Diet Choices to Last a Lifetime

The word diet has been synonymous with deprivation, calorie counting, and weight loss for about a century, now. But the definition is much simpler. A diet means what you eat regularly. Yet, people are often lost when it comes to diet. Which diet is healthy? Should I go paleo? Keto? Low-carb? How long should I do it for? I assure you, you don’t need to adhere to any ideology. The best diet, both for health and longevity, is a diet that nourishes you by providing you with all the nutrients you need and tastes good. Always remember that eating should be effortless, delicious, and rewarding. In summary, eat food that tastes good, use variety, make the right combinations and you will break free from food anxiety. The steps outlined below are the foundation of a healthy diet that anyone can adhere to for a lifetime.

Which Diet Is Best for YOU?

You already know that a healthy diet should include, fruits, and vegetables. Would you add nuts, legumes (healthy proteins), and healthy oils to that list? If you said yes, you are correct. Maybe add some white fish and small amounts of meat, too. One more step. Keep additives, saturated fat, and sugary beverages out. That’s it! You have the formula for a healthy diet.

Woman eating

Five Steps to Building a Healthy Diet

These steps are the concept behind the MicroRiche™ diet. Once you understand how nutrients interact with each other, which ones to remove from your diet, and how to combine the healthy ones, you can create meals that will delight everyone around you and still remain fun and healthful. You will feel empowered in your choices every day.

Choose healthy proteins. Contrary to conventional wisdom, chicken is not a lean protein. Chicken is high in arachidonic acid—a type of fat that causes inflammation. Chicken also is a source of cholesterol. According to recent scientific studies, the healthiest proteins are from a plant source: legumes, nuts, and seeds. Peanut butter, soy products, hummus, and oatmeal, are all delicious foods rich in protein and fiber.

“Research by Willett and colleagues published in 2016 found that while the total amount of protein people consumed did not appear to impact how long they lived, high plant protein consumption was more positively associated with longevity than high animal protein consumption.”

There are many benefits to plant-based protein. Fiber in plants nourishes the gut bacteria and aids in the prevention of colon cancer, breast cancer, and heart disease; plant-based protein doesn’t have saturated fat. Most importantly, whether you consume plant-based or animal-based protein, your intake amount should be the same and you don’t need to worry about combinations as long as you keep your diet varied.

Refer to the UCLA Guide to Plan-based Protein to find out how much protein you need daily. It’s important to remember that RDV (Recommended Daily Value) has not been set for proteins.

This is the most demonized nutrient in the last 30 years. Carbs are not evil. They’re an essential nutrient, just like proteins and vitamins. However, just like there are saints and sinners among people, there are good and bad carbs. Good carbs are the ones loaded with fiber: pasta, whole grain bread, potatoes, rice, and quinoa are called complex carbohydrates and are good for you. They keep you full and provide you with energy and the necessary glucose for your brain. The brain relies on glucose for all its functions but it cannot store it or synthesize it. It needs a constant supply and slow-digesting sugars in complex carbohydrates fit the bill.

For decades, fat was the bad guy. Throughout the 1980s, everything was low-fat, non-fat, less fat. Today, we finally understand the difference between fats. Omega 3 fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats are essential to good health and need to be part of your diet. Did you know that vitamin D will not be metabolized without fat? Walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Olive oil and avocados are an excellent source of polyunsaturated fat.

The fat you want to remove from your diet is saturated fat such as the one found in bacon and eggs. Transfats are man-made fats added to packaged food. They’re toxic and have no nutritional value. Arachidonic acid, found in poultry and fried food, is another harmful fat when taken in excess. So when buying packaged food, always read the food labels and avoid products that contain transfats, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and foods high in saturated fat.

Antioxidants are only found in plants. To get a good amount of anti-oxidants, your food should contain colorful fruits and vegetables. These foods also pack a generous amount of vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals are used as cofactors to produce energy for the body, strengthen the immune system, and assist in wound healing. Vitamin E and C also act as anti-oxidants and aid in disease prevention.

But not all vegetables are created equal. Spinach, the number one vegetable on people’s grocery list, is actually not good for you. Spinach is rich in oxalates, so if you are at risk for osteoporosis, it’s best to avoid it. The oxalates combine with calcium and leach it out of the body. Spinach is also poor in iron and its small amount is not bioavailable due to the oxalates.

Parsley, used for garnish and discarded, is loaded with nutrients such as iron (3 times more than spinach), magnesium, calcium, and folate. This is another reason, it’s good to talk to a nutritionist to recommend the best foods for your needs.

As a human, you can live without meat, you can live without carbohydrates, but you cannot live without fiber. People with a diet poor in fiber develop a lot of digestion problems. Perhaps the first benefit of fiber is cancer prevention. It is well known that diet is linked to colon, prostate, and breast cancer.

Fiber helps lower cholesterol, removes excess estrogen from the body, nourishes the colonic bacteria to improve digestion, and keeps the colon clean and healthy by preventing food putrefaction. Fiber is the best tool for stabilizing glucose levels and because it swells and fills up the stomach, it reduces the need for excess calorie intake. For this reason, it’s recommended that you start your meal with vegetables.

A Few Words of Wisdom

Finally, make sure your meals are homemade and your diet is varied. Never eat the same meal twice in one day. Always combine starches or protein with vegetables. Try starting your meals with a green salad like they do in France and bon appetit!

Enjoy this short video by Michael Pollan, which explains the importance of making your own meals, as opposed to restaurant, or store-bought ones.

Need more tips on how to put it all together? Give us a shout.

Woman on Phone Giving Advice

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
Your Location*