11 Key Principles of a Longevity Diet: When You Eat is More Important Than What You Eat (Photo Gallery)
I. Eat a Little Less
The daily saliva secretion of the elderly is one-third of that of young people, and gastric juice secretion also drops to one-fifth of their younger years. Therefore, eating even a little too much can lead to bloating and indigestion. Thus, the elderly should reduce their food intake per meal by about 10% compared to their younger years, while ensuring they eat smaller, more frequent meals.
II. Eat a Little Better
Protein plays an important role in maintaining the normal metabolism of the elderly and enhancing the body's resistance. For most elderly people, 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight is needed, with a focus on high-quality protein sources such as fish, poultry, eggs, milk, and soybeans.
III. Eat More Vegetables
Eating more vegetables is very beneficial for protecting the cardiovascular system and preventing cancer. The elderly should eat no less than 250 grams of vegetables daily.
IV. Make Food a Little Less Salty
The taste function of the elderly is somewhat diminished, and they often find food bland, preferring heavily seasoned foods to stimulate their appetite. This inadvertently increases their salt intake. Excessive salt can burden the kidneys, may reduce the barrier function of oral mucosa, and increase the chances of cold viruses surviving and spreading in the upper respiratory tract. Therefore, the elderly should control their daily salt intake to about 5 grams and eat less cured meat and other salty foods.
V. Have a Little More Variety
Ensure a balance of meat and vegetables, and a mix of coarse and fine grains; the more variety, the better. The daily staple and non-staple foods (excluding seasonings) should not be less than 10 items.
VI. Make Food a Little More Aromatic
The "aromatic" here does not refer to using more salt, MSG, and other seasonings, but rather adding more aromatics like scallions and ginger to dishes. The five senses are interconnected, and smell can compensate for the loss of taste. The aroma of food is sure to whet the appetite of the elderly.
VII. Eat Food a Little Warmer
Raw and cold foods are often considered "cold-natured" in traditional Chinese medicine, and eating too much can affect the digestive and absorptive functions of the spleen and stomach, causing even damage. Therefore, the elderly should try to avoid raw and cold foods, paying special attention during the cold winter months.
VIII. Make Meals a Little Softer
Cooking rice into congee not only makes it soft, palatable, and easy to digest but also often has the effect of strengthening the spleen and nourishing the stomach, promoting fluid production and moisturizing dryness, which is beneficial for longevity. However, the elderly should not drink congee for every meal. After all, congee is mostly water with very little "solid" nutrition. In the case of the same stomach capacity, the nutritional value of a portion of congee is much less than that of a steamed bun or rice. Over time, this could lead to malnutrition.
IX. Eat a Little Slower
Chewing slowly can easily create a feeling of fullness, preventing overeating and allowing for better digestion of food.
X. Have a Better Breakfast
Breakfast should account for 30% to 40% of the total daily energy intake, with its quality and nutritional value being higher and more refined. It is not advisable to eat greasy, fried, hard, or highly stimulating foods.
XI. Eat Dinner a Little Earlier
"When the stomach is not harmonious, the night is not peaceful." Eating dinner too late not only affects sleep and leads to calorie storage but can also easily cause urinary stones. The peak time for calcium excretion in the human body is 4-5 hours after a meal. If dinner is eaten too late or if one often has a late-night snack, the peak calcium excretion time may arrive when the elderly are already asleep. The best time for an elderly person's dinner should be around 6 or 7 PM, and they should avoid or eat less late-night snacks.
Diet: Neither Forced Nor Casual
Healthy eating is simple: don't harm yourself. We often say: develop good habits at 20, and all health indicators will be normal at 40; be disease-free and retire healthy before 60; don't age before 80, and live to 100 easily and happily for a lifetime.
The four cornerstones of health from the "Victoria Declaration" published by the World Health Organization in 1992 are: a rational diet, moderate exercise, quitting smoking and limiting alcohol, and mental balance. The core of these four cornerstones is what Lao Tzu called "the适者有寿" (shì zhě yǒu shòu), which means "the adaptable will have longevity." "Adaptable" means moderate, appropriate, and adaptable; not taking extremes in anything, grasping the multi-layered relationships between things and the environment, and making corresponding changes as the external environment changes. For example, with a rational diet, the key is "rational"; with moderate exercise, the key is "moderate"; and with mental balance, the key is "balance." If one gets furious over a trivial matter, causing a heart attack or cerebral hemorrhage, they will regret it for life.
Now that people's living standards have improved and health awareness has increased, many are beginning to pursue healthy lifestyles. But problems arise too. With the myriad of health books on the market, all kinds of health lectures in the media, and various dietary and nutritional views, if you were to listen to them all, there might be very little left in the world that you could eat. Every meal would have to be measured with measuring cups and scales. This is not necessary. Just remember the three "意" (yì) principles of healthy eating. First, "不必刻意" (bù bì kè yì) — don't be too deliberate. Don't be so obsessive about counting every calorie, gram of fat, milligram of cholesterol, or gram of salt; it will exhaust you. Second, "不能随意" (bù néng suí yì) — don't be careless. It's certain that careless eating will lead to a host of health problems. Third, "需要注意" (xū yào zhù yì) — you need to pay attention. How? There are three plans: a ten-character plan, an eight-character plan, and a six-character plan.
The ten-character plan: "一二三四五，红黄绿白黑" (yī èr sān sì wǔ, hóng huáng lǜ bái hēi), which means "One, Two, Three, Four, Five; Red, Yellow, Green, White, Black." By following this to plan your meals, you are already eating a healthy diet. I have discussed this plan in my previous books, and everyone is already very familiar with it.
There is also the eight-character plan: "七八分饱，营养正好" (qī bā fēn bǎo, yíng yǎng zhèng hǎo), which means "Seventy to eighty percent full, just the right nutrition." Eat until you are 70-80% full.
The third plan is the six-character plan, which is even simpler. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations proposed that the most ideal and scientific dietary structure for the 21st century is six characters: "一荤一素一菇" (yī hūn yī sù yī gū), which means "One meat dish, one vegetable dish, and one mushroom dish." This is how I eat now. In every meal, there should be one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and one type of mushroom, such as shiitake, enoki, or wood ear fungus, or black fungus, kelp, etc. (Reporter: Hong Zhaoguang)