of plant foods is associated with a more diverse gut microbiome, and variety counts for more than perfection.
Two quick games to lock in the five groups. No pressure, and you can play as often as you like.
Which gut-supportive group does this food belong to? Some foods fit more than one, and any right group counts.
Tap up to 8 foods. Try to cover all five groups and at least three plant colors.
During the program, we cooked for you. Now you're the cook. These five guides turn what you learned into simple formulas you can mix and match with whatever is in your kitchen, and every one of them can be stocked from One World Deli.
Every food guide has a place for protein, and the program meals were built around One World Deli Clean Protein. Here is where it comes from, so you can keep cooking with it at home.
Try it: Slice it over Salad Your Way! or make it the protein in your Nourishing Bowl.
Try it: Pan-sear thin strips for a Nourishing Bowl, with kimchi on the side.
Try it: Brown lean ground beef with garlic and onions as the protein for your Nourishing Bowl.
Try it: Bake a salmon fillet and serve it over greens with your D.I.Y. dressing.
Try it: Slice a sausage into a vegetable-heavy stir-fry for a quick weeknight bowl.
Try it: Keep a few soft-boiled eggs in the fridge to top salads and bowls.
Plant proteins bring fiber along with protein, so they feed your gut microbes too. Mix them in with, or in place of, animal protein a few times a week.
Black, red, or white beans in bowls, soups, and salads.
Lentils, chickpeas, and monggo for stews and Color & Crunch.
Shelled edamame as a salad topper or a quick snack.
Pan-fried or baked tofu as the protein in any bowl.
Protein keeps you full and satisfied, while fiber and fermented foods do the work of feeding your gut microbes. Pair every serving of protein with at least a cup of vegetables and a fermented side, and you have the whole program in one plate.
Our nutritionist-dietitians review what goes on our shelves. When we curate for gut health, we look closely at what is inside the food.
We give preference to minimally processed foods with short, recognizable ingredient lists and fewer additives, so more of your basket is real food. Whole foods keep more of their natural fiber and plant compounds intact. All our featured proteins are raised with no added hormones and no antibiotics.
Whole and heritage grains like adlai and quinoa, colored rice, legumes, and root crops give your gut microbes the fiber they rely on.
Look for kimchi, sauerkraut, and plain or Greek yogurt, the same fermented sides you had throughout the program.
Fresh produce, teas, and spices such as ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon bring polyphenols to everyday meals and drinks.
Extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, nuts, and seeds for dressings, cooking, and smoothies.
How you cook matters as much as what you cook. The next section shows which methods to lean on and which oil fits each one.
The same ingredients can turn out very differently depending on how you cook them.
Steaming, sautéing, pan-frying with a little oil, baking or roasting, and air-frying.
These methods use gentler heat and less oil. Vegetables keep more of their color, texture, and nutrients, proteins stay tender, and you avoid the heavy browning and charring that very high heat creates.
Deep-frying and charcoal grilling or charring are fine once or twice a month. Keep them for special meals rather than everyday cooking.
| Cooking method | Oils and fats to use | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Raw, salads, and finishing | Extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, avocado oil | Unheated oils keep their full flavor. Toasted sesame oil is best as a drizzle, not for cooking. |
| Steaming and boiling | Little to no oil needed | Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or sesame oil after cooking. |
| Sauté, stir-fry, and pan-fry | Extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee, butter | Keep the heat at medium. Butter burns quickly, so use ghee for higher heat. |
| Baking, roasting, and air-frying | Avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee, butter, extra virgin olive oil | Toss food lightly. A tablespoon goes a long way, and air-frying needs only a light brush or spray. |
| Deep-frying (once or twice a month) | Lard, tallow, ghee, refined avocado oil | These fats stay more stable at high heat. Use fresh oil and avoid reusing it many times. |
The best setup is a different oil for each type of cooking. For example, extra virgin olive oil for salads, avocado oil or ghee for everyday cooking, and lard or tallow for the occasional fry.
A note on reusing oil: Frying oil breaks down each time it is heated. Discard it when it turns dark or cloudy, smells rancid or sour, starts smoking before it is hot enough, keeps foaming, or feels thick and sticky.
Now that we've looked at cooking methods such as sautéing, frying, steaming, and grilling, let's look at another factor that shapes the food we eat: the degree of processing. Cooking methods describe how we prepare our food. Processing describes how much a food has changed from its original form.
Foods in their natural state, or changed only slightly in ways that keep their nutrition intact.
How it's made: Washing, peeling, cutting, drying, freezing, natural fermenting, cold-processing, minimal pasteurization
e.g. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, eggs, fresh meat and fish, legumes, raw nuts and seeds
Foods made with simple, traditional methods and a few kitchen ingredients like salt, oil, herbs, and spices, with no artificial additives.
