Optimise your food intake
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Eat nuts most days - at least 25 grams. It doesn’t matter what type of nut you eat. In some studies those that ate 25 grams of nuts more than 4 days a week had a 50% lower risk of death from heart attack than the non-nut eaters. |
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Eat legumes and lentils (beans, peas, chick peas, dahl, soya beans) most days. Eating 25 grams daily has reduced annual rate of death by up to 8% in some studies. |
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Eat lots of vegetables, salads and fruits - AT LEAST 5 varieties (preferably 15) daily, with an assortment of different colours (red, orange, green, yellow). An excellent reference on this subject is
What color is your diet? by David Heber. |
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Eat fish 2-4 times a week (including tinned fish). |
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Eat lots of olive oil. Extra Virgin is best. |
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Meats are a condiment – not the main meal! The amount of meat you eat ought to be about the size of the ‘palm of your hand’. |
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Minimise the amount of saturated fats in dairy products. Try choosing low fat versions most of the time. |
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Minimise the amount of highly refined carbohydrates you eat. - white bread, pasta, white rice. Try and aim for wholegrain carbohydrates instead. Choose carbohydrates with low glycaemic index. An excellent reference book on this is “The New Glucose Revolution” by Jenny Brand Miller. |
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Consider taking a quality, plant-based, effective potency multivitamin/multimineral daily, and a fish oil supplement (Omega 3 fatty acid) two-three times a day. |
"Super Foods" were recently talked about in the press...
You don't need specific foods for specific ailments. A healthy diet incorporating a variety of the following superfoods will help you maintain your weight, fight disease, and live longer. One thing they all have in common: each of these foods is in its natural state or in a really unprocessed state. You wont find any of these in packets on supermarket shelves. Fresh is best.
Top 14 Superfoods reported in the media in 2008
References
The South Beach Diet
,
by Arthur Agatston
This is a good overall reference to help you lose weight and understand the differences between “good fats and bad fats”, good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates”. It's not really a “diet” book.
The New Glucose Revolution
, by Jenny Brand Miller
What color
is your diet?
,
by David Heber
The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet
, by Dr Manny Noakes with Dr Peter Clifton |
