Thread: Who has tried the vertical diet??

Good old stan, im copying and pasting this from my research. These are not my words. I would like to hear what you guys think? Im going to try it because it looks so damn easy in comparison to my meal plans over the last 10years. Looking forward to the discussion.


“Performance-based nutritional framework that starts with a solid foundation of highly bioavailable micronutrients which supports a structure of easily digestible macronutrients that can be adjusted specifically to meet your body’s demands.”
Two key foods in Stan’s approach to eating are steak and rice. Stan stresses the fact that consuming ground meat (“hamburger”) is not the same as a steak. Beef labeled as “ground meat” is usually assembled from all the odds and ends of the cows and scraps left over from portioning out steaks and roasts. Don’t confuse “ground meat” with “ground sirloin” or “ground round.” The latter two are from a single cut of meat, not multiple ones as is the case with ground meat.
Essentially, steak versus ground hamburger boils down to this -- they’re two different qualities of beef and since you should only be focusing on the “best” kind of calories, ground meat (even though it is beef) is not an acceptable substitute for steak.
For the most part, that’s it for your protein and carbs.
Stan then fills in the gaps with some additional easily digestible foods to address micronutrient needs. Among these “other foods” are:

• Eggs
• Oranges or orange juice
• Carrots
• Cooked veggies (low-gas veggies)

Note: The Vertical Diet recommends consuming LOW GAS vegetables (butternut squash, carrots, celery, parsley, zucchini, cucumber, bell pepper, eggplant, spinach, small steamed potato) instead. But not so much that you’re building your diet on these foods, just enough to fulfill your micronutrient requirements.


If you are a high-performing athlete that consumes a lot of carbs, this can lead to a lot of bloating in Stan’s eyes, which slows you down and limits performance. Due to this, he is against the consumption of very starchy, slow-digesting carbs that are hard to digest, including:

• Wheat (pasta, pizza, bread, etc.)
• Brown rice (phytic acid)
• Beans (lectins)
• High raffinose vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower)

The Vertical Diet can be viewed as a form of a low-FODMAP diet. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharide and polyol. High FODMAP foods include:

• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Baked beans
• Bananas, ripe
• Beetroot, fresh
• Black bean
• Broccoli
• Onions
• Garlic

The list goes on, but essentially low-FODMAP diets are used to combat irritable bowel syndrome and other disorders of the digestive system through avoidance of high FODMAP foods, which contain difficult to digest carbohydrates.


Listen to enough of Stan’s talks about the Vertical diet, and you’ll hear time and again that he promotes the idea of a narrow “horizontal”, that is only consuming a limited number of other foods outside of steak and rice to satisfy micronutrient needs. Remember from the graphic up top, this includes:

• Sweet potato
• Chicken broth
• Spinach
• Carrot
• Eggs
• Oranges
• Red Bell Pepper

Once you’ve gotten “enough” of these to satisfy micronutrient needs, everything else from your diet (“going vertical”) comes from increasing portions of steak and rice. The thinking is that rice is easy to eat in great quantities without filling you up too much.

Funny you posted this I've heard of this on Instagram so I reached out to my coach and he said it's just a bunch of BS

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Originally Posted by 1969jeffery1969

Funny you posted this I've heard of this on Instagram so I reached out to my coach and he said it's just a bunch of BS

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I mean there's nothing really special about it we don't already know/follow from a bbing perspective.
I don't think it's magic by any means but meat and rice, veg, good sodium intake, helps get natural micronutients from foods, etc., what's revolutionary about it? More beef?

I don't think it's anything special about it besides the simplicity. I usually mix up tilapia chicken steak salmon and all these Wazoo proteins. but dude I could eat jasmine rice with sirloin or bison ground beef every second of the day. I guess it just seems like one of those things where it's so simple I never thought about it and feel like for the last 15-20 years I've made my life more difficult than it needed to be. Alot of the things I eat are not considered conducive when talking about this diet plan and am interested in seeing how this affects my composition.

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I’ve actually been a big fan of it. I don’t follow it 100% but I think replacing white fish and chicken with red meat can definitely make a difference.

I didn’t totally abandon fish and chicken, but like the diet states red meat and rice are meals the body processes easily and allows u to eat more

How do you alter it to better suit yourself?

Originally Posted by Fancycat69

I’ve actually been a big fan of it. I don’t follow it 100% but I think replacing white fish and chicken with red meat can definitely make a difference.

I didn’t totally abandon fish and chicken, but like the diet states red meat and rice are meals the body processes easily and allows u to eat more

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I think it's a decent diet for beginners and people that don't have much time. Covers pretty much everything. It's kinda boring though. I tried it for a month and I got good results but I got tired of it pretty quick.

I'm a week in and I'm already bored with it :/

Fuck it though, I'm riding the gain train until I get where I need to go

Originally Posted by THX

I think it's a decent diet for beginners and people that don't have much time. Covers pretty much everything. It's kinda boring though. I tried it for a month and I got good results but I got tired of it pretty quick.

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Originally Posted by Maker18847

I'm a week in and I'm already bored with it :/

Fuck it though, I'm riding the gain train until I get where I need to go

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You gotta be creative to be able to stick with it. But as I mentioned before, it's a solid diet. Get some spices you like, steaks etc.

I don't think it's a bad diet, but I don't think theres anything special about it.