2024-03-13 17:27:34
You are never too old to learn or to eat differently. A recent study shows that you can still do a lot to improve your health, even in middle age. Choose one from the age of forty to start eating healthier? Then you can easily become ten years older. Will you start working on it around the age of seventy? Then you can sometimes add up to five years to your lifespan. Read here how to approach this.
Step 1: More grains, nuts and fruit
The people who can get the most out of this are the people who are currently following an ‘unhealthy’ diet. If you already eat ‘average’, you can still count on half of the extra years. To achieve this, you should eat nuts, legumes, whole grains, fruit, fish, dairy products and white meat (chicken, turkey) more often. You can achieve the greatest benefits if you choose to eat more whole grains, nuts and fruit.
This is how you approach it
But what does it mean: more of this and less of that? How much more or less is enough? The research provides clear guidelines for what they define as the ‘longevity diet’:
- Fruit: Eat at least 250 grams of fruit per day
These are, for example, 1 large apple and a handful of grapes, or 1 banana and 2 kiwis. - Vegetables: Eat at least 360 grams per day
360 grams a lot? Nothing if you spread it over the day. Eat a handful of tomatoes (100 grams), put cucumber, lettuce and avocado on your bread (100 grams) and eat ½ eggplant and ½ zucchini in your pasta in the evening (together 150 grams). - Whole grains: Eat at least 125 grams per day, such as whole wheat bread, oatmeal, muesli
125 grams equates to 4 small slices of bread or 8 large tablespoons of muesli. Whole wheat pasta, brown rice and quinoa also count. - Fish: Eat fish at least twice a week or an average of 40 grams per day
This can also be done with a larger portion of about 140 grams twice a week. Canned tuna with pasta, sushi, salmon on bread or a piece of fish with mashed potatoes. - Dairy: Eat two servings per day
Such as 40 grams of cheese or 250 milliliters of (vegetable) milk/yogurt.
Nuts: Eat a serving of 21 grams per day
That’s about 8 Brazil nuts, 10 pecan or walnut halves, 15 hazelnuts, cashew nuts or almonds and 20 pistachios.
Legumes: Eat at least 1 portion per week of 150 grams
Edamame beans, chickpeas, hummus, lentils, kidney beans and black beans also count.
Step 2: Less sugar
What would you rather leave alone? Red meat, eggs, sugary drinks, processed grains and processed meat. Sugary drinks and processed meat in particular were the main culprits. If you leave it there more often, you will add lifespan.
This is how you approach it
- Processed grains: Eat fewer than 2 servings per day
A portion is, for example, 1 white sandwich or 40 grams of (sweetened) grains. - Processed meat: Eat less than 1 portion per week of 90 grams
Processed meat is any meat that contains additives. So all meat toppings for bread, but also ready-made minced meat or ready-made hamburgers, all sausages, all fried snacks and also pate or filé americain. Is there still unprocessed meat? Minced meat from the butcher or a piece of steak/chop. - Red meat: Eat less than 2 portions of 120 grams per week
Red meat is all the meat from lambs, cows, cattle, horses, sheep, pigs and goats. - White meat: Eat a maximum of 2 portions per week of 130 grams, this concerns turkey and chicken meat.
Remember: unprocessed white meat. So a chicken fillet or a piece of turkey fillet without additives. Chicken breast on bread is also processed.
Sugary drinks: Do not drink these (so as little as possible)
Sample menu
Are you dizzy from all the guidelines and rules? Check this menu. Then you get a lot of the good stuff and little of the less good stuff at every meal!
Breakfast
- Option 1: 4 tablespoons of oatmeal with 1 tablespoon of nuts and 250 milliliters of (vegetable) milk
- Option 2: 4 whole wheat sandwiches with hummus, avocado and cheese
- Inbetween: 1 piece of fruit with 1 handful of nuts
Lunch
- Option 1: 75 grams of cooked quinoa with 1 handful of edamame beans, 50 grams of smoked salmon, 1 handful of (smoked) almonds, 100 grams of tomatoes, 2 handfuls of arugula and 2 tablespoons of (wasabi) ricotta
- Option 2: 75 grams of cooked pasta with 1 can of tuna, 1 handful of black olives, 2 handfuls of lamb’s lettuce and 1 mini can of chickpeas
- Inbetween: 1 portion of semi-skimmed yoghurt with 2 tablespoons of unsweetened muesli
Evening meal
- Option 1: 300 grams of sweet potato with 140 grams of cod fillet (or another white fish) and 200 grams of boiled carrots
- Option 2: 100 grams of brown rice with 200 grams of nasi vegetables, 1 handful of peanuts, 100 grams of chicken fillet and 1 fried egg
Are you already following Runner’s World on Instagram and Facebook?
Also read
#Increase #life #expectancy #nutritional #tips