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DoorSandee LaMotte, CNN
5 minutes reading
Updated 9:05 AM EST, Wednesday, February 9, 2022
The Mediterranean diet is easy to find at the grocery store, contains nutrients known to extend lifespan, and has other health benefits backed by peer-reviewed, scientific studies. Broccoli makes the list because it is one of nature's most nutritious foods, with only 30 calories per serving. cup. That means you're getting a ton of hunger-suppressing fiber and polyphenols (antioxidants that detoxify cell-damaging chemicals in your body) in every serving.
Doctors recommend using olive oil instead of butter to prepare your meals. A Spanish study found that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil reduced the incidence of serious cardiovascular events in patients with a history of heart disease.
Quinoa is the popular whole grain du jour because it also contains a good dose of protein to build muscle. But including any type of whole grain in your diet — from barley to brown rice — will aid weight loss because you'll consume fewer calories.
Blueberries are often labeled as a kind of superfood because research has shown that they help with everything from fighting cancer to lowering cholesterol. But all berries, including raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, contain antioxidants and...phytonutrients. Worried about the price of fresh fruit? Experts say the frozen kind is perfectly fine.
Many diets avoid nuts because of their high calorie and fat content. But studies show that eating a handful several times a week can prevent heart disease and ultimately help you lose weight, because they keep you feeling full and keep you from eating other things. Almonds in particular contain a lot of monounsaturated fats and fiber. (Healthy swap: replace peanut butter with almond butter.)
Salmon is also a good source of lean protein. With this diet, doctors recommend eating fish at least twice a week. Salmon provides a high dose of omega-3 fatty acids, which studies show significantly reduce the risk of heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids fight back by reducing inflammation and slowing the rate of plaque buildup in the blood vessels.
Beans, beans, the magic fruit; the more you eat, the more... you lose weight. Black, brown, white and garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas) are good for fiber and protein. They fill you up and provide muscle-building material without the fat that meat can add to your meal.
Eating a protein-rich breakfast is a great way to keep hunger at bay all day long. Eggs are full of choline, a nutrient that helps prevent fat from being absorbed by the liver.Cholinecan also help prevent memory loss.
Spinach is a great source of iron, an important part of the red blood cells that supply our muscles with oxygen for energy. But researchers in Sweden have found another way these vegetables can keep you charged: compounds actually found in spinachincrease the efficiency of our mitochondria, the energy-producing factories in our cells. That means eating a cup of cooked spinach a day can give you more lasting power on the elliptical (or during your daily sprint to catch the bus).
Walnuts are packed with tryptophan, an amino acid that your body needs to produce the feel-good chemical serotonin. (Spanish researchers even found that walnut eaters have higher levels of this natural mood regulator.) Another benefit: "They digest slowly," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale Prevention Research Center. “This contributes to mood stability and can help you tolerate stress.”
Asparagus is one of the best plant-based sources of folic acid, a B vitamin that can help you avoid a mental breakdown. “Folate is important for the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine,” says David Mischoulon, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. These are all essential to the mood.
Drinking it is not a requirement on this diet, but if you drink alcohol, red wine in moderation can be good for your health. Temperance also means one drink for women and two for men. Studies show that red wine may help protect against heart disease.
The Mediterranean diet may be the key to longevity
CNN—
According to a recently published study, changing what you eat can add up to 13 years to your life, especially if you start when you're young.
The study created a model of what could happen to a man or woman's lifespan if they replaced a "typical Western diet" focused on red meat and processed foods with an "optimized diet" focused on eating less red and processed meat and more fruits and vegetables. , legumes, whole grains and nuts.
If a woman started eating optimally at age 20, she could extend her lifespan by just over 10 years, according to the study.published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine. A man who eats healthier from the age of 20 can add 13 years to his life.
Focusing on a healthier diet can also extend the lives of older adults, the study said. By starting at age 60, a woman can extend her lifespan by another eight years. Men who start a healthier diet at age 60 can add almost nine years to their lives.
