Is there a correct and healthy diet that allows us to live long but without restrictions? Not too long ago the umpteenth study had established that to live longer it is necessary to eat less, and therefore to make a low-calorie diet, for which low-calorie diet ended up being synonymous with a healthy diet. All the studies in this regard, however, were conducted on laboratory animals and had little or no connection with the life of modern man, so much so as to attract a lot of criticism even from dieticians and nutritionists. This is because a low-calorie diet lowers the metabolism and therefore the immune defenses: how is it possible that to live longer you have to weaken? Now, however, a new study published in the journal Cell, this time on a sample of volunteers, he establishes that there is no need to eat less or have a low-calorie diet to live long. The healthy diet to live up to one hundred years is based on four rules developed by doctors Luigi Fontana and Linda Patrirdge, respectively full professor of medicine and nutrition at the University of Brescia and at the Washington University of Saint Louis and a researcher at the University. College London and the Max Planck Institute for biology of aging. Here are which ones.
THE HEALTHY DIET TO LIVE LONG
1) REDUCE PROTEIN: A healthy diet for longevity has a lower intake of proteins, which must cover 10 to 12 percent of the individual’s caloric needs. Eating less protein reduces cell aging.
2) REDUCE ANIMAL PROTEINS : of this 10-12% of proteins, most of them must be vegetable, without totally giving up animal ones. The amino acids in animal proteins can increase the risk of cell damage, while the fibers in plant protein foods protect the bacterial flora and the immune system.
3) DO SEMI-FAST FOR TWO DAYS A WEEK : we can eat our fill five days a week, but two non-consecutive days of the week are restrictive and must not exceed 500 calories per day. Perhaps by eating only vegetables at will seasoned with a little oil, the researchers say.
4) EAT FOOD IN THE FIRST HOURS OF THE DAY:the ideal would be to concentrate breakfast, lunch and dinner in eight hours, say the two experts, to get closer to the circadian rhythms. This is in line with the famous eight hour diet I am talking about here and which would allow you to always maintain a certain body weight. But how to concentrate 3 meals in eight hours? Simple, anticipating dinner, which must be almost afternoon.