CHAPTER SEVEN

Food and Longevity

FIGHT DISEASE WITH THE BEST ALLIES YOUR MONEY CAN BUY—FOOD

The human race has put a man on the moon, mapped its own genome, and developed a computer architecture that can link a guy in the heart of Manhattan with someone on Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific with a few keyboard clicks. Yet we’ve only scratched the surface of understanding the impact of food on longevity.

Your body is infinitely complex—a walking, talking collection of chemicals. Foods, too, are a complicated mishmash of chemical ingredients. Bring them together and you’ve got a science experiment whose intricacies rival anything the world’s best physicists and engineers have ever devised. You probably don’t think of yourself as a human test tube, but every time you bite into an apple or drink a beer, you’re essentially performing a chemistry experiment. Each piece of food that enters your mouth is broken down into its smallest fractions—atoms and molecules—which ultimately interact with your genes. That turkey sandwich you scarf down at lunch may cause a chemical reaction in your cells that helps you get through your afternoon workout; that charcoal-grilled burger you inhale each night may spark the chemical change in your cells that eventually metastasizes into full-blown cancer.

Such are the mysteries of food, longevity, and life spans.

It wasn’t long ago that mankind didn’t need to worry about how food affected life spans. In earlier centuries and millennia—in fact, for most of human history—human life expectancy was 25 to 30, give or take a few years. Those short life spans had little, if anything, to do with the makeup of the human body. Genetically speaking, men have been the same for the past 40,000 years. If time travel were possible and you brought a caveman to the 21st century, there’s no reason he couldn’t live into his 70s and beyond.

Instead, we can blame early man’s short life span on environmental factors like famine, pestilence, and flood (not to mention causes that were decidedly less biblical). Back then, guys usually were killed or otherwise perished long before their body had a chance to reach its natural expiration date. They had to worry about being devoured by predators, frozen to death by a sudden blizzard, or done in by something that today could be cured through a routine medical procedure, like an appendectomy. Think back to the worst toothache you’ve ever had. If dentists and painkillers didn’t exist, what would you have done? Something that mundane could have killed you.

In a way, that’s what makes the past 50 years so amazing: In a single half-century, we’ve advanced human control of our environment light years beyond the generations before. In the developed world, we can avoid environmental factors, or at least manage them with great success. Paramount among our advances is how we’ve learned to fight disease and treat injuries. We sanitize our food. We can transplant organs from one body to another. We can unblock blocked arteries, repair collapsed lungs, and even operate effectively on damaged brains.

In the process, we’ve redefined the idea of a “natural life span.” Today, most men expect to live into their 70s and 80s, with some pressing well into their 100s and beyond. How long will we ultimately be able to live? Only the future can answer that, but it’s not unreasonable to think that men will someday celebrate 100-year birthdays with regularity. The question that faces us today is: What is keeping us from getting there?

Our diets, for one thing. As medicine has advanced, our diets have gone rapidly downhill. The percentage of men and women over 50 with a chronic disease has skyrocketed. In one example from the American Diabetes Association, 18.2 million people in the United States alone have diabetes, a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Another 20.1 million have “pre-diabetes”—blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. In both cases, the number of patients for these diseases has jumped by the millions over the past three decades. Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death by disease in the United States, and it contributes to higher overall rates of morbidity. People with diabetes are at higher risk for heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, extremity amputations, and other chronic conditions. The major cause? A diet loaded with calories, refined carbohydrates, and unhealthy fats—the diet that causes obesity.

The economic costs of such diseases are staggering, and diabetes alone cost the American public an estimated $132 billion in 2002. The social costs are also enormous, as a swelling population of individuals who can no longer support themselves must depend on others. When you see debates about Medicare and Social Security in the context of the ballooning federal budget deficit, one of the underlying truths is that supporting a nation of old, fat, unhealthy eaters is expensive.

The following review of the various ways nutrition can contribute to your ultimate demise is intended as a wake-up call, so it might be a little alarming at times. Looked at as a glass half-full, however, this information will show what an extraordinary positive impact food can have on your life.

Just to preface what follows with one example, Harvard researchers recently studied 3,000 subjects and found that eating breakfast daily resulted in a 35 to 50 percent reduction in the risk of getting diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

On that note, here we go.

Inflammation

We mentioned free radicals in the last chapter, but they are far more dangerous over the long term than the short. To get an idea of what they do to your body over the long haul, picture a golf club that’s been left outside for a few days and is beginning to rust. Or an apple that turns brown less than an hour after you bite into it. In both cases, you’re witnessing oxygen’s corrosive effects on a solid, known as oxidation.

If oxygen can do that to your nine-iron, imagine what it can do to your body’s delicate tissues over the course of 80 years. Free radicals form from oxygen and can actually oxidize many of the structural components of your body’s cells, zapping everything from the membrane down to receptors and enzymes, and, ultimately, DNA, your body’s genetic software. When too many cells begin to mutate or die from this molecular onslaught, this program gets corrupted, and some very bad stuff can begin to happen—like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and arthritis. Somewhere at the root of all these diseases of lifestyle and aging is oxidative damage.

(Keep in mind, however, that you do need free radicals to some amount and degree. In fact, you’d die quickly without free radicals. Just to cite a few examples, they’re employed by white blood cells to eradicate any foreign bodies that invade our cells, and the body also needs them to produce essential materials like prostaglandins, a group of hormone-like substances that help along numerous important processes that are underway inside the body.)

