Eat Like a Centenarian- Week 6 of Dr. Mao's 8-Week Longevity Program
My years of studying centenarians resulted in my bestselling Secrets of Longevity book. In it, I documented what foods were most prevalent among this unique group of long-living people, confirmed by nutritional science. Below, I share the centenarians' secrets regarding food, but just as importantly, how they maintain optimum digestion.
Top 5 Foods Eaten by Centenarians
No matter where you are in the world, centenarians all share one common trait: they eat natural, whole, locally produced, and seasonal foods. These included whole grains, beans, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and a small amount of seafood and animal products. They did not follow fashionable diets of the day like Keto, Paleo, or the Raw Diet. Although generally plant-based, the key is that they ate a large variety of minimally processed whole foods. What are the top five most often eaten foods? Sweet potato or yams, walnut or other nuts, blueberries or other berries, mushrooms of all varieties, and seed grains like quinoa or hemp seeds.
Let Food be Thy Medicine.
Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine two millenniums ago, uttered these words. Likewise, since the beginning of the Chinese civilization, food and medicine have been closely intertwined with the discovery that certain edible herbs possessed potent health benefits. These herbs were called "food herbs" or "superior herbs." Traditionally cooked into a warm breakfast cereal, they became part of a diet that naturally resulted in health and longevity. Some notable examples included lotus seed, fox nut, wild yam, poria, and chestnut. The benefits include stronger bladder and bowel control, improved digestion and absorption, and more energy and vitality. Add Cereal Herb Mix to a variety of whole grains, beans, and seeds and cook in a pressure cooker or crockpot. Eat them sweet with fresh berries for breakfast or savory with seasoning and spices for dinner!
Enhance Digestion to Maximize Nutrition
Aging causes a decline in the body's function, and digestion and absorption are no exception. As a result, critical nutrients your body needs to thrive become scarcer as you age. Examples include osteoporosis due to the inability to absorb calcium, magnesium, and other minerals critical for bone health due to a decline in gastric juice or long-term use of acid-blocking medications. And vitamin B12, essential for blood building and maintaining your nervous system, becomes deficient due to abnormal bacterial microbiome in your intestines.
Traditional Eastern medicine recognizes herbs that aid in digestion. The Digest formula contains Hawthorn berry, which stimulates your stomach to produce balanced gastric juice. Fruits like papaya and pineapple provide essential enzymes such as papain and bromelain to help break down food. Other enzymes like amylase help digest carbohydrates, while lipase and protease break down fats and proteins respectively to their accessible components. These and other beneficial enzymes are found in PhytoNzyme PRO, a vegan digestive enzyme formula that's easy on the stomach and promotes optimum nutrient absorption.
Prebiotic fibers like slippery elm bark, ginger root, and psyllium husks provide food for a healthy gut microbiome. Try Prebiotics Fiber PLUS containing these and other unique fibers. When bacteria in your gut are fed the proper nutrition, they thrive and improve your digestive and overall health.
Eat a large variety of fermented foods like coconut kefir, miso, and sauerkraut containing various species of beneficial bacteria for your gut, or take Super ProBiotics, which contains essential bacterial strains in a synergistic bioactive medium to support healthy intestinal function, motility, and gut immunity. Order these on TaoStar.com.
Pick one or more tips from above or more from my 8-Week ebook and practice the routine daily for the next seven days. Click to listen to my audio podcast here and watch my video here.