Nutrition Hack 3 Getting Clean from the Inside Out

The “Clean Eating” Trap: Why Perfection is Making You Sick (and Fat): In a world obsessed with optimization, “good enough” might actually be the secret to living to 100.

By Dr. Graham Jenkins

Introduction: The January Trap

It happens every single year.

The calendar flips. The holiday decorations go back into the attic. And suddenly, millions of people decide that this is the year they will be perfect.

We clear out the pantries. We buy the expensive supplements. We download the apps that track every single calorie, macro, and micro-nutrient. We commit to a standard of “clean living” that is so high, an Olympic athlete would struggle to maintain it.

And for about two weeks, we feel virtuous.

But then, life happens. A business trip comes up. The kids get sick. You get stuck late at the office and the only thing open is a drive-thru.

You eat the “bad” food. And instantly, the guilt sets in. You feel like you failed. And because you “failed,” you figure you might as well give up entirely.

This cycle—the sprint toward perfection followed by the crash of guilt—is not just annoying. It is dangerous.

It is 2026. We have more data about health than at any point in human history. But we also have more anxiety.

At 100+ Living, we believe that longevity shouldn’t be a source of stress. It should be a source of joy. If your quest for health is making you miserable, you are doing it wrong.

Today, we are going to talk about Hack #3 of the 100+ Living Nutrition Plan. But before we get to the food, we have to fix the mindset. We need to be absolutely clear on the difference between practical progression and perfection.

The High Cost of “Perfect”

There is a silent epidemic happening in the wellness world. It isn’t just obesity or diabetes; it is something psychological.

Some researchers and nutritionists set the “clean living” bar so unrealistically high that the average family could never attain it. It would be a full-time job just shopping in specialty stores to find “perfectly clean” products that meet every single criteria.

This is a recipe for Decision Fatigue.

Your brain only has a certain amount of “fuel” for making decisions each day. If you burn all that fuel worrying about whether your almonds were soaked and sprouted or if your spinach was harvested by the light of a full moon, you have no energy left for the things that truly matter—like your relationships, your work, and your purpose.

But it can get worse. This obsession can lead to a condition psychologists call Orthorexia Nervosa. [1]

Orthorexia is an obsessive-compulsive disorder where someone develops a phobia of eating foods that aren’t “completely clean.”

Unlike Anorexia, which is an obsession with quantity (calories), Orthorexia is an obsession with quality.

Orthorexics spend hours each day thinking about what they will eat. Their meals are planned with military precision. They seek out products billed as healthy, without a trace of preservatives, fat, sugar, or salt. Some go so far as to invent their own rigid dietary rules to determine what is “safe” and what is “toxic.”

Here is what that looks like in real life:

They can’t eat at a friend’s house because they don’t know what oil was used.
They travel with a “first-aid kit” of permissible foods because they are terrified of restaurant food.
They often develop a quiet contempt for others. They feel morally superior to the people eating the burger or the slice of cake.

But here is the irony: The stress of trying to be perfect is often more toxic than the food itself.

When you are in a state of anxiety about your food, your body releases cortisol. This is your primary stress hormone.

Cortisol does three things that ruin your health goals:

It shuts down digestion. (Your body thinks it is in a fight, so it stops processing food).
It increases inflammation. (The root cause of aging).
It signals your body to store fat. (Specifically around the belly).

So, you could be eating the most perfect, organic, hand-massaged kale salad in the world. But if you are eating it while stressed out about whether it is “perfect,” your body is treating it like junk food.

This is not what we are about at 100+ Living.

The 90:10 Rule: Sanity for the Long Haul

Balance in life doesn’t always allow us to drive all over town to three different grocery stores. We absolutely need to keep things in perspective so we don’t become neurotic and alienate our friends.

If we are doing things right, our friends should want to follow what we are doing, rather than be offended by a “holier than thou” attitude.

I am a big believer in the 90:10 Rule.

You might hear the “80/20 rule” (the Pareto Principle) in business. But when it comes to longevity, I like to shoot for 90% of my nutritional choices being spot-on.

Why 90%? Because if I aim for 80%, I tend to slip. 80% quickly becomes 60%, and then I lose the momentum. But 90% keeps me dialed in, while leaving just enough wiggle room for life.

What does 90:10 look like?

