This will be the first of a series of blogs regarding age management, diet , exercise and welllness therapies. First I will summarize an excellent diet plan for antioxidation, weight loss, and maximal life extension.

The Age Management/Anti Oxidant Rainbow Diet

First, the diet is 40% protein, 30% carbohydrate and 30% Fat, but of the correct type (mainly olive oil, fish oil, nut oil, avocado oil)

The diet is highly antioxidant and natural. The food you can eat is in its native form, unadulterated by humans, other than to extract the oil from olives.

The 40% protein should be from deep, line caught, cold running fish that do not concentrate mercury. That would be Salmon (Sockeye is the best), Halibut, Cod, Mackerel, Sardines, Anchovies, Monkfish, Sea Bass, Tuna in lesser amounts as they concentrate mercury. Just about any fish is better than mammalian sources of protein, but farm raised is less acceptable than wild, line caught fresh or frozen fish. The rest of the protein source should be from vegetable sources. You want to bake, broil, or grill your food, or cook it in olive oil. The next best source of protein is lean turkey, then chicken, then wild game of all varieties, then beef, then pork.

Vegetables should be of the rainbow variety, in other words, the more highly colored and brilliant, the better. Examples are peppers of all colors, chilies, spices, dark green spinach, avocados ,cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts , cauliflower, cabbage, especially purple cabbage, red onions, green onions, leeks, garlic .  As many brightly colored vegetable, at least six servings per day are recommended. Eat lots of olives of different varieties.  Cook your vegetable in olive oil with small amounts of your protein source and spices.

As far as other carbohydrates are concerned eat brown rice, wild rice, but avoid minute rice, white rice or any grain that is not totally natural. Make your own cereal with raw oats, raw nuts and seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower), dried fruits, especially dates, and figs. Eat it raw; do not cook it, unless you just feel like a bowel of cooked oats. The rawer you eat your food the better.

Dairy should be yogurt, Kefir, low fat or dried milk, and a moderate amount of cheese, but NEVER processed American cheese, cheese spreads etc. Eat real cheese but in moderate amounts. Do not eat ice cream, cream based products, or desert type dairy products.

Do not eat anything that is processed and put into a plastic bag. That would include any snack food, crackers, cakes, cookies, breakfast cereals, etc. Do not ever drink soft drinks or concentrated fruit juices. Make your own fruit juice. Avoid all high fructose corn syrup by reading labels (actually you should not eat anything with a label on it!) Drink green tea, diet drinks are ok, but in limited doses because they have so much preservative type non natural products in them. Never use sugar. Use Splenda instead. You can use Stevia as well. Drink Lemon water, or non caffeinated teas of all types. Coffee is fine in moderation. Even “health bars” are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and all kinds of stuff you don’t want.

The other source of calories should be from olive oil to cook with and from making your own salad dressing with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Also use as much spice in the form of curcumin, curry, turmeric, cayenne pepper, black and white pepper, sea salt, and as many herbal spices like ginger, basil, thyme, etc that you can use.

Eat Brazil nuts (which have selenium 200 mcg per nut!), Cashews, Macadamia, Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans, but avoid peanuts, which are like tubers or potatoes. When ever you are the least bit hungry in between meals, eat a large (two full handfuls or more) helping of mixed nuts, with a large glass of herbal tea. Just wait and see how your hunger goes away.

You want to avoid white potatoes, white rice, all sugar products, all sugar completely, all deserts, all white flour products, eat very little corn products (high glycemic index) Use Splenda for sweetening if needed.

Have a glass of red wine each night, but no more alcohol than that.

Take your supplements three times daily. Divide them up to be taken after a meal. Wash them down with Kefir (a cultured yogurt drink which has more probiotic cultures than simply yogurt) Drink goats milk Kefir over cow’s milk Kefir, but either is great. Eat Activia yogurt often.

Fruits: You want to eat the fruits that grow in the northern or southern hemispheres either above or below the equator. Tropic fruits are laden with sugar. You can eat them, but the preference is to eat Northern hemisphere fruits. Generally Fruits grown above the equator have less sugar and more pulp. Eat as many blueberries, blackberries, dark cherries, boysenberries, strawberries and all berries, especially the dark ones as you can get your hands on. Eat apples, pears, currants, as many different fruits with as many different brilliant colors that you can find. Eat lots of dates and figs.

When you go to the grocery store pick things that have brilliant color, that you have never tried or have no idea what they even are. Just get them, eat them, cook them and figure out if you like them. Experiment as much as possible, because you are in a new world of food now and you can’t be scared to reach out or be stuck in your old ways.

Go to a Whole foods store. Go to the bulk foods section. Get as many different nuts, dried fruits, dried grains in their natural form as you can afford. Start eating this food raw or cooked in chicken stock or olive oil.

This diet does not require calorie counting. In fact you will and should eat more often and possibly more quantity. Now that you have cut our compacted calorie processed food like bread (which is milled, compacted and processed grain), processed meats of all type (lunch meat , bacon etc) and you have eliminated soft drinks, desserts and any sugar containing foods, your calorie count on what you do eat is much lower, therefore you will have to eat more of it. If you eat six meals per day, and front load your calories toward the beginning of the day, and exercise like instructed, you can’t help but lose weight, lean up, increase muscle mass, decrease body fat and feel much better.