What Foods Can You Eat on the Longevity Diet?

In the following article, we tell you everything you ever needed or wanted to know about the Longevity Diet.

Let us delve into a further examination of the Longevity Diet and also those foods you are  not allowed to eat too.

What Is the Longevity Diet? Who Came up with It?

The Longevity Diet is a series of guidelines for eating healthily which were formulated by Valter Longo, Ph.D..

DR Longo is a biochemist and the director of the USC Longevity Institute, which is part of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

The guidelines he developed were formulated with the intention of enabling people to live healthier and longer lives.

Dr. Valter Longo conducted research on the longer lived populations across the globe, including those in Italy, Greece, Japan, and the United States.

Substitution of plant protein for animal protein, especially that from processed red meat, was associated with lower mortality, suggesting the importance of protein source.”

The research that Dr. Valter Longo conducted also demonstrated the benefits to one’s health that fasting mimicking diets can have.

Fasting mimicking diets are somewhat similar to the practice of intermittent fasting

(in this article I answer a common question o get asked;  can we eat chia seeds in fast).

These fasting mimicking diets were shown in his research to improve metrics which exert significant impact on the health of a person (especially as one undergoes the process of aging), such as blood pressure, body mass index, and the glucose levels in one’s blood.

The Longevity Diet looks like a modified version of a vegan diet, one in which some seafood and tiny amounts of dairy and meat are permitted.

The Longevity Diet is as much a lifestyle as it is an eating program, and it can be adhered to for as long as you desire.

The series of guidelines suggests following a diet that involves five days of fasting and mimicking from time to time throughout a year.

Meat, dairy, and poultry are to be avoided due to the fact that they are generally high in saturated fats.

If it is not possible to avoid these entirely, the diet suggests that you limit these by using only small quantities for the purposes of adding some flavor to dishes which are based on plants.

This is opposed to having them as the centerpiece of your meals.

When it comes to dairy, if it is too difficult for you to give up cheese and milk, the Longevity Diet suggests that you switch from products and cheeses derived from the milk of cows to that of goats, which possesses anti-inflammatory properties and which is high in minerals.

When it comes to planning for meals, it is recommended that those who may be overweight or who tend to gain weight more easily should eat 2 meals as well as 2 snacks each day which are low in sugar.

One of the meals should be breakfast, and the other should be either lunch or dinner.

People who are able to maintain a healthy weight or those who tend to lose weight more easily are encouraged to have three meals per day as well as one snack that is low in sugar.

People who are on the Longevity Diet also stick to an eating program which mimics fasting numerous times in the year.

This refers to the consumption of restricted portions of foods, primarily vegetables, seeds, and nuts, for a period of five days.

The total caloric intake per day falls between 800 and 1100; 60 percent of the calories are derived from fat, 30 percent from carbohydrates, and 10 percent from protein.

The three pillars of the Longevity Diet are the following:

• Eating mainly plant based foods
• Eating less protein from meat, dairy, and poultry
• Mimicking fasting at times throughout the year

The main purpose of these food choices is to secure the numerous health benefits that come with taking in all the vitamins, nutrients, and beneficial plant compounds found in foods based on plants and to eliminate the negative effects of saturated fats and animal based proteins

( In this article I cover the health benefits of pickled onions, and are pickled onions good for you?).

The main purpose of the fasting recommendations is to take advantage of the health benefits thereof as well, which include improvements in blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and body mass index.