A plant-based eating style could even benefit 80-year-olds, the study says: Men and women could gain about 3.5 years of extra life from changes in their diet.
“The idea that improving diet quality would reduce the risk of chronic disease and premature death is long established, and it only makes sense that fewer chronic diseases and premature death means longer life expectancy,” says Dr. David Katz , specialist in prevention. and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, which were not included in the study.
Katz, the nonprofit's president and founderReal health initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine, has done just thatpublished researchabout the use of food as preventive medicine.
“What they define as an 'optimal' diet is not entirely optimal; it's just a lot better than "normal," Katz said, adding that he felt the diet "could be further improved, which would yield even greater benefits."
"My impression is that their 'much improved' diet still allowed for significant amounts of meat and dairy products," Katz said, adding that when his team objectively assesses nutritional quality, "these elements are at quite low levels in the upper layer ."
A model with a longer lifespan
To model the future impact of a person's diet change, researchers from Norway used existing meta-analyses and dataGlobal burden of disease study, a database that tracks 286 causes of death, 369 diseases and injuries, and 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories around the world.
The biggest gains in longevity were found by eating more legumes, including beans, peas and lentils; whole grain, the whole seed of a plant; and nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pecans and pistachios, the study found.
It may sound easy to add more plants and grains to your diet, but statistics show that Americans struggle. Athe reportfrom the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that few Americans eat close to their daily recommendations for fruits and vegetables.
The CDC survey found that only 12% of adults consume 1½ to 2 cups of fruit each day, which is the amount recommended by the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Only 10% of Americans eat the recommended 2 to 3 cups of vegetables every day, including legumes.
About 50% of grain consumption should consist of whole grains, but more than 95% of Americans fail to reach that goal.according to the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, instead of eating processed grains, which have been milled to remove the grains, bran and many nutrients, including fiber.
More than 50% of Americans fail to eat the recommended 5 grams (about a teaspoon) of nuts and seeds daily, the guidelines say.
Nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains contain more than just protein. They include healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and antioxidant "phytochemicals" that have been linked to a lower risk of chronic disease.
Red and processed meat
Eating less red and processed meat, such as bacon, sausage and cured meats, was also linked to a longer lifespan.
It makes sense: Red and processed meats are linked to significant health risks, including:coronary artery diseaseand colon cancer.
“There is significant evidence that processed meat can cause bowel cancer – so much so that the World Health Organization has classified it as a carcinogen since 2015,” says University of Oxford epidemiologist Tim Key, a member of the UK Department of Health's Scientific Advisory. Committee on Nutrition.told CNN in an earlier interview.
Replacing red and processed meats with lean poultry, fish and plant-based proteins is one way to quickly improve a diet, experts say.
Plant-based proteins include soybeans (edamame), chickpeas, lentils and other legumes, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds and whole grains such as quinoa. Some vegetables, such as broccoli, also contain more protein.
A 2020 study of more than 37,000 middle-aged Americans found that those who ate the most plant-based protein were 27% less likely to die from any cause and 29% less likely to die from coronary heart disease than people who ate the least amount of vegetable protein. egg white.
"The benefit is greater when red and processed meat is replaced with plant-based protein sources," study co-author Dr. Frank Hu, chairman of the nutrition department at T.H. Chan School of Public Health,told CNN in an earlier interview.
How to improve your diet
A way to include more plants in your diet and consume less red meat is with the Mediterranean diet, which has wonbest diet five years in a row, according toUS News & World Report.
The DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Measures to Stop Hypertension, and the Flexitarian diet, which calls for being mostly vegetarian, were tied for silver. All of these diets focus on meals filled with fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts and seeds.
Aeasy way to start eating the Mediterranean wayis to prepare one meal each week based on beans, whole grains and vegetables, using herbs and spices to add the punch. If one night a week is a piece of cake, add two and build from there.
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