The Core 4: A Simple Formula for Balanced, Energizing Meals

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by nutrition advice, you’re not alone. Between macros, calories, food rules, and trending diets, eating well can feel complicated and stressful.

That’s why I teach my clients a simple, sustainable framework called The Core 4.

It’s not a diet. It’s not restrictive.

It’s a way to build meals that support your blood sugar, energy, digestion, hormones, and long-term health — without overthinking.

Let’s break it down.

What Is the Core 4?

The Core 4 means including four essential components at every meal:

1. Protein

2. Carbohydrate

3. Fat

4. Colour (fibre + phytonutrients)

When these four are present, your meal is far more likely to:

• Keep you full and satisfied longer

• Prevent blood sugar crashes

• Reduce cravings

• Support energy and mood

• Promote stable metabolism

This is the foundation I use in clinical practice and with those that struggle with cravings, low energy, high blood sugar, weight loss goals and much more!

1. Protein – The Muscle builder & Blood Sugar Anchor

Protein slows digestion, stabilizes blood sugar, and supports muscle, hormones, and immune health.

Examples:

• Chicken, turkey, beef, fish

• Eggs

• Tofu, tempeh, lentils, beans

• Greek or dairy-free yogurt

Aim for a palm-sized portion at meals.

2. Carbohydrates – Your Brain & Body’s Preferred Fuel

Carbs are not the enemy — they are your primary energy source. The key is choosing whole, fibre-rich carbs and pairing them with protein and fat.

Examples:

• Rice, quinoa, oats

• Potatoes, sweet potatoes

• Whole grain bread, pasta

• Fruit

Think one cupped hand per meal.

3. Fat – For Hormones, Satiety, and Brain Health

Fat helps you absorb fat-soluble vitamins and keeps you satisfied.

Examples:

• Olive oil, avocado

• Nuts, seeds, seed butters

• Butter, ghee, coconut milk

Aim for a thumb-sized portion.

4. Colour – Fibre, Antioxidants & Gut Support

This is where your vegetables and fruits come in. They provide fibre for digestion and phytonutrients for inflammation, immunity, and hormone balance.

Examples:

• Leafy greens

• Bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes

• Berries, apples

Fill at least half your plate with colour.

What Happens When You Skip One?

Skipping a Core 4 element often leads to:

• Blood sugar spikes and crashes

• Energy dips

• Increased cravings

• Feeling “snacky” shortly after eating

That’s why you may feel hungry again an hour after toast alone — but not after toast with eggs, avocado, and berries.

A Simple Core 4 Example:

Breakfast:

• Scrambled eggs (protein)

• Whole grain toast (carb)

• Avocado (fat)

• Berries (colour)

Dinner:

• Salmon (protein)

• Rice (carb)

• Olive oil drizzle (fat)

• Roasted broccoli + peppers (colour)

The Takeaway

Healthy eating doesn’t need to be complicated.

When you build meals using the Core 4, you naturally support:

• Blood sugar balance

• Energy

• Hormones

• Digestion

• Long-term metabolic health

No tracking. No perfection. Just balanced meals, consistently.

If you want a more personalized plan to support your weight, blood sugar, cholesterol or cravings reach out! Or follow me on Instagram for simple, evidence-based nutrition tips.

The Gut-Brain Connection - A BIG Piece of the Puzzle

A few questions for you first - Is bloating your most prominent digestive symptom? Do your IBS symptoms worsen during periods of stress? Do you feel bloated with a certain food one day, but not another day? Do you get bloated even from water? Yes is a common answer I hear but it does not typically indicate any serious damage to the gut, or that you most definitively have SIBO. It could actually be a misfiring of signals from your gut to your brain and back…aka a gut-brain connection issue (or a disorder of gut-brain interaction - DGBI).

Bloating & Distension are Different:

Abdominal bloating and distension are 2 of the most commonly reported GI symptoms. For some they can be chronic and very uncomfortable, but for other it may be infrequent.

But there is a difference between bloating and distension! They can occur together or independently. To get technical, abdominal bloating is the subjective sensation of excess intestinal gas, but without obvious visible abdominal distension. People with bloating may feel a sense of fullness or discomfort. Abdominal distension is the objective physical manifestation of an increase in abdominal girth (aka “looking 6 months pregnant” for some). Unfortunately, because of how the health care system categorizes IBS, the differentiation is not regarded, but it can be very helpful to determine the cause of your IBS.

If you have bloating and/or distension but regular bowel movements, or if you have explored celiac testing, the lowFODMAP diet or SIBO testing and you still have bloating, it would be helpful to explore the idea of a disorder of gut-brain interaction (DGBI).

