15 clean and healthy diet rules to follow for longevity
- Follow a diet with a high vitamin and mineral content
- Select ingredients that your ancestors would have eaten
- Eat mostly vegan and high quantities of vegetables (tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, legumes, etc.)
- Minimize saturated fats from animal sources (meat, cheese)
- Two or three times per week (not more) eat high-quality seafood with low mercury-levels, high omega-3, omega-6, and vitamin B12 content (e.g. sardines, anchovies, salmon, cod, trout, shrimp, and clams)
- Take a multivitamin 2 times per week
- If you are below the age of 65, keep your protein intake low (0.31 to 0.36 grams per pound of body weight).
- To preserve muscle mass in old age slightly increase your protein intake and the consumption of fish, eggs, white meat, and goat and sheep products
- Consume beans, chickpeas, green peas, and other legumes as your main source of protein.
- Minimize sugar intake
- Maximize good fats (e.g. at least 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 ounce of nuts per day)
- Eat complex carbs and whole grains
- Based on your weight and age, have two or three meals per day (overweight or at risk to gain weight, eat breakfast plus one main meal a day, plus two low-sugar snacks with less than 100 calories each. Normal weight or at risk of losing weight or over 65 and of normal weight, eat three meals a day and one low-sugar snack with fewer than 100 calories.)
- Keep all meals within a twelve-hour period (for example between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m).
- Don’t eat anything in the three to four hours before you go to sleep
From the “How to stay young” series by Dr. Valter Longo