THE ORGANIC TRUTH

DOES ORGANIC FOOD MAKE A HEALTH DIFFERENCE? It depends on whom you ask. Yes, if you listen to the Organic Trade Association.

After a 1995 meeting, the trade association’s standards board defined “organic agriculture” as “an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological harmony.”

The board goes on to define “organic” as “a labeling term that denotes products produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act.” The principal guidelines for organic production are to use materials and practices that enhance the ecological balance of natural systems and that integrate the parts of the farming system into an ecological whole.

The association and other proponents say organic foods contain fewer pesticides and other harmful chemicals than nonorganic foods do. It’s not just what organic foods lack, though. Advocates say they also have more of nature’s good stuff, whether it’s vitamin C, minerals like iron and magnesium, or phytonutrients like polyphenols—naturally occurring antioxidants that may help bolster the body’s immune system.

Some scattered, fairly small-scale research has offered intriguing indications that this may well be the case. For example, one study found that frozen organic corn contained 52 percent more vitamin C than conventional corn did.

For others, though, the answer to the organic-foods question is a resounding . . . maybe. Though intriguing, the results from the studies that have been done to date in this area are inconclusive overall. Some research, like the aforementioned study, suggests that organic foods have enhanced nutritional value; other studies indicate that any differences may be insignificant. We have good data showing that populations with low intakes of fruits and vegetables have high levels of disease morbidity and mortality, but we have zero data showing that people who eat lots of traditionally grown fruits and vegetables are ill, and that people who eat organic fruits and vegetables are not.

I think organic produce does offer several obvious benefits. For one, farming methods employed by organic-foods manufacturers are much kinder to the earth than those of agribusiness conglomerates. As a result, farm workers harvesting organic produce aren’t exposed to harmful chemicals.

Although that may not affect you directly, the higher levels of chemicals found in foods that haven’t been produced organically almost certainly does. A small pilot study done recently at the University of Washington found that pesticide levels are much lower in children who eat organic fruits and vegetables than in those who eat traditionally farmed produce. So it looks like at least some of the chemicals used in farming do enter your body in measurable amounts.

Do I know for a fact that this makes a health difference? No. But it’s not a huge stretch to think that chemicals formulated to kill molds, spores, pests, and fungi probably aren’t great for human cells, either.

Without question, many conventional food producers adhere to strict government standards for pesticide use, intent on doing the right thing. But large quantities of food enter the United States from abroad, and you probably won’t know if the produce on your table comes from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, or the Central Valley in California. Agricultural standards around the world vary greatly, with standards far more lax in some countries than others. FDA inspectors can’t be everywhere all the time.

So why not just err on the side of fewer chemicals? Because organic foods can be significantly more expensive than standard produce, although this depends to some extent on where you live. Here’s the bottom line, from my perspective: Buy organic produce if you want it, if it’s available, and if you can afford it, but don’t buy simply because you’re afraid you’re going to get sick from standard produce.

One footnote: Regardless of whether your produce is grown organically or through traditional means, always wash it before eating.

Our bodies take a free-radical beating every day. An increasingly compromised ozone layer, the heavy metals found in the environment, secondhand cigarette smoke—40,000 years ago, the human body had other things to worry about, but it didn’t have to deal with those things, all of which produce a lot of free radicals. In an evolutionary sense, we haven’t had time to adapt to them yet. The best we can do, probably, is to fortify our bodies with large amounts of the antioxidants that whole foods provide. It’s a matter of self-defense, really.

Free radicals are also produced in abundance by modern methods of preparing food, like frying foods in fats and oils. It’s yet another reason to avoid fast food, although heavy processing elevates the free-radical potential of even mundane foods. The body is designed to manage free radicals below a certain threshold, but when that threshold was hardwired 40,000 years or so ago, men were scavenging for berries and hunting game with rocks, not having their dinner dipped into a vat of scorching fat by a fast-food employee.

All this is compounded when you look at the stresses our bodies encounter every day. I’m not talking about a small cut that gets infected, swollen, and sore. A joint can also become inflamed and sore from a one-time event, like a vigorous workout, or from something more chronic, like arthritis. Regardless, free radicals are proliferating, and your body is basically sending out chemical sentries to deal with the damage. When you see the redness and the swelling, you’re looking at an army of cells that have come to repair the damage. It’s a battlefield.

Targeting Hidden Inflammation

The inflammation we’re aware of is one thing; what we see or feel is just the smaller pockets of inflammation occurring in our bodies. There are other inflamed areas in our body that we aren’t even aware of and that spell trouble.

Progressive gum disease is a perfect example of inflammation that can go largely undetected for years—it doesn’t produce any acute pain, even though you might see some redness if you look closely enough. To make things worse, these stealth inflammation processes send chemicals out into the body that can cause further disease unrelated to the inflammation’s place of origin. For example, science has shown that the aforementioned gum disease can actually increase the risk of developing heart disease. A study published recently in the Journal of Periodontology reported that effects from periodontal disease, a chronic bacterial infection of the gums, causes the waste from oral bacteria to enter the bloodstream and encourage your body to manufacture C-reactive protein. That protein inflames arteries and promotes blood-clot formation, increasing your risk of heart disease over time.

