Eat to Live

The See Your Folks website got me thinking about life expectancy, so I looked for a few life expectancy generators.  SSA has an easy one at SSA.gov. And it is useful in deciding when to begin your Social Security payments. There's a longer one at UPenn. The 2 life expectancy generators came out a year apart when I used them, so the quick SSA one is probably just as good as the longer one, but it is interesting to see the factors that influence your longevity when you fill out the longer questionnaire.

Eat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman, M.D., got my interest when I really began trying to eat healthier. It provides an easy-to-read explanation of how the Standard American Diet (SAD) falls short on nutrition and promotes bad health. Most chapters begin with a short anecdote about a person who had good results following Dr. Fuhrman's "nutritarian" plan. It's simple. For the first six weeks, eat fruits, vegetables, and beans, with some nuts and ground flaxseed. You can add some starchy vegetables and whole grains and avocado, but dairy products, animal products, fruit juice, oils, and snacking between meals are off-limits. You completely eliminate processed foods.

Eat to Live also includes meal plans, recipes, and a final chapter answering Frequently Asked Questions. Although the first six weeks are strict, the Life Plan does allow for 10% deviation from the basic plan -- about 200 calories per day of animal, oil, or dairy, if you wish, or about one meal per week, so you can still enjoy Thanksgiving turkey and pie, or other holiday and special occasion meals.

One of Dr. Fuhrman's mottos is: The Salad is the Main Dish. So I took that to heart last summer and ate chopped salads with a variety of colorful vegetables and fruits for lunch and dinner, and a smoothie with greens and blueberries for breakfast. Summer is an easy time for salads. There are lots of fresh veggies and fruits available, and the farmers market provides plenty of choices. Even though I ate basically the same meal daily, the variety of fruits and vegetables kept me from becoming bored with my food. But I lost my taste for salads as the weather became cooler last fall, and fell back into my old eating habits.

I didn't feel quite as energetic and regained my lost weight, even though I tried to keep up my exercise routine. Going back to a "nutritarian" way of eating this summer has given me back my energy, and I feel much better. My blood pressure and blood test results have improved, too. And the weight is falling off again, without hunger pangs.