Stop Overthinking Nutrition, Eat Like This Instead | Monday Moments - The Michael Chernow Podcast

Summary4 min read

Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: Kreatures Of Habit Podcast
Host: Michael Chernow
Episode Title: Stop Overthinking Nutrition, Eat Like This Instead | Monday Moments
Date: January 19, 2026

Episode Overview

In this solo "Monday Moments" episode, Michael Chernow tackles the confusion and stress surrounding day-to-day nutrition. With the new year prompting many to adopt complex or extreme dietary habits, Michael argues that simple, consistent routines are not only effective but also sustainable. He breaks down his personal nutrition habits, shares the philosophy behind them, and encourages listeners to embrace structure and discipline without perfectionism or over-complication.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Nutrition Doesn’t Need to Be Complicated

Michael addresses the overwhelming plethora of nutritional advice, diets, and protocols in the wellness space.
He advocates for a simple structure of eating centered around breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, emphasizing the importance of consistency over trendy extremes.

“It does not have to be as difficult as it seems... At the end of the day nutrition can be simplified... I'm here to tell you that you have everything you need to stick to a plan.”
— Michael Chernow [03:35]

2. Michael’s Day-to-Day Eating Template

Breakfast: Always eat it; don’t stress about fasting or skipping. Michael recommends his own product, “Meal One,” for a balanced, no-brainer start to the day.
Morning Snack: He typically eats a Daily Bar (his brand’s protein bar) or, previously, meat sticks.
Lunch: Prepped protein (bison, venison, turkey), complex carbs (potatoes, quinoa, root veggies), and greens.
Afternoon Snack: Usually a second protein bar or meat stick.
Dinner: 6–8 oz protein, a large salad with avocado, sometimes an egg, low carbs, and a focus on protein and fat.

“Day to day nutrition, just eat breakfast. Fuck what everybody else says, eat breakfast.”
— Michael Chernow [08:12]

Michael structures his meals to provide ~150–160g protein per day (~2000 calories), suitable for active individuals.

3. Embrace Routine, But Allow Flexibility

Michael admits he “cheats” on weekends (e.g., burgers and fries with his kids), underscoring that an 80/20 approach and flexibility are healthy and sustainable.

“Do I, quote, unquote, cheat at times? Absolutely... Like, on the weekend, if I want to have a burger and fries with my kids... Hell yes. 100%... You should, too.”
— Michael Chernow [23:25]

4. Why Extreme Diets Aren’t for Everyone

Michael has tried various extreme approaches (water fasts, fasting-mimicking) out of personal interest, but underscores that most people are better off with regular, balanced meals.
He warns against protocols that create more stress and aren’t sustainable for the individual.

5. Portion Control, Not Perfection

He suggests measuring portions when first starting to get a sense of what balanced meals should look like, but cautions against developing a restrictive, obsessive mindset.
The key is learning, not perfection or constant tracking.

6. Discipline as a Life Skill

Michael acknowledges that discipline is essential in nutrition—as in any area that breeds greatness.
Sticking to simple meal patterns is both achievable and empowering, teaching valuable lessons in commitment.

“Discipline is required for anything that greatness comes out of. It just does. But you have it... You really do.”
— Michael Chernow [06:45]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the endless debate over protocols:

“Should I fast? Should I not fast? Intermittent fast? What time should I eat? How should I eat? How should I—just eat breakfast.”
— Michael Chernow [08:37]
On handling temptation and social situations:

“You really want to stick to it because you think there’s something there for you on the other side... If not like losing weight or getting in better shape, knowing that you have the ability to commit and discipline.”
— Michael Chernow [06:15]
On the impetus behind his Daily Bar:

“We launched it in November and it is out there kicking ass and taking names. It is a 20 gram plant based protein bar with no garbage... chocolate peanut butter banger and cookie dough dazzler.”
— Michael Chernow [14:42]

