PE Diet Food List: 50 Foods Ranked by Protein-to-Energy Ratio

Sort the table by PE ratio and the whole PE Diet fits on one screen: shrimp, white fish, egg whites, and poultry at the top; oils, grains, and fruit at the bottom. Everything else is detail.

Every number below is calculated per 100 g using the same formula as the PE Diet Calculator — protein grams divided by fat plus carbs minus fiber. Tap any column heading to re-sort.

How to read the score

Dr. Ted Naiman's threshold in The PE Diet is a ratio of 1.0 — grams of protein meeting or exceeding grams of non-protein energy. That's the line between a food that works for you and one you're working around.

• 2.0 and above (green). Protein-dominant. These can be the foundation of a meal.
• 1.0 to 1.9 (amber). Balanced. Fine as the anchor of a plate, but portion size starts to matter.
• Below 1.0 (red). Energy-dominant. Not banned — but they're the accompaniment, not the main event.

The ratio is scale-invariant, which is why it's useful: 100 g of cod and 300 g of cod both score 25.7. You're grading the food, not the serving. That also means a high PE ratio is not permission to eat unlimited quantities of it — calories still count.

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The foods that score highest

The top of the list is dominated by one thing: lean animal protein with almost nothing else attached.

Shrimp (PE 48, 24 g protein, 100 kcal) tops the table because it carries barely any fat or carbohydrate — 0.3 g and 0.2 g per 100 g. When the denominator is that small, the ratio explodes. Treat scores in the 20s and 40s as "about as lean as protein gets" rather than as meaningful gradations; the practical difference between shrimp at 48 and cod at 25.7 is close to zero.

Canned tuna in water (PE 26, 26 g protein, 113 kcal) is the cheapest high scorer in the average supermarket and needs no cooking. Turkey breast (PE 29) and cod (PE 25.7) sit in the same tier.

Egg whites (PE 12.2, 11 g protein, 49 kcal) score far above whole eggs (PE 1.1, 155 kcal), and the reason is entirely the yolk — 11 g of fat per 100 g of whole egg. This is the single biggest gap on the list between two versions of the same food, and it's worth understanding before you throw yolks away: the yolk holds most of the egg's micronutrients. Our egg whites vs whole eggs comparison covers that trade-off properly.

Chicken breast (PE 8.6, 31 g protein, 156 kcal) is the most protein-dense food in the table by absolute grams, which is why it anchors so many plates.

Then the dairy tier: low-fat cottage cheese (PE 2.7, 71 kcal) and nonfat Greek yogurt (PE 2.3, 61 kcal) are the only non-meat foods that clear 2.0 without being a protein powder. Both are cheap, need no preparation, and are why they show up in nearly every PE meal plan. (If you're choosing between them, see Greek yogurt vs cottage cheese.)

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The foods that score lowest

The bottom of the table is not a list of unhealthy foods. It's a list of foods that don't bring protein with their calories.

• Pure fats score zero. Olive oil, butter, and coconut oil contain essentially no protein, so the ratio is 0.0 no matter the serving. They're the fastest way to sink an otherwise good meal's score — a tablespoon of oil is 120 calories of pure denominator.
• Nuts and nut butters land near 0.4. Peanut butter (PE 0.39, 630 kcal per 100 g) and almonds (PE 0.36, 613 kcal) have real protein, but it arrives with five times as much fat and carbohydrate.
• Grains sit between 0.1 and 0.3. Oats (0.20), white pasta (0.17), brown rice (0.12), white rice (0.10).
• Fruit is the lowest tier. Apple 0.03, banana 0.05, blueberries 0.06. Berries score best of the fruits and are still under 0.1.
• Avocado (PE 0.12) surprises people. It's a fat source with a vegetable's reputation.

None of this makes fruit or oats bad food. It makes them energy, and the PE framework asks you to spend your energy budget deliberately rather than by accident. Vegetables are the useful exception at the bottom: spinach (1.6), mushrooms (1.2), and asparagus (1.2) actually clear 1.0, and at 25–30 calories per 100 g they add volume for almost nothing.

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Best PE Diet foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

The same twelve foods do most of the work. What changes is the assembly.

Breakfast. Egg whites (12.2) with one or two whole eggs for the yolk's nutrients; nonfat Greek yogurt (2.3) or low-fat cottage cheese (2.7) with berries; whey protein (7.3) stirred into either. The trap at breakfast is that the default foods — oats, toast, banana, orange juice — are all under 0.3. Anchoring the plate with protein first is the whole adjustment.

Lunch. Canned tuna (26) is the highest-scoring convenience food available: no cooking, shelf-stable, ready in a minute. Rotisserie chicken breast (8.6), leftover turkey breast (29), or shrimp (48) over a large volume of leafy vegetables. Watch the dressing — the salad's score is usually decided by the oil, not the greens.