It means that 90% of the time—when I am at home, when I am in control, when I am doing my weekly prep—I load up on veggies. I eat clean protein. I skip the processed sugars. I follow the Fuel strategies in the 100+ Living Planner.

But the other 10%? That is for reality.

If I am at a friend’s house for a dinner party, I eat what they serve. I don’t give the hostess a lecture on gluten. I enjoy the meal and the company.
If I am on a business trip and the airport restaurant only has starchy sides, I don’t give the waitress the “evil eye.” I eat the best option available and move on.
It leaves room for frozen yogurt with my kids a couple of times a summer.
It leaves room for the occasional brownie at my business partner’s house (because his wife seriously makes the best brownies on the planet).

This approach prevents the “binge-purge” cycle. Because nothing is strictly “forbidden,” you don’t obsess over it. You simply make the best choice you can, 90% of the time.

Sourcing: Organic, Local, and the Budget Reality of 2026

Now that we have the mindset fixed, let’s talk about the food itself.

One of the biggest barriers I hear from patients is cost. “Dr. Jenkins, I want to eat clean, but have you seen the price of groceries lately?”

I get it. In 2026, the cost of living is real. But we have to look at value, not just price.

We use a simple hierarchy in our home:

Nutrient Density (Quality).
Local.
Organic.

We eat organic as much as we can. But we WILL NOT substitute locally grown produce for organic produce shipped from 3,000 miles away.

Why? Because food loses nutrients the longer it sits on a truck. A non-organic apple picked yesterday at an orchard in the Okanagan Valley likely has more vitality and nutrients than an organic apple picked three weeks ago in New Zealand and shipped here in a dark container. [2]

The Budget Strategy

Some weeks, our grocery trip is all about what’s affordable. That is reality.

Yes, it is important to prioritize food quality. But there are some shopping trips where the less expensive option has to win. The key is: Where are your priorities?

For us, having quality food is more important than the latest iPhone. It is more important than a new car every three years. It is more important than a premium cable package.

If you catch yourself saying, “Organic, clean foods are too expensive,” I challenge you to look at your credit card statement. Where is the money going?

Practical Ways to Save in 2026:

The “Seconds” Bin: Get familiar with your local farmers. Ask them about their “seconds.” These are the vegetables that are misshapen, slightly bruised, or “ugly.” They don’t sell for top dollar, so farmers are often glad to sell them in bulk for cheap. They taste exactly the same.
Buy in Bulk & Preserve: When berries are in season in BC, we buy them by the crate. We freeze them. We preserve them. We eat like kings in January because we planned ahead in July.
The “Clean 15” and “Dirty Dozen”: You don’t have to buy everything organic. Focus your money on the “Dirty Dozen” (foods with the most pesticides, like strawberries and spinach). Save your money on the “Clean 15” (foods with thick skins, like avocados and onions, which don’t need to be organic). [3]

Just Google “How to Save Money on Going Organic” and you will find a thousand lists. The information is out there. The hard part is changing your habits.

Building Your Tribe Through Food

This brings us to one of the most powerful tenets of 100+ Living: Relationships.

In the Blue Zones, people almost never eat alone. Eating is a communal act. It is a time to bond, to share stories, and to slow down.

But in North America, we often eat alone in our cars or standing over the sink.

Here is a radical idea for 2026: Make food the center of your community.

Every family is unique, but you never know who else in your circle is trying to move toward clean nutrition. You likely have a neighbor or a close friend who is struggling with the same things you are.

Partner Up:

Share a “Cow”: Find a local rancher who raises grass-fed beef. It is expensive to buy one steak at the store. It is incredibly cheap to buy a quarter or half a cow directly from the farmer. Find three friends, split the cost, and fill your freezers for the year.
Bulk Buy Groups: Go to the farmer’s market together. Buy the 50lb bag of potatoes or carrots and split it.
Canning Parties: If preserving food sounds daunting, do it together. One person brings the jars, one brings the fruit, and you spend a Saturday afternoon talking, laughing, and working.

Some of us don’t do it for the food; we do it for the relationship, and we get the benefit of the food as a bonus.

This takes food from being a “chore” to being a “ritual.” And rituals are what sustain us.

The “Body Guard”: Why Toxins Make You Fat

Finally, I want to explain why this matters. Why go through the effort of eating clean 90% of the time?

It isn’t just about calories. It is about defense.