Gum disease, not surprisingly, could have a lot to do with what you’re eating. If your diet is heavily dependent on things like fruits and vegetables, especially those high in fiber, you’ll probably develop less plaque than someone eating a diet of highly processed foods, especially sugar. Left to accumulate, plaque becomes tartar, and tartar can produce the symptoms of gingivitis—more inflammation. (Look for more on food and dental care in chapter 9.)

Digestion

Although it can hit anywhere, the source point for much of the body’s internal inflammation is concentrated in the digestive system. Constant distress in this region increases the risk of developing cancer in the colon or other parts of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Just imagine how much inflammation is caused by constipation, one of the most common ailments in the United States. Characterized by an infrequent passing of stools, constipation can lead quickly to hemorrhoids—pretty much the inflammation poster child—and, left untreated, can eventually increase your risk of getting bowel cancer.

The point here is that one of the best nutritional strategies for life extension is to eat foods that counter inflammation. Think of the doctor who prescribes an anti-inflammatory for you after surgery. He wants to control your postoperative pain, but by bringing inflammation down, he moves the entire healing process forward much more rapidly. Like that doctor, you want to decrease the level of inflammatory chemicals; in this case, though, they are circulating throughout your body. Do that and you can decrease your risk of developing a disease down the line. And by accomplishing this with whole foods, you avoid the side effects that these potent pharmaceuticals can produce, including more GI irritation (which kind of takes you back to square one).

Antioxidants Redux

The best antidote to swelling and free-radical damage is to try and prevent it with antioxidants, or at least let those antioxidants bolster the immune system once the damage has been done. Antioxidants are a quadruple threat to free radicals. They can scavenge and destroy them, or turn them into safe and useful molecules. They can protect tissues against the damage that free radicals inflict, or boost chemicals essential to the immune system’s front line of defense. There is no escaping them; they can save your life. And, when it comes to jamming as many antioxidants as you can into your diet, there are only two rules:

1. Get as many as you can, as often as you can.

2. Look for bright and deeply colored food: orange, yellow, green, and red.

A note on number 2 there: We’re not talking about M&Ms. We’re talking vegetables and fruit, from leafy green spinach to sweet, bright oranges. It won’t surprise you that Americans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. But you may be surprised that, every day, half of us don’t eat a single piece of fruit all day long. The American diet is decidedly brown and beige, the colors of meats and starches.

Invariably, diets like these don’t fight free radicals efficiently. Without fruit, guys don’t get enough phytonutrients or phytochemicals, which your body needs to fight disease, including cancer. You can get some of these and other nutrients from other sources, including dairy products, eggs, and fish (believe it or not, they are now referred to as zoochemicals), but you don’t get as much variety from them, and what you do get can be accompanied by high calories and unhealthy fats.

The Foods to Choose

We covered the specific foods that fight inflammation in the last chapter, but we didn’t discuss which ones are best for fighting long-term problems. Here’s a rundown of those.

Citrus. If I die trying, I’m going to convince you to get more citrus in your diet. Citrus fruits are especially important disease-protectors. The high content of vitamin C, a natural antioxidant, may protect cell membranes and DNA from oxidative damage that can lead to cancerous changes. Citrus also contains about 20 carotenoids, all antioxidants associated with reducing macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the United States after age 65. Pink grapefruit contains a high level of lycopene, the red pigment popularized in tomatoes that has a significant antitumor property. Berries, which are great sources of vitamin C, are also excellent sources of the antioxidants anthocyanins, which protect against heart disease.

Broccoli. Again, a food that is high in vitamin C, as are all leafy green vegetables. For anyone who bristles at the idea of munching on the leafy heads of broccoli, here’s a thought: Just eat the stalks. Though some nutrients, like vitamin A, are concentrated in broccoli’s leafy florets, you’ll find rich amounts of vitamin C in both the stalks and the florets. Again, I’d prefer that you eat the entire veggie. But if it means the difference between broccoli or no broccoli at all, then by all means, off with their heads.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes contain as many as 10,000 phytochemicals. One of the most important is lycopene, an antioxidant that may help prevent not only cancer but heart disease as well. One study indicates that men who eat tomato-based meals at least six times per week reduced their chances of getting prostate cancer by more than 60 percent.

Carrots. Carrots, of course, contain one of the best-known and best-studied phytochemicals, beta-carotene. Responsible for making carrots orange, beta-carotene is an antioxidant nutrient known to dampen oxidation, keeping that normal metabolic process from becoming dangerous. These antioxidant properties have been demonstrated in laboratory studies.

One important thing to note here: Beta-carotene can, depending on the environment and quantity in which it occurs, act as a pro-oxidant. In other words, it can hurt you by promoting oxidation rather than fighting it. Before you go questioning everything you’ve read in this book, understand that the beta-carotene in food has never shown negative effects. Only when given as a supplement in research studies have scientists seen negative consequences of beta-carotene. The moral? Get your beta-carotene from food.

RIPE FOR THE PICKING

MOST GUYS EQUATE FRUIT WITH APPLES, ORANGES, AND BANANAS, maybe with a pineapple thrown in on occasion for good measure, but the choices are legion. Virtually all fruits are jam-packed with phytonutrients that can protect you from disease, prolonging your life. Add some or all of these lesser-known fruits to your repertoire.

