Suzanne's Clean Eating Principles: What She Eats Every Day and Why

Suzanne Somers clean eating is not a fad, a trend, or something I picked up from a magazine. It is a philosophy I have lived by for more than thirty years — and it is the single most important thing I have done for my health, my energy, and my weight. The principle is simple: eat real food, combine it correctly, and stop feeding your body things it was never designed to process. That is it. Everything else follows from that.

Why I Started Eating Clean — and Never Stopped

I did not arrive at clean eating from a place of wellness. I arrived at it from a place of desperation. In my forties, I was exhausted, gaining weight despite eating what I thought was a reasonable diet, and getting advice from doctors that amounted to "eat less, exercise more." That advice failed me completely.

What changed everything was understanding that not all calories behave the same way in the body, and that the combination of foods you eat matters as much as the foods themselves. When I developed SomerSize — my food-combining approach — I lost weight, my energy stabilized, and for the first time in years I felt like myself again. That was in the early 1990s. I have not looked back.

The research has only gotten more compelling over time. We now know that ultra-processed foods trigger the same reward pathways in the brain as addictive substances. We know that added sugars drive chronic inflammation. We know that the gut microbiome — home to roughly 70 percent of the immune system — is directly shaped by what we eat. These are not soft claims. They are documented, replicated findings. And they confirm what I experienced in my own body long before the research caught up.

The Core Suzanne Somers Clean Eating Principles

Here is how I actually eat. Not a program. Not a phase. Just how I have lived for decades.

1. Real food, always. Processed food, never.

The first question I ask about anything on my plate is: did this come from the earth or an animal, and is it still recognizable? If I cannot trace it back to a real source — a vegetable, a fruit, a cut of meat, an egg, a fish — I do not eat it. Packaged foods with ingredient lists longer than a paragraph are not food. They are chemistry experiments, and my body is not a laboratory.

2. No sugar. Full stop.

This is the one I get pushed back on the most, and I understand why. Sugar is everywhere and it is engineered to be irresistible. But sugar is the primary driver of insulin resistance, and insulin resistance is at the root of weight gain, fatigue, brain fog, and accelerated aging. Americans consume an average of 17 teaspoons of added sugar per day — more than three times what the body can process without consequence. I eliminated it. Not reduced it. Eliminated it. The difference in how I felt within two weeks was dramatic.

3. Separate your proteins and fats from your starches.

This is the heart of SomerSize diet principles — and the piece that confuses people until they try it. The theory, borne out by my own experience and the experience of hundreds of thousands of readers, is that protein and fat digest differently than starches and sugars. Mixing them in the same meal slows digestion, creates fermentation, and promotes fat storage. Eating them separately allows each to move efficiently through the digestive system. So a meal is either protein and fat with vegetables, or starch with vegetables. Never both together.

4. Vegetables are the foundation of every meal.

Non-starchy vegetables go with everything. Leafy greens, zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, cucumbers — these pair with either a protein-and-fat meal or a starch meal without issue. They are the one constant. I eat more vegetables now than I ever did when I was following a conventional low-fat diet, and ironically, I weigh less.

5. Quality of ingredients is non-negotiable.

Organic matters — particularly for the Environmental Working Group's "dirty dozen" high-pesticide crops, which include strawberries, spinach, apples, and grapes. Pesticide residues are endocrine disruptors, meaning they interfere directly with hormone signaling. For women over fifty who are already navigating hormonal changes, this is not a minor concern. Grass-fed beef, pasture-raised eggs, and wild-caught fish are not status symbols. They have meaningfully different nutritional profiles than their conventional counterparts.

What Clean Eating Over 50 Actually Looks Like

I want to be specific because vague advice has wasted enough of our time.

A typical day for me looks like this:

• Morning: Eggs cooked in butter, or Greek yogurt with no added sugar. Sometimes a clean protein shake if I am traveling. No toast, no cereal, no juice. Coffee with heavy cream — no sugar.
• Midday: A large salad with a clean protein — grilled chicken, wild salmon, or hard-boiled eggs — dressed with olive oil and lemon. Or a vegetable stir-fry with shrimp. The key is that it is satisfying and it does not spike my blood sugar.
• Afternoon: A small handful of raw nuts if I am hungry. A piece of whole fruit on its own — never with a protein meal, because fruit digests on its own timetable.
• Evening: This is where I get creative. A beautiful piece of fish with roasted vegetables. A grass-fed steak with a big green salad. Occasionally a pasta or whole-grain meal — but on its own, not paired with protein.

Notice what is not on that list: packaged snacks, sweetened drinks, fast food, anything that comes in a crinkly bag with a cartoon on it. Not because I am depriving myself. Because none of those things make me feel good, and I have been eating real food long enough that I genuinely do not want them.

The Hormone Connection That Changes Everything After 50

Here is what no one tells women clearly enough: what you eat directly governs your hormonal environment. And your hormonal environment governs almost everything — your weight, your mood, your energy, your skin, your sleep, your libido.

After menopause, estrogen drops sharply, which reduces insulin sensitivity. That means the same diet that kept you lean at 35 may cause weight gain at 55 — not because you changed, but because your hormonal context did. Clean eating over 50 is not optional maintenance. It is active management of a system that requires more care than it used to.

I also believe strongly in bioidentical hormone replacement, and clean eating is what makes it work properly. You cannot fill a clean engine with dirty fuel and expect peak performance. The food is the foundation.

What Does Suzanne Somers Eat to Stay Feeling Her Best?

The honest answer is: whole food, clean protein, real fat, and an enormous amount of vegetables. I do not count calories. I do not weigh portions. I do not punish myself for a meal that did not go perfectly. What I do is stay consistent with the principles, because the principles work.

Every month through my Suzanne Selects Monthly Subscription Box, I curate the clean products and pantry staples I actually use — the things that make eating this way easier and more enjoyable, not a chore.

The One Thing I Want You to Take Away

Suzanne Somers clean eating is not about perfection. It is about direction. Every meal you build around real food instead of processed food is a vote for your health. Every time you skip the sugar and have something clean instead, your body responds. The changes compound over weeks and months and years into something profound — and I am living proof of that.

You do not need a new program every season. You need principles that hold. These are mine. They have held for thirty years, and I do not see any reason to change them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the SomerSize diet?

SomerSize is a food-combining approach that separates proteins and fats from starches and sugars. The principle is that combining these macronutrient groups leads to fermentation in the gut and fat storage. Eating them separately allows for efficient digestion and steady energy.

What does Suzanne Somers eat for breakfast?

Suzanne typically starts with clean protein — eggs, Greek yogurt, or a clean protein shake — never mixing starches with protein and fat in the same meal. She does not eat sugar or processed foods in the morning.

Is clean eating expensive?

It does not have to be. The priorities are organic produce for the "dirty dozen" high-pesticide items, clean protein sources, and avoiding packaged and processed foods. Many processed foods cost more per meal than simple whole ingredients.