Dinner. Cod (25.7), tilapia (9.6), chicken breast (8.6), pork tenderloin (9.6), bison (9.2), or 93% lean ground beef (3.0), with vegetables filling the rest of the plate. Salmon (1.5) is worth eating for its fat quality even though it scores an order of magnitude below cod — a reminder that PE ratio is one input, not the only one.

For a full week of these assembled into actual meals, see the 7-day PE Diet meal plan.

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PE Diet grocery list template

A working shop for one week. Quantities scale to your own calorie needs — this is a shape, not a prescription.

Proteins (pick 3–4, not all)

• Chicken breast, skinless
• Canned tuna in water — buy several
• Cod, tilapia, or shrimp (frozen is fine and cheaper)
• Turkey breast or pork tenderloin
• 93% lean ground beef
• Eggs + a carton of liquid egg whites

Dairy

• Nonfat Greek yogurt (large tub)
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Whey protein isolate, if you use it

Vegetables (buy more than feels reasonable)

• Spinach, arugula, or mixed greens
• Broccoli, asparagus, green beans, zucchini
• Mushrooms, bell peppers, cucumber, tomatoes
• Cauliflower (rice and mash)

Flavor without denominator

• Vinegars, mustard, hot sauce, salsa
• Lemons, garlic, herbs, dry spices
• Pickles

Deliberate extras

• Berries — the lowest-energy fruit
• One oil, used by the teaspoon rather than the pour
• A starch you actually like, if you train hard and want it

The list is short on purpose. Most people don't fail at this because they lacked a food; they fail because the high scorers weren't in the fridge on a Tuesday night.

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What the ratio doesn't tell you

The PE ratio is a food-selection heuristic, not a complete nutrition model. Three honest caveats:

1. It ignores micronutrients. Egg yolks, salmon, and avocado all score poorly and all bring things worth having.
2. The gram-based ratio is unstable at the top. Once a food has nearly no fat or carbs, tiny differences swing the score wildly. Everything above roughly 8.0 is functionally "very lean protein."
3. It says nothing about total calories. A high-PE food eaten in unlimited quantity is still a calorie surplus. The ratio helps you get full sooner; it doesn't repeal arithmetic.

If you're new to the framework, read the PE Diet guide first — the score means more once you know what it's optimizing for.

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Frequently asked questions

What foods have the highest protein-to-energy ratio? Very lean animal proteins. On a per-100 g basis: shrimp (48), turkey breast (29), canned tuna in water (26), cod (25.7), and egg whites (12.2). All of them share the same trait — a lot of protein with almost no accompanying fat or carbohydrate. Chicken breast (8.6) delivers the most protein by absolute weight at 31 g per 100 g.

What is a good PE ratio for a food? A ratio of 1.0 is the threshold Dr. Ted Naiman uses — protein grams equal to or greater than fat plus net-carb grams. Foods at 2.0 and above are protein-dominant and can form the base of a meal. Between 1.0 and 1.9 is workable. Below 1.0, the food is supplying more energy than protein, which is fine occasionally and a problem as a habit.

What foods should you avoid on the PE Diet? Nothing is strictly forbidden, but the lowest scorers give you the least protein per calorie: cooking oils and butter (0.0), nuts and nut butters (about 0.4), grains such as rice, pasta, and oats (0.1–0.3), and most fruit (0.03–0.12). The practical guidance is to demote them from the foundation of a meal to an accompaniment, rather than to eliminate them.

Are eggs allowed on the PE Diet? Yes. Whole eggs score 1.1, which clears the 1.0 threshold, though the yolk's 11 g of fat per 100 g holds the score down. Egg whites score 12.2. Many people use a mix — a few whites for the protein plus one or two whole eggs for the yolk's micronutrients.

Is Greek yogurt good on the PE Diet? Nonfat Greek yogurt scores 2.3 (10 g protein, 61 kcal per 100 g), which puts it in the green band and makes it one of the only ready-to-eat foods that qualifies. Low-fat cottage cheese scores slightly higher at 2.7. Both drop sharply once fruit, honey, or granola is added — those additions land entirely in the denominator.

Can you eat fruit on the PE Diet? Yes, with awareness. Fruit occupies the bottom of the list — apple 0.03, banana 0.05, blueberries 0.06 — because it's almost entirely carbohydrate. Berries are the best of the group and the standard choice on PE-style plans. Fruit isn't a problem in a diet anchored by protein; it becomes one when it's the protein's replacement rather than its companion.

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The bottom line

The PE Diet food list is shorter than it looks. Four or five lean proteins, two high-protein dairy foods, and as many vegetables as you can stand, in rotation, will carry almost anyone through a week — and that's what the top of this table keeps saying, no matter how you sort it.

Anything you're unsure about, run it through the PE Diet Calculator before you build a habit around it.