Star fruit (carambola). Why: More antioxidants than in big-name fruits like avocados and pineapples. And antioxidants are a great weapon against age-related illnesses such ascancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Tastes: Sweet and tangy. Look for: Firm and shiny ones with few blemishes.

Papaya. Why: It’s over-the-counter stroke medicine, with vitamin E and folate. Tastes: Like nothing else; light and somewhat tart. Look for: The yellowest ones.

Kiwifruit. Why: All the vitamin C of an orange, about half the potassium of a banana, and a cache of potentially cancer-preventing chlorophyll. Tastes: Vaguely strawberryish. Look for: Firmness, no shriveling.

Blood orange. Why: The antioxidants called anthocyanins, which make these oranges red, protect you from cancer and help improve blood flow. Tastes: Like a really sweet orange. Look for: Firm, heavy ones.

Passionfruit. Why: Contains more phytosterols, compounds similar to cholesterol, than any other fruit. USDA research shows that phytosterols crowd LDL cholesterol out of arteries, lowering levels by as much as 17 percent. Tastes: Like tart watermelon. Look for: Bigger ones with slightly wrinkled skin.

Mango. Why: Just one provides almost 90 percent of your daily allowance of vitamin A, more than any other fruit. That’ll protect your skin and maybe even fend off liver cancer caused by alcohol abuse. Tastes: Like a collision between an apricot and a peach. Look for: One that has a strong, sweet smell.

Prickly pear. Why: More magnesium than in any other fruit, which helps control blood pressure, relieve migraines, regulate blood sugar, and fight fatigue in people who are magnesium deficient. Tastes: Like a melon, only milder. Look for: Deep, uniform color. Spots signal decay.

Others. There are other plant foods of utmost importance, including a variety of beans, especially soybeans, cereals, nuts and olives, avocados, and vegetable oils. It’s all about variety. Not just having variety among food groups, like a fruit, a vegetable, and a grain, but great variety within each food group as well. And you’ll soon see that the food groups in The Powerfood Nutrition Plan only vaguely resemble those you learned about in fourth grade. Ours are separated by much finer detail and health needs of the body. We leave much less room for error.

Your Heart

My coauthor, Jeff, once interviewed an extraordinary guy named Christopher Michael Langan. His IQ is 196, well above Einstein’s. Some people think he’s the smartest man on earth today, and what ultimately convinced Jeff of that assertion is that he finds a way to live on $6,000 a year—in New York, no less. He works occasionally as a bar bouncer on Long Island, earning just enough to rent his living space and eat, so that he can dedicate himself to his true passion: figuring out how the universe came to be, how it works now, and how it will all end. Hoping to catch a glimpse into such weighty intellectual explorations, Jeff drew up a list of profound questions to ask, including the big one: What happens to us when we die?

Drum roll, please.

“Your heart stops beating,” he said.

That pretty much sums it up: If you want to live a long, healthy life, you have to keep that sucker pumping.

Sadly, I know plenty of guys in their 30s and 40s who think they still have a few years until they need to think about heart health seriously. That’s a common mode of thinking, albeit a significantly outdated one. Back during the Korean War, many autopsies were performed on American GIs killed in battle. Most were 18- to 20-year-olds—boys, basically. Much to the amazement of doctors and medical examiners, many of these young men already showed signs of arterial damage. It was the first time medicine documented that arteries could be affected at such a young age.

In the spirit of those autopsies, I send a message to anyone out there in their 20s and 30s: The time to eat better is now. Ignore me and by the time you hit 40, your ticker could be a ticking time bomb.

Saturated and Trans Fats

The biggest culprit when it comes to arteries hardening is saturated fat, featured prominently in fatty red meat and high-fat dairy products. Solid at room temperature, saturated fat has been shown in study after study to raise harmful cholesterol—LDL—which is a major risk factor for heart disease, not to mention cancer and a host of other diseases. One Finnish study puts this issue in plainer terms. In the study, scientists followed a group of children from age 7 months until 7 years. Some of the children received nutritional counseling to help steer their saturated-fat consumption, but others had no counseling. By 7 years old, the boys from the intervention (counseling) group had lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, as well as smaller LDL particle sizes—all factors that help prevent heart disease.

Saturated fats aren’t a problem in moderation; in fact, your body needs some to store for last-resort energy and to keep warm. But as those roles suggest, saturated fat isn’t dynamic—it basically just sits in your body. If too much is sitting around, you are in trouble.

Possibly far worse for you are saturated fat’s partners in crime, the trans fats. These pop up most frequently in fried foods, commercial baked goods, microwave popcorn, and margarines. Some experts think they’re even worse for your heart than saturated fats. After all, that Finnish study showed that saturated fat is associated with heart disease. But studies have shown that trans fatty acids, gram for gram, put people at a 2½- to 10-fold higher risk of developing heart disease than saturated fat does. Bottom line: If you want to live a long, healthy life, you should minimize these fats in your diet.

Fat-Fighting Tips

If you are looking to cut out fat, here are some of your safest plays.

Meat is a major source of saturated fats. When you eat meat, go for lean cuts of round, sirloin, or flank in portions sized no bigger than your palm. Or have chicken, turkey, or fish instead.

If you can actually see fat on the meat, trim if off before you eat or cook it.

