Contents
Longevity Diet, Or What You Should Eat In Order Not To Get Old
How to eat for your pleasure, lose weight and grow younger.
With the permission of the Eksmo Publishing House, we publish an excerpt from the book by Walter Longo “Longuevita. The Revolutionary Longevity Diet “:
– We are all familiar with the expression “We are what we eat”, but many interpret it simply as “there is no need to eat particularly harmful food.” In fact, everything we eat, and even what at first glance seems healthy (like chicken meat), can harm the body if a person consumes excessive amounts of protein per day or if food contains hormones or antibiotics.
It is very important to eat what you like, but you also need to reduce to a minimum or even remove from the diet substances that shorten your life, cause illness and negatively affect your health, or, conversely, change your diet and increase your intake of certain substances that will help you live a long, healthy and happy life.
Basic rules of the “Longevity Diet”
1. Eat a vegetarian or pescetarian diet.
Aim for 100% plant-based foods (legumes, vegetables, fruits, etc.) and fish that do not contain high doses of mercury, but no more than two to three times a week. If you start losing muscle mass and weight after age 65-70, increase the amount of fish and other animal products such as eggs, cheese (feta or sheep’s cheese), and goat milk yogurt.
2. Eat enough protein. A person needs about 0,7-0,8 grams of protein per 1 kilogram of body weight per day. For example, with a weight of 45 kilograms, the optimal dose is 37 grams, of which 30 must be obtained from one meal so that the muscles can synthesize protein more efficiently. If a person weighs about 90-100 kilograms and at the same time fat is 35%, 60 grams per day will be sufficient, since fat cells do not require as much protein as muscles. If you lose weight and muscle mass after 65-70 years, you should slightly increase your protein intake by 10-20%, that is, by 4-6 grams per day.
3. Minimize your intake of unhealthy fats and carbohydrates and add as much of the right fats and complex carbohydrates as possible to your meals. The confusion stems from the fact that various nutritional guidelines oversimplify the nutrient system and divide them only into fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
A proper diet should be rich in unsaturated fats, such as salmon, walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts. However, you should avoid saturated, hydrogenic, and trans fats. The body needs complex carbohydrates found in whole grain breads, vegetables and greens, but it is preferable to minimize the consumption of pasta, rice, bread and fruit juices, since they break down into simple carbohydrates when they enter the intestines. Finally, it’s important to eat less animal protein but more plant protein to reduce your risk of disease and slow aging.
4. Introduce all nutrients into your diet. The cells of the human body can be compared to an army of soldiers. They are constantly fighting an army of enemies – oxygen and molecules that damage DNA and other cells, and bacteria and viruses that try to weaken our immune system. In war, soldiers need ammunition, equipment and provisions – so our body needs protein, essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6), minerals, vitamins and, oddly enough, a small amount of those very terrible and terrible simple carbohydrates (sugar ). This is the only way to achieve victory in this endless struggle.
When the body lacks nutrients such as omega-3, protein, vitamin B12, zinc or calcium, the repair systems, replacing old cells with new ones and protecting them either fail or work worse, because they do not cope with all the damage, allowing bacteria and viruses spread. For prevention, you can take vitamin and mineral complexes every 2-3 days, as well as fish oil as a source of omega-3. Be sure to check the reliability of the manufacturer. Such companies always carry out quality control of their products and thereby ensure that the additives contain all the substances indicated on the packaging of the correct quality.
5. Include in your diet foods that your ancestors ate. As we have already said, the body needs a certain set of nutrients, which means that it is important to diversify your usual menu. The best way to get your nutrients is from foods that were on the tables of your parents, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers. The human body was formed as a result of billions of years of evolution, but during the last millennium, only the fittest individuals survived.
If you want to add foods containing lactose to your diet, such as kale, quinoa and turmeric, make sure your ancestors ate them first. Otherwise, it is better to refuse such products or feast on them occasionally, so as not to provoke intolerance (say, lactose intolerance is caused by the body’s inability to digest milk) or autoimmune diseases that can cause, for example, gluten (celiac disease). Although science has not yet studied enough how improperly selected foods affect the occurrence of various diseases – autoimmune, Crohn’s disease, colitis, type XNUMX diabetes and others.
6. Eat twice a day and snack once. If you are overweight and overweight, limit yourself to your daily breakfast, your second meal (lunch or dinner), and a low-calorie, nutritious snack. If the physique is thin, there is a lack of muscle mass and you are constantly losing weight, eat three times a day and snack once.
When you break your regimen into two meals with only one full meal and one snack, it’s almost impossible to overeat. Especially if the diet is based on plant foods and fish, because to get the necessary 1200 calories from the main meal, you need to eat a huge amount of legumes and vegetables. They have a great nutritional value, and with a large amount of servings, the stomach and brain know that the person is full. Elderly people and those suffering from any medical conditions are advised to split the main meal into two smaller meals to avoid digestive problems. What’s more, older adults need to have three meals and one snack a day because of their ongoing weight loss.
7. Practice prolonged fasting periodically. If you are younger than 65-70 years old, watch your physical condition, eat well and do not suffer from any diseases, you are advised to adhere to a relatively high-calorie diet at least twice a year, which I call “Pseudo-starvation”. This is a kind of prevention against various diseases, as well as a great way to prolong your life and improve your health.
8. Watch your weight and waist. People with wide waists and fat belly are more likely to suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart problems, according to a 359-year study of 102 European adults. With a waist circumference above 89 cm for men and 86 cm for women, the risk of premature death is twice as high as with a waist circumference of less than 71 cm for men and XNUMX cm for women.