Can We Add 20 More Years to Our Lives?

The basic principles of nutrition

Although everyone's body is different, following universal principles for proper nutrition is the key to living a healthy and long life. While there may be some changes depending on your genetic features, environmental factors, your illnesses, and your metabolism, the basic principles of nutrition are almost the same for every person. When foods are consumed correctly they are a medicine for the body; the opposite, and they are a poison. I would like to tell you about some of the basic principles of nutrition.

Get rid of ultra-processed foods. Reduce your consumption of processed starch and sugar to zero. If you do consume a small amount of sugar, try to get it from natural sources such as honey rather than from artificial foods.

Eat plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables in their season. If you are metabolically healthy, you can eat plenty of good-quality fruit. Do not overdo very sugary fruits.

Consume good-quality fats for body health. Avocado, extra-virgin olive oil, natural butter, and nuts are useful as sources of fat.

Eat fish 2–3 times a week. Eat fish that are high in omega-3 and low in mercury and toxin content. Prefer sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and, if possible, small and wild salmon.

Consume organic red meat and eggs raised in their natural environment 1–2 days a week. These are high-quality and high protein sources. Remove processed meats such as sausage, salami, and ham, as well as smoked meats, from your life.

Frequently consume organic legumes close to the heirloom seed. Both the fiber they contain and their high protein content are beneficial for the body.

Avoid foods that contain chemicals, additives, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics.

If you like milk and dairy products, prefer milk and products made from sheep and goats. Compared with cow's milk, these are both more nourishing and less allergenic and inflammation-triggering. Natural yogurt and additive-free kefir are the healthiest dairy products.

Eat as little as possible of any kind of burnt and fried food prepared on charcoal or open fire, or fried in a pan with oil. Low heat, slow cooking, pot dishes, baking, steaming, and boiling are the ideal cooking methods.

In the second 50 years of your life, eat not the animals themselves but rather what they eat! Limit animal products and give weight to plant-based eating. Consume more vegetables, more legumes, whole grains, and a reasonable amount of fruit. Among plant foods too, prefer the colorful, the organic, and the fresh ones in their season.

Do not consume carbonated drinks and fruit juices. Drink plenty (at least 2 liters) of mineral-rich, natural water.

Do not let super-foods such as broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, ginger, turmeric, garlic, walnuts, flax and chia seeds, pomegranate, forest berries, extra-virgin olive oil, fish, natural yogurt, kefir, legumes, nuts, green tea, parsley, and apple be missing from your table.

It is possible to feel full both with a packet of potato chips and a wafer, and with a menu of tarhana soup, sardines, and yogurt. But the first is an empty calorie load with no nutritional value, while the second is a healthy meal made of real foods. Natural, good-quality, real nutrition, without taking in even a single calorie that is useless to your body and a burden on your cells, can be a way to extend life, or to put life into reverse gear.