Our Journey Through Nutrition

Experience doesn't automatically translate to a great teacher. But without experience, it's much harder to provide guidance, especially for something as intimate & personal as food. We haven't tried every single diet humans have drummed up, but between the two of us, Karli & I have experimented with most diets that are popular today. The sum of our experiences greatly influences Hi Energy’s core dietary principles.

A sampling of today's mainstream diets*:

Standard American Diet (SAD):

Karli fell into a typical pattern of quick frozen meals & dining out 4-6 times a week during the stressful routine of college & the full time work that followed. Fatigue, chronic sinus inflammation, & weight gain started to creep in. As the acronym suggests, the SAD made Karli feel sad.

'Healthy' American Diet:

Most of Alex's life mirrored the diet of somebody uniquely interested in making healthy choices while still listening to conventional nutrition advice - Extremely heavy on produce, lots of whole grains, some animal products, & the occasional homemade treat.

High carb:

As a competitive athlete in High School & college, Alex adhered to the conventional wisdom of high carb-powered workouts & competitions. At the time this worked ok, but Alex feels that he is a far better athlete now (following Hi Energy’s principles) than he ever was as a competitive collegiate athlete.

Keto: 

Alex instigated a mutual switch to keto to (successfully) heal lower back pain & a plethora of other aches that surfaced after transitioning into casual weight lifting.

Atkins:

We quickly shifted from keto to an Atkins-style diet (more protein) once Alex's back pain subsided.

Mediterranean:

Much of our keto experience trended towards Mediterranean principles: Fruits, veggies, olives, olive oil, nuts, fish, chicken, & dairy. Note: Traditional Mediterranean cuisine has little resemblance to today's diet with the same name.

Low-FODMAP:

Alex struggled for multiple years with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) & Gut Dysbiosis. We both ate low FODMAP (Karli out of support) during the most severe symptoms & the first portion of recovery. This diet can be helpful for symptom management, but it often leaves you nutrient deficient if don't address the root causes.

Gluten Free:

Alex also tested ‘sensitive’ to gluten during his SIBO diagnostic journey. After cutting out gluten, Karli also discovered that she had a sensitivity. Update: After following Hi Energy's principles we have both been able to add back in select sources of gluten with no negative effects!

Intermittent Fasting:

Karli has (mostly inadvertently) done shorter term fasts up to about 18 hours. Alex has extensive experience with 16-24 hour fasts.

3-Day fast:

Alex successfully completed his first 3-day fast (Nov. 2024).

High Protein:

Protein & frozen veggies are often the only non-highly processed foods available in rural food deserts. For this reason we skewed high protein periodically during our 3 years traveling in our campervan. 

Pescatarian:

Alex's mom took the mad cow disease scare of the early 2000's quite seriously.

Vegetarian:

We've never been fully vegetarian, but we have had periods of extremely high intakes of fresh salads & roasted veggies - Especially when they are in season & cheap. We now believe that while it may be possible to obtain complete nutrition as a vegetarian, it requires lots of sprouting, fermenting, intricate food pairing, and likely supplementation to be truly successful. Most people don't have the time nor bandwidth to pull that off.

Vegan:

Nope. We admire anybody that is putting in significant effort to advocate for their own health & the health of our planet. However, we believe that it's close to impossible to be truly healthy long-term on a strict vegan diet without significant & strategic supplementation. We're not comfortable providing vegan meal plans as we believe that they won't meet all of your core nutritional needs. 

Paleo and Whole30:

The evolution of Hi Energy has often closely mirrored the tenants of both paleo & Whole30 - Though we do periodically enjoy many of the 'forbidden' items when prepared correctly such as dairy, traditional sourdough or sprouted grain bread, & the occasional alcoholic beverage.

Hi Energy:

We feel more energetic in our thirties than we ever did in our twenties! All of Hi Energy’s Core Principles, while 'strict' about a single ingredient category (seed oils), leave plenty of room for significant flexibility. There is no one size fits all perfect diet. Hi energy’s dietary principles allow you to design a way of eating that feels exciting, indulgent, & sustainable for YOU.

*We don't consider Hi Energy a diet. Yes, we eliminate toxic foods. Yes, those looking to lose weight sometimes reduce calories. But our overall focus is on energizing the body & brain through deep nutrition. It’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle.