Why Women Struggle With Body Composition No Matter How Well They Eat: The Gut Microbiome Fix

Sims encourages finding creative ways to add vegetables, such as blending spinach or cauliflower into red sauces, or adding fruit to salads. She emphasizes variety and color across all meals, noting that whole grains and vegetables themselves provide meaningful amounts of protein. The animal or plant protein component is an 'accent' rather than the center of the plate, which naturally shifts the macronutrient balance without strict tracking.

Sims clarifies that the RDA is the 'least amount you should have to prevent malnutrition' rather than an optimal target. She walks through practical meal ideas to demonstrate how 150–170 g of protein can be achieved even on a plant-heavy or vegan diet: chia seeds and oatmeal with nut butter for breakfast; veggie-grain combinations at lunch; tofu curry at dinner. She also recommends boosting protein when the seasons change or when kids go back to school and germs proliferate, because protein bolsters immunity.

Sims cautions against saying no to a special bottle of wine or a meal while on vacation. She believes life is too short to stress about nutritional perfection every day, and that long-term consistency matters far more than short-term rigidity. The 80/20 rule allows people to enjoy holidays, school breaks, travel, and spontaneous treats without guilt, knowing the overall pattern supports their microbiome and body composition.

Sims says that when she looks at nutrition from a cellular level, she always comes back to the gut microbiome. She contends that a dysbiotic gut is a huge driving factor of poor body composition, and a diet that enhances the microbiome 'feeds forward' for both sexes to thrive. Her recommendation is to make vegetables, whole grains, and a variety of plant foods the foundation of every meal, with animal or plant protein as an accent. She encourages sneaking extra vegetables into sauces and using fruit in salads or as snacks to hit the fiber target without laborious meal prep.