Timestamps for Key Segments

[03:35] — Simplifying Nutrition: Why we don’t need to make it complicated
[06:15] — The power and meaning of discipline in nutrition
[08:12] — Michael’s core advice: “Just eat breakfast”
[13:20] — Description of Michael’s breakfast, snacks, and meal system
[14:42] — The Daily Bar: Michael’s new protein bar
[18:00] — Lunch breakdown: Protein, carbs, greens
[23:25] — On not being perfect: “Cheat” meals and living life
[27:30] — Calorie and protein breakdown for simple meal planning
[29:10] — Final recap: The value of routine, food quality, and not over-complicating eating

Tone and Style

Michael Chernow’s delivery is energetic, direct, and personable, peppered with enthusiasm and the occasional expletive. He balances authoritative advice with relatability, offering both actionable strategies and the reassurance that imperfection is part of life.

Summary Takeaway

Michael Chernow’s core message is that nutrition doesn’t need to be a source of daily stress. Build a simple structure—three balanced meals, one or two protein-rich snacks, with a focus on real whole foods. Allow for occasional indulgence, measure portions just long enough to learn, and use discipline as a tool for empowerment, not restriction. Above all: don’t overthink it. Eat breakfast, stick to your plan, and be kind to yourself in the process.

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Day to day nutrition, just eat breakfast. Ideally that breakfast is made simple with meal one. This is what we built our business on. Then you have a snack in between breakfast and lunch. We happen to have launched the Daily bar. It is a 20 gram plant based protein bar with no garbage. It is clean, no seed oils, no sugar, alcohols, non GMO, gluten free, dairy free. It also has 3 grams of creatine in it. Lunch for me typically consists of animal protein, some sort of complex carbohydrate, whether that is sweet potatoes, whether that is regular potatoes, quinoa and some and some greens. Simple, really easy. In between lunch and dinner, guess what? I have another snack. So I eat two daily bars. They're giving me 40 grams of protein between the two of them and 6 grams of creatine, which is my perfect creatine dose for the day. Me personally, dinner is at 6 o' clock every night and it typically consists of somewhere between 6 and 8 ounces of protein. And I, I tend to not eat many carbohydrates at dinner. I have like a big salad, avocado, I'll throw an egg on, on that protein. At night I like to have protein and fat as my last meal typically and some greens. And I keep it very, very simple that way. And that is just like how I eat on a regular basis. An entrepreneur straight out of New York City, Michael Chernow. What's cracking. Family, Creatures of habit, Community. It is another Monday moment and obviously in the new year we've been talking a lot about some habits, New Year's resolutions. There's things to stay exact, things to try. But I also want to talk about nutrition. Nutrition, nutrition. What do I do? Why is nutrition so difficult? Why are there so many different things to do, ways to eat, protocols to try so many different things? What's right for you? What's not right for you? What, what should I do? What, what are you doing? I just want to put it out there that it does not have to be as difficult as it seems. And what makes nutrition good for some people, not work for others is when you try some kind of extreme diet protocol. Like some people really will not respond well to a ketogenic diet. Some people really will not respond well to a carnivore diet. Some people don't want to put in the energy to do an elimination diet because it's really, really hard. Now I think it's interesting and fun for me. I love trying all those different things out. But at the end of the day nutrition can be simplified and I'M here to tell you that you have everything you need to stick to a plan. It is going to require work and discipline. It just is. But discipline is required for anything that that greatness comes out of. It just does. But you have it. You have, you have what it is. You have what it. What is needed. You really do. You could say no. It's hard, right? You're sitting at the dinner table, you're at your friend's place, you've committed to, you know, sticking, staying away from refined sugar. And you guys all eat dinner, and then after dinner, all the cakes and desserts and all that stuff comes out and you've made this decision and you really want to stick to it because you think there's something there for you on the other side. Chances are you're right. If not like losing weight or getting in better shape, knowing that you have the ability to commit and discipline. So nutrition teaches us so much. But I want to kind of try to. I would like to try