To avoid melting fat back into the meat, bake, broil, grill, or steam it using cooking racks.

Eschew, don’t chew, bologna and salami sandwiches. Choose low-fat chicken or turkey breast instead.

Especially because you should be eating or drinking dairy two to four times a day, choose low-fat or fat-free alternatives to products like whole milk.

If you eat eggs, a potentially major source of cholesterol, substitute three egg whites and one yolk for two whole eggs, or use egg substitutes.

Among foods loaded with saturated and trans fats, some of the worst foods are butter, chocolate, American cheese, piecrust, pork sausage, and bacon.

The Good Fat

Notice we didn’t say that the biggest issue regarding food and your heart was fat. That’s because the unsaturated plant and fish oil fats—such as those in fish, olive oil, and nuts—actually protect your heart. Unsaturated fats are far more biologically active than saturated fats, and much of what they’re doing inside the body is beneficial. Studies show that people who eat fatty fish at least once a week dramatically lower their risk for a heart attack. The reason is that the fatty acids in these fish carry LDL (bad) cholesterol out of the bloodstream, before it can attach to fat molecules and stick to the walls of your arteries.

The fatty acids in these fish, called polyunsaturated fats, are considered “virtually essential,” meaning that although your body may manufacture a small amount, you need to consume them to acquire enough of them. That means you need to know what you’re looking for. Omega-3 fatty acids, for example, are found in high-fat, cold-water fish such as salmon, sardines, tuna, halibut, mackerel, and trout. Flaxseed is the best plant source of the essential fats linoleic and linolenic acid, precursors of omega 3s. Pumpkin seeds and walnuts also contain them.

Monounsaturated fats can help your heart, too. Like polyunsaturates, they’re liquid at room temperature but sometimes get mushy and almost solidify when cooled. These fats are abundant in several oils—olive, peanut, and canola—as well as in nuts, olives, and avocados.

For decades, monounsaturated fats were sort of the ignored middle child of fats, stuck between the big, bad saturated fats on one side and the revered polyunsaturated fats on the other. Increasingly, however, food researchers think monounsaturated fats rank right up with polyunsaturated when it comes to heart health. In some cases, mono may even be better. Not only do they appear to lower LDL, as the polyunsaturated fats do, but they also elevate HDL, which has a beneficial effect. This potent double-whammy helps explain why the Mediterranean diet, with its heavy reliance on olive oil, is so heart healthy.

Get a Heart-y Helping

As with all long-term disease, heart problems can be counteracted and prevented by focusing on phytochemicals—not coincidentally, the same high-antioxidant, high-phytochemical foods that we keep talking about. Eat your fatty fish and omega-3 fats. Get your water-soluble fiber from fruits, vegetables, oats, and beans, and you’ll keep cholesterol levels lower. Target vitamin E–rich vegetable oils, olives, and nuts for their antioxidant powers. And drink your red grape juice and wine for the resveratrol it contains, an antioxidant that is important and may even be antiaging.

One thing I want to emphasize: The disease-preventing power of fruit, a recurring theme in this book, is felt acutely in the heart. Anthocyanins are the water-soluble, reddish pigments found in many fruits, such as strawberries, cherries, cranberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, and black currants. They inhibit cholesterol synthesis and provide protection against heart disease. The carotenoids are powerful antioxidants that also stimulate the immune system, and guys with high levels of them in their blood have a reduced risk of both heart disease and cancer, not to mention macular degeneration. Carotenoids are the pigments found in yellow-orange fruits, and yellow-orange, red, and green vegetables.

Several studies have shown that the risk of heart disease drops with increasing consumption of vitamin C, carotenoids, and citrus fruits. One of those studies showed that men with low levels of vitamin C and carotene were two to four times as likely to develop heart disease and stroke as those whose antioxidant consumption from fruits and vegetables was adequate. In the United States, men with low vitamin C intakes have a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death compared with men eating the highest levels of vitamin C. Heart disease risks appear to be the lowest in people eating an average of at least 11 pounds of citrus fruit per year.

Good Taste, Bad Choice

One common denominator of foods high in saturated fats and trans fats is that they taste really good. That may seem like a cruel joke from on high, or perhaps an invisible test of willpower, but the truth is that American consumers have conditioned themselves (and allowed themselves to be conditioned) to enjoy the taste of these foods. Your parents’ parents probably ate that stuff and fed it to your parents, who in turn fed it to you.

Maybe you still eat it. After all, it’s classically American to eat a high-fat diet—as American as Mom, baseball, and apple pie.

You can recondition your taste buds, however. Eat “clean” for a few months, and then see how appealing three greasy strips of bacon seem. With a cleaner palate, you’ll also start to enjoy the amazing flavor of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fish.

High Blood Pressure

At day’s end, the best measure of whether you’re winning the battle for heart health is blood pressure. Except for your body temperature, arguably no single number or set of numbers offers a more accurate quick read on the state of a man’s health. Blood pressure measures how easily your life force is flowing throughout your body, which in turn gives a good indication, albeit not a complete or infallible one, of the exertion level of your heart.

High blood pressure is a warning that something is wrong and possibly getting worse. The greater the pressure, the harder your ticker has to work—and, more often than not, the sooner your circulatory system will break down. At best, you’ll likely need a lifestyle change or some medication to fix it. At worst, you’ll suffer a stroke or heart attack that no doctor can save you from.

