Every week someone asks me which diet is best. Keto. Carnivore. Paleo. Mediterranean. Atkins. Vegan. Intermittent fasting.

The debate usually centers around carbs, fat, meal timing, or calories. But that’s not where I’d start.

Look at those eating plans when they’re done well, and you’ll notice something interesting. Most of them are built around real food.

Whether it’s meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, or other minimally processed foods, they all move people away from the same things: ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, and the endless convenience foods that have become staples in the American diet.

We spend so much time arguing over the 10% where these diets disagree that we completely ignore the 90% where they overlap.

When I lost 92 pounds, I wasn’t searching for the perfect diet. I eventually started eating food that my great-grandparents would have recognized as food. Everything else became much easier after that.

Before you worry about whether keto is better than Mediterranean, or whether you should fast until noon, ask yourself a simpler question:

How much of what I ate today came from a plant or an animal… and how much came from a factory?