to simplify nutrition for you in a way that I have implemented nutrition into my life. And yes. Do I try things throughout the year? I sure do. You know, do I? Do I. Am I going about to try this really cool, fasting, mimicking diet for five days to, like, reset my system? Yeah, I'm gonna try that. I'm excited to try that. Did I do multiple water fasts last year to try and see if it was something that I would feel differently on the other side of? I sure as hell did. Did they suck? Yes. Were they hard? Absolutely. Was it awesome to know that I have the discipline to do it? Hell yeah. Like, yes. People roll their eyes, oh, my God, this guy. Five day water fast. Like, why would you ever do that? Because I want to see what I have. I want to see what I'm made of. And you can use nutrition that way too. But I just want again, let me, let me. I'm like going off in a couple of different directions here. Day to day nutrition, eat breakfast. Fuck what everybody else says, eat breakfast. It's just a decision that you shouldn't have to be battling over. Should I fast? Should I not fast? Intermittent fast? What time should I eat? How should I eat? What should I eat? How should I just eat breakfast, wake up, drink some water, give your body a little bit of time, maybe a half an hour, 45 minutes, and then have breakfast. Because it's a decision that you can confidently make. And if you eat the right thing for breakfast, you're golden, you're good. It's going to give you energy. It's going to, it's going to give you, it's going to nurture your body. Have breakfast, don't starve yourself. It's not necessary. So have breakfast. Ideally that breakfast is made simple with meal one. Right? Like this is what we built our business on. Helping people make these easy decisions first thing in the morning so that you don't have to think about it. The perfect nutrition of between carbohydrates, protein and fat to get your day going. No brainer, seamless, simple, easy. Get that decision out of the way. Don't waste any more time thinking about it. Have breakfast. Okay. Then you have a snack in between breakfast and lunch. Now for years and years that snack for me was always meat sticks. I would have meat sticks and then every once in a while I would have a protein bar. I never had a protein bar that I really loved. So most of the time it was just meat sticks for me. And did that get boring sometimes? Does everything in my life need to be like extremely exciting? No. Like I want fuel that's going to make me feel good and look good. So have a snack between breakfast and lunch. We happen to have launched the Daily Bar. I don't know if you've heard about it, you might have seen it, you might have tried it. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend trying it. It is an unbelievable protein bar. I spent two years working on it. We launched it in November and it is out there kicking ass and taking names. It is a 20 gram plant based protein bar with no garbage. It is clean, no seed oils, no sugar, alcohols, non gmo, gluten free, dairy free. It's delicious. We made it in two flavors. Chocolate peanut butter banger and cookie dough. Dazzler will have a third flavor coming out soon. But that is an amazing, easy, super satiating snack to have between breakfast and dinner. I mean breakfast and lunch. And it also has 3 grams of creatine in it. So you can get your, your, your creatine dose in by, by using the deli bar. So for me I typically have breakfast, I'm up early, I like to train fasted most of the time so I'm up early. So I do get right into the gym after doing some morning routine stuff and then right after I'm done I have my first meal of the day probably around 7:30, 8 o' clock, which is my meal one. At around 10:30 I have a daily bar and then at 1 o' clock I have lunch. What do you know? Breakfast snack Lunch, Lunch for me typically consists of animal protein. Either ground bison, ground venison or a venison patty. A bison patty. Typically I stick to bison and venison. Sometimes I'll have ground turkey. So I'll have turkey, either ground or in a patty. But it's either one of those three things, venison, bison or turkey. And then I have about five to six ounces of that at lunch and I prep that on Sundays. I make food prep on Sundays for my lunches every single day. And it typically consists of animal protein, some sort of complex carbohydrate, whether that is sweet potatoes, whether that is regular potatoes, quinoa. Sometimes I use rice, not all the time, but it's either, it's typically quinoa potatoes or sweet potatoes or root vegetables, a bunch of root vegetables and, and some, and some greens. Simple, really easy. So that is my lunch that I have, that I prepare for myself on, you know, on a daily basis. And then in between lunch and dinner, guess