What’s happening is that the pressure against the artery walls is too high. Think about a fire hose, where you leave the water on but the sprayer on the end is turned off or very restricted. There’s only so much pressure that fire hose can handle. If the pressure is too high, a bubble forms in the hose. Eventually, it bursts.

You don’t want that to happen in your brain or anywhere else in your body.

The problem of high blood pressure, a.k.a. hypertension, has slowly grown into an epidemic in the United States over the past three decades, thanks largely to the prevalence of saturated fats in the American diet. But the problem got a lot worse overnight on May 14, 2003—or at least some new information cast a clearer light on just how insidious the problem had become. On that day, federal health officials changed their blood pressure guidelines, having decided the old guidelines misled people about the severity of their problems. The new guidelines were far more strict, moving 45 million Americans away from borderline status and placing them squarely in a category called “prehypertension,” which describes individuals with a systolic reading (measuring when the heart contracts) of 120 to 139, and a diastolic reading (measuring between heartbeats) of 80 to 89.

One in four Americans—roughly 50 million adults—are even worse off: They have hypertension, meaning they score above the high end of the ranges for prehypertension. The most commonly treated ailment in the United States, hypertension is called a silent killer because many or all of the symptoms often don’t become manifest until extensive damage has already been done. It’s also a particularly lethal problem because it precedes so many pathologies, like kidney disease, and some catastrophic health events, including heart disease and stroke.

Unfortunately, only one out of three people with hypertension succeed in lowering it to safe levels. Particularly because genetics play a role in high blood pressure, lowering it isn’t easy. Drugs are the quickest and easiest way to manage high blood pressure, but they have side effects. No drug targets one problem and that problem only.

Introducing the DASH Diet

Your diet is a more natural and extremely effective way to manage hypertension. First, a high correlation exists between having high blood pressure and being overweight, so weight loss alone can make a huge difference. There’s also a diet specifically for lowering hypertension, recommended by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It’s called the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This approach mirrors much of what is emphasized throughout this book: going heavy on the fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains while lowering intake of saturated fats. My diet for high blood pressure will be similar to DASH, albeit with a Powerfood Nutrition Plan twist. For example, I like you to have more protein than it allows for—specifically, more fish.

Those minor differences aside, the DASH diet’s creators have a lot of research behind their work, and they’ve come up with a beautiful dietary model to treat and prevent hypertension. If a guy doesn’t eat that way already, switching to a DASH-based diet often can lower his blood pressure within a month.

In the original 454-subject study, those who followed DASH compliance had average decreases of 11.4 points in systolic blood pressure and 5.5 points diastolic blood pressure. That’s significant, and that’s without any weight change, without any reduction of sodium intake, and without medication. The effects of the latter shouldn’t be underestimated. If you’re taking a beta-blocker, which is the most common hypertensive medication, you can’t exercise as well as you did before because it slows your heart rate, making it harder to train at higher intensities. Walking uphill becomes a challenge, and chasing after your dog can become practically impossible. So even as a guy’s blood pressure falls, he doesn’t necessarily feel better. When the choice is between lowering your blood pressure and feeling rotten, or lowering it and feeling fine, is the decision really that hard?

Losing weight on top of that makes a huge additional impact, but one thing the DASH diet designers discovered is that hypertension isn’t just about body weight. A variety of blood-related factors also affect hypertension. For example, having the right levels of electrolytes in your blood is key. So the DASH diet not only is calorie-controlled but also prescribes specific levels of consumption for potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Too much or too little of these can negatively affect hypertension. The designers of DASH recommend that you get these minerals in ample supply as part of whole foods, by and large. For example, the 2,100-calorie-version DASH diet contains 4,700 milligrams of potassium, 500 milligrams of magnesium, and 1,240 milligrams of calcium. That’s two to three times higher than what’s found in the average American diet. You’ll get your magnesium from grains and nuts, your potassium from fruit, and your calcium from dairy. Sweets are restricted to control the added sugar in your diet.

One thing I hear from guys is how much they hate vegetables. As you’ve probably guessed by now, it’s pretty difficult to improve anything in your body if you aren’t eating enough of them. The same goes for lowering blood pressure. But if you think about it, there are a lot of guy-friendly ways to get color into your diet.

So What about Sodium?

Notice I haven’t mentioned the negative effects of sodium in the discussion of high blood pressure. After all, isn’t excessive salt consumption synonymous with high blood pressure?

Not necessarily. Some people are sodium sensitive, but most of the population isn’t. For them, playing with sodium levels isn’t going to help much. In fact, most people are more sensitive to minerals like potassium, magnesium, and calcium. These are actually more important in controlling hypertension than sodium is. (That said, buckets of sodium can be harmful. Try to use in moderation.)

Cut veggies up and hide them in your food. Zucchini, squash, and carrots work well this way.

Mix ’em with meat. Glutamate dulls bitterness.

Load them onto a pizza.

Dull their bite by steaming, microwaving, or stir-frying them.

Throw some salt on there; it interferes with bitterness somehow. (But avoid this step if you’ve already got hypertension.)

Sauté them in olive oil, sesame oil, or peanut oil.

Smother things like chicken or ground turkey in tomato paste—it’s a vegetable.

Dip them in salsa or low-fat dressing.