We live in a toxic world. There are chemicals in our water, pollutants in our air, and additives in our processed foods. These chemicals are called Xenobiotics.

Here is the scary part: Many of these toxins are Lipophilic. That means “fat-loving.” [4]

When you ingest pesticides, preservatives, or plastic chemicals, your body views them as a threat. It knows that if these toxins get into your brain or your vital organs, you will die.

So, your body activates a defense mechanism. It needs a safe place to store these poisons where they won’t hurt you.

What is the safest storage locker in the body? Fat cells.

Your body will actually create new fat cells specifically to wrap up these toxins and wall them off from your system. This is why some researchers call these chemicals “Obesogens.” They literally generate obesity as a survival strategy. [5]

The Defensive Cycle:

You eat toxic, processed food.
Your body senses the poison.
Your body creates fat to store the poison.
You try to lose weight by dieting (cutting calories).
You burn the fat, releasing the toxin back into your blood.
Your body panics, lowers your metabolism, and makes you hungry so you gain the fat back to re-trap the toxin.

This is why “calories in, calories out” fails for so many people. If you are toxic, your body needs the fat to survive.

Getting Clean Stops the War.

When you switch to clean, whole foods (90% of the time), you stop the influx of toxins. Your body no longer needs to be defensive.

It realizes, “Hey, the war is over. I don’t need these fat storage bunkers anymore.”

And suddenly, the weight starts to fall off. Not because you starved yourself, but because you made your body safe.

The Neurology Connection

This all circles back to the core of what we do at the 100+ Living Health Centre: The Nervous System.

Your brain is the most sensitive organ in your body. It is protected by the Blood-Brain Barrier. But that barrier isn’t perfect.

If your toxic load gets too high, those chemicals affect your neurology. They cause brain fog. They slow down your reflexes. They interfere with the signals traveling down your spine.

At the same time, the stress of trying to be “perfect” keeps your nervous system in a sympathetic (fight or flight) state. You cannot heal in a sympathetic state. You cannot digest in a sympathetic state.

We want you in a Parasympathetic state. This is the “Rest and Digest” mode.

Eating clean foods reduces chemical stress on the nerves.
Eating with friends (Tribe) releases oxytocin, which calms the nerves.
Accepting “good enough” (90:10) reduces mental stress.

See how it all connects?

Conclusion: Counter-Culture but Science-Backed

So that’s it. Hack #3 isn’t a specific diet. It is a philosophy.

Ditch Perfection: It leads to Orthorexia and stress.
Embrace 90:10: Consistency over intensity.
Prioritize Quality: Nutrient density first, local second, organic third.
Build a Tribe: Eat with others. Share the load.
Understand the “Why”: You are detoxing your body so it doesn’t need to hold onto protective fat.

These 100+ Living hacks are counter-culture. The world wants you to be obsessive, buy expensive pre-packaged “diet foods,” and isolate yourself.

We want you to eat real food, with real people, with a smile on your face.

When you do that, you keep the main system—your brain and nervous system—healthy. And when the master controller is happy, the other 9 organ systems (and your waistline) will take care of themselves.

References:

Dunn, T. M., & Bratman, S. (2016). On orthorexia nervosa: A review of the literature and proposed diagnostic criteria. Eating Behaviors, 21, 11-17.
Baranski, M., et al. (2014). Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses. British Journal of Nutrition, 112(5), 794-811.
Environmental Working Group. (2025). EWG’s 2025 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Washington, DC.
Genkinger, J. M., & Koushik, A. (2017). Body weight and variability of blood levels of persistent organic pollutants. Epidemiology, 28(1), 16-18.
Grün, F., & Blumberg, B. (2009). Endocrine disruptors as obesogens. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 304(1-2), 19-29.
Holt-Lunstad, J. (2018). The potential public health relevance of social isolation and loneliness. Annual Review of Public Health, 39, 401-419.

About Dr. Graham Jenkins

Dr. Graham Jenkins is a chiropractor, longevity strategist, and the founder of the 100+ Living Health Centres. With over three decades of clinical experience, he is dedicated to helping patients correct their posture, restore their function, and design a life of purpose without relying on pharmaceuticals or surgery. He lives in the Okanagan Valley, where he works tirelessly to turn the region into the world’s next “Blue Zone.” He is the author of the 100+ Living book series and a passionate advocate for the principle that fitness and function are for everyone, at every age.