what? I have another snack. I have another snack and it's either these days I've been eating two daily bars a day just cause they're so damn good and they're actually a filling, satiating snack. So I eat two daily bars. They're giving me 40 grams of protein between the two of them and six grams of creatine one, which is my perfect creatine dose for the day. Me personally, some people like 3 grams, some people like 5 to 5 to 10 grams. I like, you know, just over 5 grams of creatine is great for me on a daily basis. And so I no longer have to use creatine. I, I, I, I, I get my creatine through the daily bar. But if two daily bars is too much for you on a daily basis, then then you know, a meat stick is a, is a great alternative. And sometimes I will just have meat sticks and not a second daily bar. Dinner is at 6 o' clock every night and it typically consists of somewhere between 6 and 8 ounces of protein. And I tend to not eat many carbohydrates at dinner. I have like a big salad, avocado. I haven't, I'll throw an egg on that protein. At night I like to have protein and fat as my last meal typically and some greens. And I keep it very, very simple that way. And that is just like how I eat on a regular basis. Do I, do I do, do I quote, unquote cheat at times? Absolutely. Like on the weekend if I want to have a burger and fries with my kids and I take them to the diner that we love to go to as, as my son and you know, father and sons, like, we go to the diner and they get mozzarella sticks and I get a big fat cheeseburger. Hell yeah. Hell yes. 100% New Year's or not. Like, I'm still going to do that. And you should too. But on a regular basis, you have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Traditionally those meals are each going to be somewhere around 500 calories. And then a meal, a snack should be somewhere between 150 to 300 calories. The daily bar is 250 calories. It gets you, you know, it's, it's 20 grams of protein per, per calorie. So if I'm getting, if I'm getting somewhere between 30 and 50 calories, 30 and 50 grams of protein in my breakfast, lunch and dinner, which I traditionally am, let' say 40 for playing it safe. So 40, 80, 120. And then I get 20 grams of protein with my daily bar, 140 and 20 grams of protein with my, my, my daily bar or, or 10 grams of protein with a meat stick. Somewhere between 150 and 160 grams of protein a day. That's what I get, about 2,000 calories. It's simple. It's simple, it's not complicated. And we like to complicate it because we think that eating all of this thing and none of that is the way to go. I just think that breakfast, lunch and dinner with two snacks in between keeps you full all day long. And this one big meal a day or fasting until 3 o' clock and then eating like an animal between 3 and 7, like it just doesn't, I just, you know, don't put that much pressure on yourself. Commit to breakfast, lunch and dinner. Commit to real food. Commit to breakfast, lunch and dinner with a snack or breakfast, lunch and dinner with two snacks, depending on how much you move your body. It's just an easier way to think about nutrition. So I went on a little rant there. But I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be as difficult and as challenging and as hard as you think it is. And you don't have to worry about like measuring everything and calculating everything. Maybe you measure out in the beginning just so you can understand. With 5 to 7, 5 to 6 ounces of protein looks like, and 5 ounces of, of, of carbohydrates with potatoes or whatever, you just get a little understanding of like what they look like, what the portions look like, and then you're good. Don't, don't. Don't drive yourself crazy. Move your body. Eat well. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Stop trying to figure it out. Just breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A snack or two in between. You're good. That's a plan to stick to for the new year. That's my plan. I've been doing that forever, forever, forever. And I'm proud of the body I've built. I just am. So I hope this one took a little of the pressure off of you. If you're. If you're. If you're trying to figure out how to. How to be your best self in 2026, and it's going to be all about no refined sugar, no gluten, no dairy, intermittent fasting for 14 hours a day, and, like, go for that, too. Try it. But I'm just here to tell you that you can always fall back on the breakfast, lunch, dinner, one or two snacks a day, 500 calories per meal, 250, 100, 150 to 300 calorie snack in between. Keep yourself satiated throughout the day. You're not going to have cravings. You're not going to feel starving. You're not going to want to gorge when you get home from work. All right, y', all, I love you. Enough out of me. Peace.