The more you do this, the faster your body will get used to eating veggies, and the quicker your taste for them will grow. If you’re looking to see your blood pressure drop, few things are more important.

Cancer

Two facts to start:

Your risk of developing cancer increases dramatically with age. One in five men older than 60 are diagnosed with it.

Other than smoking or maybe living across the street from a toxic waste dump, nothing puts you at greater risk of getting cancer—and dying from it—than obesity.

We’ve known for years that being overweight— or worse, obese—is a major risk factor for all kinds of bad things, including hyperinsulinemia, insulin-resistance, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, high cholesterol, and heart disease. Now, thanks to a recent study sponsored by the American Cancer Society and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, we can add virtually all types of cancer to that list as well.

Obesity and Cancer

In the study, scientists tracked a large group of men and women for over 16 years. Starting out, the height and weight of the men and women were recorded. Subsequently, their illnesses and causes of death were also tallied and recorded. Comparing those two data sets through statistical analysis, researchers found that their obese subjects—people with a body mass index (BMI) over 29.9—showed a dramatically increased risk of dying from all types of cancer. (See this page to calculate your BMI.)

HERE’S TO YOUR . . . HEALTH?

DEPENDING ON WHOM YOU LISTEN TO, alcohol is either a fountain of youth or the first thing that will kill you. Not surprisingly, our opinion falls somewhere in between.

As long as you drink in moderation, alcohol isn’t going to kill you (unless you get behind the wheel of a car while drunk, but that’s another story). Drink too much, though, and it’s pretty clear that alcohol isn’t good for you. Alcohol is a toxin. The more you drink, the worse it is for you.

Usually, two drinks is considered the limit. They could come in the form of wine, beer, or both.

Here are some of the key considerations regarding alcohol and longevity. As you’ll see, it’s a bit of a mixed bag:

The antioxidant properties of red wine are intriguing. Red wine (red grape juice and grapes) contain a heart-protecting phytochemical called resveratrol, which has antioxidant properties. That would also allow red wine to fight free radicals, the molecular motors of the aging process. Whether you get enough resveratrol from one or two glasses of red wine with dinner is uncertain.

Dark beers also have antioxidants that protect the heart. In studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Medical School, dark beer showed an ability to inhibit blood platelets from clotting. Israeli researchers found a link between lager and a lower risk of blocked blood vessels.

Wine belly? Because obesity is a leading cause of diabetes, that belly hanging over your belt from too much drinking is a longevity issue. Regarding that fat fold around yourwaist, is it more likely to come from wine, beer, or liquor? The studies are varied, sometimes even contradictory. The most relevant experiment for you in this case is probably the one you do on yourself.

Alcohol and the liver. Alcoholics are more likely to get hepatitis and liver cancer than nonalcoholics are. (The liver processes and detoxifies alcohol.) Alcohol intake is also positively associated with colon cancer: The more you drink, the greater your risk. Needless to say, that’s a longevity issue.

Alcohol as a cholesterol fighter. A recent French study found that alcohol raised levels of HDL, the good cholesterol.

Alcohol as a diuretic. Throughout this book, we’ve hammered home the importance of hydration, so it should be noted that alcohol is a natural diuretic, meaning it causes you to lose more fluid. Alcohol does this by turning off the hormones that help the body reabsorb fluids.

Wine as a blood thinner. A little vino may be similar to aspirin in this respect. By keeping platelets from getting sticky, it appears to lower the risk for heart attacks and strokes.

The bottom line here goes to the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, which recently published a study showing that moderate daily alcohol consumption lowers a man’s risk of heart disease, but regularly having more than a couple of stiff ones at a time increases your risk for a variety of ailments, including high blood pressure and various cancers.

I’ll drink to that.

Some questioned the design of the study, saying that having subjects report their own body weight and height, rather than measuring them, was a suspect methodology, as people have a tendency to underestimate the actual figures or willfully misstate them. Critics also said that basing a research study on a height and weight reported only once doesn’t necessarily give a real picture of how their body weight might have changed over the 16 years. The researchers themselves raised this point: Obese patients are often underdiagnosed and undertreated for disease. If that’s true, even if obesity was a risk factor in the development of the cancer, substandard medical care might have actually caused death.

But the study’s overall implications cannot be ignored: If these BMI levels were in fact below the actual values, and the risk of dying from cancer increases as BMI values rise, it’s possible that the risk of dying from cancer when you’re obese may be even higher than reported. And, yes, multiple measures of BMI done over the course of 16 years would have been more representative of subjects’ body weight evolution, but research into the body-weight patterns of adult Americans shows that they tend to get fatter, not leaner, as they age. The odds are slim that most subjects grew skinnier over the duration of the study.

What the study appears to show is that a guy’s risk of dying of cancer rises dramatically if he’s obese even once as an adult. It reinforces what many of us in the health and nutrition fields already suspected: The more overweight you are, the better the chances are that you’ll die from cancer, regardless of the underlying factors. And if you’re obese—really, really fat—the risk you’ll die from cancer probably doubles.

