Eating for peak health, fitness and longevity

“Many people ask me to list super foods to eat and avoid – the truth is, we can, and should eat everything, because variety is very good for our bodies. What’s important is to distinguish between the foods we should eat often and the ones we should save for special occasions,” he says,

“This is the biggest nutrition challenge right now – many of us need to reduce our energy intake by at least 20 per cent. When we reduce calorie intake while maintaining optimal levels of vital nutrients, we live longer, look younger, and feel more energetic,” he adds.

Dr Kamon cites the people of Okinawa as an example of the strong link between healthy diet and longevity (Okinawans have a life expectancy among the highest in the world). As well as leading active lifestyles, their diet is mostly plant-based and includes many green and yellow vegetables, legumes and small amounts of rice, fish and meat.

They also eat little sugar. “Our daily intake should be no more than six teaspoons a day. This would be easier to manage if we cooked every meal we consumed,” he points out.

“Today we eat out more, and consume more processed foods containing high levels of sugar. This includes obvious products like candy, ice cream, sodas and cookies as well as less obvious ones such as sports drinks, yoghurts, ready meals and bread.”

As has been widely reported in the media, excess sugar in the diet has been attributed to widespread rising levels of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes – conditions that significantly increase a person’s risk of getting cancer.

People should make healthier decisions across all food groups, the nutrition expert says. For carbohydrates, he recommends whole grain options such as oatmeal, brown rice or pasta, multi-grain breads, quinoa and bulgur. As well as being high in fibre these carbs are slowly absorbed into our systems avoiding spikes in blood sugar levels.

In terms of cooking oils, olive oil is a heart-healthy fat containing antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties. It is best used for salad dressings or low temperature frying. 

Other healthy oils include tea seed (from green tea) oil that has strong anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. High in Omega 3, perilla oil is another good alternative.

For home cooks, Dr. Kamon suggests chopping garlic and waiting 10 minutes before adding to a hot pan or pot – this time enables the health- promoting allicin in garlic to fully form.

A healthy meal comprises 50 per cent vegetables, 25 per cent protein and 25 per cent carbohydrates. And while many refer to vegetables as “greens”, Dr Kamon says the more colour on a plate the better – so include red, yellow and other coloured vegetables in the mix.

While the fruit, vegetable, legume, olive oil and fish-based Mediterranean diet is heralded by many nutritionists, the Thai diet is also healthy and nutritious, he says,

“Thai cuisine is very good as it uses many fresh vegetables, spices, fruits and herbs such as coriander, basil, ginger and garlic. We should however, moderate the use of oil, coconut milk, and sugar.

“And while barbecue chicken and satay are popular street foods, again moderation is recommended – in fact, it’s a good idea to drink a cup of green tea before eating barbecue food to reduce the carcinogenic impact of grilled food.”

Paying attention to when we eat is also |important.

“We should eat breakfast within one hour of getting up, then wait three to four hours for lunch – this is a good time to eat proteins. And dinner should be eaten about six hours after lunch.”

Finally, if you enjoy an alcoholic beverage with your meal, Dr. Kamon says one unit per day is fine and red wine is the healthiest option.

“Red wine contains Resveratrol that helps |prevent blood clots and is good for reducing inflammation and bad cholesterol. 

Even for people who don’t drink, I recommend a glass of red wine – they can ge