It's Not "Just in Your Head":

It’s important to understand that a DGBI is not "just in your head." While the brain and gut communicate closely, the symptoms are real and need proper management - these are gut conditions that can be affected by stress and mental health. But they are not just stress and mental health.

Think of your gut as a house and a DGBI as a highly sensitive fire alarm system. Normally, the fire alarm only goes off when there is an actual fire, alerting you to real danger. However, in DGBI, this fire alarm system is malfunctioning. It’s hypersensitive and can be triggered by everyday activities like cooking or lighting a candle, causing unnecessary panic and stress. Just as you would need to fix a malfunctioning fire alarm, DGBI requires a tailored approach to manage the symptoms and improve your quality of life.

What can help?

There are several things we need to explore in order to calm this hypersensitivity and correct a DGBI. Everyone in unique of course so unraveling the trigger and make the correction does need an individual approach. Do we need to start with correcting any imbalance of gut bacteria? Or does daily stress and anxiety have a bigger impact on your gut symptoms. These are things I love to explore with people.

For the Love of Fibre!

Chances are that someone has told you at one point in your life that you need to eat more fibre.

Maybe you tried to do so and you got constipated or you ended up farting a lot! Or maybe you tried decided to give up because it was too hard.

Well whatever the reason, here are a few fibre tips that can help make increasing fibre a little easier on the digestive system!

#1 - Soak your beans!

• Beans aren’t called the magical fruit for nothing! Beans, which can be a great source of fibre, contain a carb called raffinose. Raffinose can be a bit harder to break down in our digestive systems, which means that our gut bacteria get a lovely meal! When our gut bacteria snack on things they produce gas! Now we do need to show them love, but it can be uncomfortable when you get a bout of wind at Sunday dinner over baked beans!

• In order to help reduce the raffinose load a dose of baked beans or bean salad provides us, we need to soak the beans first! They can be soaked for a few hours or overnight. This will help hydrate them and reduce the gas producing raffinose snack without impacting the overall nutrition of the beans!

#2 - Fruits contain fibre too!

• Whole fruits can have more sugar in them than their vegetable counterparts, but wapping in some fruit for dessert or part of snack time can add in some more fibre to your day!

• Notably high fibre fruits include: pears, citrus (eating the whole inside not just the juice), berries, apples, avocado, kiwis, bananas

#3 - Baked goods and ground meat!

• Shredded vegetables like zucchini, mushrooms and carrot can be added to baked goods and ground meat dishes without altering the flavour too much!

• So making meatballs or cooking ground meat for tacos? try shredding in some zucchini or dicing mushrooms to add some extra fibre in!

• Making muffins? try added zucchini or carrot to give not only extra flavour but also extra moisture!

There are tons of ways to make fibre fun! What do you like to do to add more fibre? I would love to know!

Dr Paige

Blueberry Oatmeal Flax Muffins - aka "Mary's Poop Muffins"

I may sound like a broken record to my patients lately regarding fibre intake, however this is such an important component in our diet that most people are lacking in. When it comes to digestive issues many patients of mine are actually avoiding fibre rich foods as it is causing GI distress. They may be on the lowFODMAP diet, recommended to them by their MD or through online research, which is a low fibre diet. This should only be used short term for symptom relief while we treat the root cause, as like I said before fibre is very important for overall digestive health.

Low fibre intake can present as constipation, other digestive issues and even food cravings.

Most people are getting on average 15g of fibre a day, while the recommendation is 25-35g a day! This is one draw back to easy convenient meals we gravitate towards with our busy lives. Less plants, less beans, less complex carbs that take longer to cook = less fibre.
There are many ways to increase fibre intake, including more plants, beans and legumes, complex carbs, ground flax, chia or psyllium powder. What can you add to your diet this week? It may be one of these delicious fibre rich muffins that really do help you poop!

Examples of healthy fibre rich foods:

• 1/2 cup oats = 4g

• 1 tbsp ground flax seed = 2g; 1 tbsp chia seeds = 6g

• 1 apple = 4-5g

• 1/2 cup lentils - 7g

• 1 medium sweet potato - 3-5g

• 1 tbsp psyllium powder - 5g

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter (or vegan butter)

• 1 cup oats

• 1/2 cup ground flax seed

• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

• 1 egg

• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup dairy free milk + 1 tbsp vinegar, left to sit for a few minutes)

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 3/4 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour (or gluten free flour eg. Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free baking flour)

• 1 cup blueberries

Mix all ingredients in order they are listed. Fill 12 muffin cups using muffin liner. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.