How it's made: Salting, pickling, fermenting with salt, baking, roasting, slow cooking, curing with natural salts
e.g. Kimchi, sauerkraut, plain yogurt, bone broth, sourdough bread, miso, aged cheese
Foods changed for convenience, shelf life, or taste that still contain recognizable whole-food ingredients.
How it's made: Pasteurization, canning, smoking, commercial freezing, vacuum sealing
e.g. Canned beans, canned fish, simple breads with few ingredients, nut butters, dark chocolate
Industrially formulated foods with multiple additives and highly refined ingredients, and little to no intact whole food.
How it's made: Extrusion, hydrogenation, bleaching, industrial emulsification, ultra-refining
e.g. Instant noodles, soft drinks, flavored chips, processed meats, mass-produced pastries
Build most of your plate from the first two groups, and let processed foods play a supporting role. When a packaged food is part of the meal, the next sections show you how to read its label.
The Nutrition Facts panel looks busy, but four spots tell you most of what you need to know.
Every number on the panel is for one serving. This pack has 8 servings, so eating the whole pack means eight times everything listed.
How much energy one serving gives you. 230 calories per serving is 1,840 calories for the whole pack.
How much of a day's worth of each nutrient one serving gives you, based on a 2,000-calorie day. Sodium at 7% DV means one serving covers 7% of the daily limit.
The amounts in grams or milligrams. Read these together with %DV to see what the food is rich or low in.
Dietary fiber at 14% makes this a good source of fiber, but added sugars at 20% make this a high-sugar food. Sodium at 7% sits in the middle. Some labels show %RENI or % Energy instead of %DV; read them the same way.
The ingredient list tells you what the food is really made of. Here is a sample from a packaged snack cake.
Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, corn syrup, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, cocoa, dextrose, salt, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, sodium benzoate, Red 40, Blue 2, milk.
The first ingredient is the largest proportion and the last is the least. If sugar is in the first three, it is a main ingredient.
Sugar hides under many names: corn syrup, dextrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, cane syrup. Watch for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils and shortening.
Colors such as Red 40 and Blue 2 are added only for appearance. Artificial flavors and preservatives are worth noticing too. The stoplight below helps you sort them.
Wheat (gluten), soy, milk, eggs, nuts, and seafood are the common ones. Gelatin is worth checking if you avoid animal products.
"Enriched" or "fortified" means vitamins and minerals were added back, often after refining removed them. It helps, but it doesn't make a food whole.
A short ingredient list made of words you recognize is a good sign. If you can picture each ingredient in your own kitchen, you're on the right track.
Additives do different jobs, and each job can be done in a natural, a processed, or an artificial way. Use this chart to sort what you find on a label. It's a guide, not a rulebook.
| Category** | NaturalGo | ProcessedSometimes | ArtificialChoose an alternative most of the time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flavor enhancers | Yeast extract, tamari, miso, kombu | Naturally fermented glutamates | MSG, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate |
| Sweeteners | Stevia, monk fruit, erythritol, coconut nectar | Polyols (sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol) in small amounts | Aspartame, sucralose, saccharin |
| Stabilizers and thickeners | Agar, pectin, konjac, gum arabic | Xanthan gum, guar gum | Carrageenan, modified starches |
| Preservatives | Vinegar, lemon juice, salt, natural acids | Sodium benzoate*, potassium sorbate | Nitrates, nitrites, sulfites |
| Emulsifiers | Egg lecithin*, sunflower lecithin* | Soy lecithin* | Polysorbates, carboxymethylcellulose (cellulose gum) |
| Colors | Beet, turmeric, paprika, annatto | Caramel color* | Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, titanium dioxide |
*To be consumed in minimal and controlled amounts.
**These are only a few examples of food additives, not a complete list.
Not to scare you, but to help you read a label. Some of this is well established, and some is still being studied.
They keep foods smooth and mixed. Studies, mostly in animals with a small human trial, suggest some synthetic emulsifiers may thin the protective mucus layer that lines the gut.
They add sweetness with no sugar, yet a human study found some may change the balance of gut bacteria.
Some are designed to stop bacteria from growing. Researchers are still learning how they affect the friendly bacteria in your gut.
They can make food so tasty that it's easy to keep eating well past the point of being full.
Indicative references: Chassaing et al., Nature 2015 and Gastroenterology 2022; Suez et al., Cell 2022; Kwon et al., Nature Communications 2022; EFSA Journal 2021.
Tick items off as they go into your basket. Your list is saved on this device.
Bring this list on your next grocery run and tick it off as you go. If you can't find something, ask our in-store nutritionist-dietitian. We're happy to walk the aisles with you.
Use our Deli Market List below. Our personal shoppers take your order by phone, with free delivery from your nearest branch.
We'll keep in touch with new recipes, workshops, and simple ways to keep going.
Page 1: chicken, beef, patties, and pork. Tap to zoom.
Page 2: seafood, sausages, eggs, ready meals, and bundles. Tap to zoom.