Q: There’s so much info out there about how to eat so that you slow aging. Can you sum it up so I can make sure I’m getting it right? -- Sally U., Joplin, Missouri
A: Your diet is an essential tool in the battle against premature aging and chronic disease. But you also want to combine it with stress management (without that, you may trigger epigenetic changes that speed aging and turn off immune protection against disease), establish a supportive posse, find a purpose in your life, get plenty of physical activity and adopt good sleep habits. The “6 Normals + 2″ series of smart health goals that Dr. Mike has been outlining in his free newsletter at LongevityPlaybook.com can help you use these approaches to achieving a younger ActualAge.
Now, back to your question about an anti-aging diet. There’s a lot of research showing that a minimally processed, plant-based diet can transform your health, as can eliminating inflammatory foods like added sugars and red and processed meats. And now, a new study that looked at the impact of the MIND diet on aging reinforces those guidelines. Using a program that evaluates more than 75 epigenetic biomarkers that reveal how fast a person’s body is aging, researchers found that the MIND diet significantly slows down the body’s overall pace of biological aging -- and lowers your risk of dementia.
The MIND diet suggests 3 or more servings a day of whole grains; 1 or more servings a day of vegetables (other than green leafy); 6 or more servings a week of green leafy vegetables; 5 or more servings a week of nuts; 4 or more meals a week of beans; 2 or more servings a week of berries; 2 or more meals a week of poultry; 1 or more meals a week of fish; and mainly olive oil if adding fat.
We advocate having five consecutive days a month of a low-protein, 750-calorie diet, then following the MIND diet the rest of the time. For more info, see Dr. Mike’s book, “The Great Age Reboot.” Also read “5 Supplements for Anti-Aging” at iHerb.com’s blog.
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Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively.
(c)2024 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
