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Two out of every three Americans want to live to be 100 years old, and they expect science  to help  them  achieve  that  goal,  according  to  a 2001  survey on  attitudes toward aging and longevity conducted for the Alliance for Aging Research. Survey respondents believed  that personal actions—such as keeping a positive outlook, exercising  regularly, eating nutritious  foods, and keeping  stress  to a minimum—were important to remaining healthy as they aged.

“[The survey] results indicate that Americans believe staying healthy in old age
is not just a mater of fate, but something they themselves can afect,” said Daniel
Perry, executive director of the Alliance, according to an article about the survey on
SeniorJournal.com. “Most Americans want to hit the century mark, but don’t view
living longer as an end in itself. Tey want to live with health and vitality and beneft
from the many scientifc breakthroughs now on the horizon.”

Those  expectations  aren’t  unfounded. Te Centers  for Disease Control  and
Prevention  (CDC) noted  in  its  report, Te State  of Aging and Health  in America
2007, that the three lifestyle factors of poor nutrition, inactivity, and smoking were
the root causes of more than a third of all deaths in the United States, and that these
factors underlie  the development of some of  the nation’s most prevalent chronic
diseases, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Te CDC also found
that people who were 65 years of age or older were more likely than any other group
to eat fve or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

The 200 SuperFoods Tat Will Save Your Life is designed to be a one-stop nutri-
tional wellness  resource, providing expert, professional guidance on  choosing—
and enjoying—nutritious foods as part of a proactive approach that can add years
to your  life. Te plan  is  realistic, emphasizing—and encouraging you  to make—
small  incremental  changes  that  are  efective  and  contribute  to  long-term health.
None of the foods I’ve  included are esoteric—they’re all easy to fnd and easy to
include in your meals or snacks.

This book  is a Livit—instead of a diet—that will allow you  to  improve your
health without feeling deprived. How does a Livit difer from a diet? A diet includes xiv
a long list of what not to eat (ofen excluding whole categories of foods, as in the
no-fat and no-carbohydrate fads of the past 20 years) and restricts your daily caloric
intake  to  below  your  resting metabolic  rate. When  you  eat  less  than  your  body
needs for survival, your metabolism goes into a hibernation mode that increases fat
storage, causes water loss, and breaks down muscle and organ tissue. Tis is not a
good long-term strategy for health—or even for achieving or maintaining a healthy
weight!

A Livit is a way of life that you can follow for life. You do not need to deprive
yourself calorically or be self-denying  in your  food choices  to begin eating more
life-sustaining foods.

The foods in this book are organized into categories to emphasize balanced eat-
ing and what that really means—balancing carbohydrates, proteins, and fat sources.
Balancing these three vital classes of nutrients sustains your energy throughout the
day and helps stabilize glucose (sugar) levels, which contributes to preventing and
controlling heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Te specifc amounts of carbohy-
drate, protein, and fat per serving are stated for each food, based on the seventeenth
edition of Bowes & Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used (1998).
We begin with the carbohydrate food sources (fruit, starchy vegetables, “true”
vegetables, grains, and most dairy) because they provide our bodies’ primary fuel—
glucose. Our brain, muscles, and organs all require glucose to function, and carbo-
hydrates are the best place to get it.

Although many popular weight-loss diets are based on cutting carbohydrates,
this macronutrient is essential for optimal metabolism and health. When the body
does not get enough carbohydrates  from  food,  it has  to convert protein  into glu-
cose, which is a very inefficient process. This requires a lot of water, which can lead
to dehydration if you don’t drink extra to compensate. It also releases excess nitro-
gen, which the liver and kidneys must work overtime to process and excrete. A diet
that’s too low in carbohydrates can contribute to fatigue and put stress on the liver
and kidneys.

The bottom line is this: Eliminating food groups is not a healthy choice. Carbohy-
drates  are  essential. Choose  high-fber  carbohydrates, which  are more  nutrient-
dense and more slowly absorbed than the more refned, “white,” low-fber versions.
Whole grains and other high-fber carbs tend to include some protein too.
Vegetables  are  listed under  carbohydrates, but  their  essential  role  in healthy
eating is to provide vitamins, minerals, and fber. Tey are not a very efcient source
of carbohydrate fuel and need to be balanced with fruits or starches that will pro-
vide more energy.

The next chapter focuses on protein foods, which are the sustainers—they pro-
vide  the materials  to  rebuild muscles  and  organs,  sustaining  us  in  the  long  run. Introduction
xv

Because they are absorbed more slowly than carbohydrate foods, they help provide
sustained  energy  throughout  the day. For  example,  fruit  takes  about  an hour  to
digest, whereas cheese or nuts, with their higher fat and protein content, take three
to four hours to digest. For sustained energy, have cheese or nuts along with your
fruit or other carbs. Te  fruit will keep you  from being hungry again  in an hour,
while  the protein  foods will  stretch  your  energy out over  the next  three  to  four
hours—definitely a more efcient use of your eating time!

A good rule of thumb regarding protein foods is to choose predominantly vege-
tarian protein sources. A number of studies have shown a strong correlation between
vegetarian and semi-vegetarian diets and a reduced risk of diabetes, cancer, heart
disease, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia,  age-related ocular macular degeneration,
colonic diverticula, and gallstones. Aim to limit meat consumption so that animal
protein plays a central role in, at most, one meal a day. If you eat a turkey sandwich
at lunch, try to have a vegetable protein source at dinner. (Although fsh is an ani-
mal protein, many types of fsh are low in saturated fat and are such a great source
of omega-3 faty acids that I do not count them against the meat total for the day.)
Fats  are our  satisfer. Te  third macronutrient  in our balancing  act,  fat  is  the
most slowly digested, keeping us satisfed longer and slowing the absorption of the
glucose in carbohydrate foods. Dietary fat is essential for hormonal balance, insula-
tion  of  our  skin  and  nerves,  and  healthy  skin  and  hair. Tese  dietary  fats must
include  essential  faty  acids, which help  lower  cholesterol,  increase high-density
lipoproteins (HDL) or “good” cholesterol, and lower triglycerides.

This book provides not only the nutritional content and special health benefts
of each  food, but also ways to  incorporate the  foods  into a healthier approach to
eating—from grocery lists to meal plans. Learn easy ways to increase your overall
health through food choices—increase metabolism and immunity, understand the
benefts of fber, discover what  to watch  for on  food  labels,  learn alternatives  for
coping with food intolerance and food allergies, and fnd out which foods have anti-
infammatory properties that may be the key to preventing disease.

The 200 SuperFoods Tat Will Save Your Life demonstrates the power you have
to be proactive and to make specifc food choices that will help you live younger,
longer. Read on  to unlock  the  secrets  to  increasing your energy, helping prevent
disease, and attaining optimal health—one bite at a time!

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