What this study doesn’t tell us is why being overweight causes cancer, or whether your risk of cancer death decreases if you become overweight and then lose some of the excess baggage. But other studies have shown that increased adipose tissue—a.k.a. body fat—disturbs hormone control and cell chemistry. A study in Poland in 2002 investigated the influence of body fat levels on the secretion of the hormones leptin and cortisol. The author found that increased body fat alters secretion of leptin, cortisol, or both, leading to abnormal levels of the hormones and disturbed metabolic states. Consider that one carcinogen alone can make a healthy cell cancerous, and you begin to understand the danger such a change can bring.

In contrast to the bad news linking obesity with cancer are studies examining the link between energy intake, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. A study investigating calorie restriction and rates of illness and death in rhesus monkeys has been ongoing for more than 15 years. One group of monkeys has been fed a slightly calorie-reduced diet; a group of their peers has been allowed to eat at will. The restricted monkeys seem to maintain a healthy body-fat range between 10 and 22 percent. At those body-fat levels, they seem to avoid the age-related changes that lead to abnormal blood-sugar control, obesity, and diabetes in the unrestricted monkeys. The data suggest that calorie restriction is allowing the monkeys to live longer.

So what can you do with this information? If you’re already fit, keep up the good work. Continue eating well and getting to the gym. If you’re overweight, losing weight will decrease your risk of developing cancer. The status quo puts you at above-average risk for this devastating illness. Undoubtedly, you’ll be healthier if you eat a more balanced diet and exercise consistently. And if you control your calorie intake, you’ll ultimately lose weight.

If you’re intent on losing weight with an eye toward lowering your cancer risk, you’ll need to establish an action plan, including good eating (see the meal plans in this chapter and in chapter 3), good exercise (see chapter 5), regular physical exams (see your doctor), and stress reduction (see a therapist, if necessary.) A carefully planned, well-thought-out program of exercise and nutrition almost always precedes success. Flying by the seat of one’s pants inevitably leads to disappointment and failure. Take, for example, a new study that reviewed six research publications that in turn evaluated daily diets of between 800 and 1,600 calories using meal-replacement products fortified with vitamins and minerals, plus at least one meal per day. Subjects had successfully lost weight when measured at the end of 3 months, then again at 1 year. Their biomarkers for cardiovascular disease and diabetes also changed for the better. What’s more, the subjects using the meal-replacement products showed significantly better weight-loss results than those not using the products yet consuming the same number of calories. Where body weight is concerned, it’s not just how much you eat that matters, but what you eat, as well.

Chemical Warfare

As you realize from the preceding inflammation section, the food-cancer link isn’t limited to being overweight—the intrinsic nature of foods themselves can play a role. The effect of nutritional biochemistry on genetics has been a hazy, gray area until recently, when the picture cleared somewhat through investigations at a microscopic level (although it’s certainly still not black and white). Plant chemicals interact with our genes in various ways: some good, some bad. But the cutting-edge research in this area is almost uniformly fascinating.

Broccoli. All vegetables have formidable cancer-fighting properties because of their phytochemicals—just to cite one of countless examples, a recent Yale study found that people who avoid vegetables increase their risk of getting colon cancer.

But not all veggies are created equal. For example, you are less likely to get certain cancers if you work broccoli into your diet. A recent study from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York was trying to figure out why consumption of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli is inversely related to prostate cancer risk. They found that a chemical in the veggie, sulforaphane, inhibits the initiation of prostate cancer and the growth of tumor cells. (So if you consider that eating broccoli is a pain in the butt, just imagine the alternative.) It also appears to prevent breast cancer: When added to live human cells in a lab dish, sulforaphane activated the production of special enzymes that ward off cancer.

Researchers don’t have bulletproof insight into how broccoli fights cancer, but theories have emerged that make some sense. If the body doesn’t get enough of the plant chemicals that come from something like broccoli, certain systems might not get turned off that, left unchecked, ultimately might overproduce cellular changes that lead to cancer. Maybe the sulforaphane interacts with enzymes in such a way that eventually shuts off those genes. A recent University of Illinois study showed that lightly cooked broccoli releases two or three times the sulforaphane that raw broccoli does.

FOODS THAT GIVETH, FOODS THAT TAKETH AWAY

Here’s a quick list of your ultimate “Do” and “Don’t” foods for longevity.

Life Extenders

Brewer’s yeast

Fatty cold-water fish, including salmon, mackerel, and black cod

Flaxseed

Fruits and vegetables, especially tomato and tomato products, watermelon, onions, kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green beans, olives, apples, citrus, pineapple, and prunes

Green, Oolong, and black tea

Nuts

Oatmeal

Red wine and grape juice

Soy

Seeds

Vegetable oils

Water

Whole grains

Yogurt

Life Shorteners

Alcoholic drinks, more than two a day

Flame grilling (high exposure)

High-fat foods, especially saturated fats and trans fatty acids

High-fructose corn syrup

High-glycemic index carbs (high intake)

Highly processed foods, such as baked goods and snack foods

Plastic containers in the microwave

Red meat (high intake)

Broccoli also contains the cancer fighters indoles and isothiocyanates. Indoles work against dangerously high levels of estrogen, potentially reducing the risk of breast cancer, and isothiocyanates have been associated with prevention of stomach and lung cancers.

Broccoli alternatives. If you hate broccoli, you may want to try eating cauliflower. Or Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi. All of these have the same sulforaphane, indoles, and isothiocyanates as broccoli, and getting variety in your diet can be more helpful over the long run in fighting cancer. Alternatively, watercress and turnips are high in isothiocyanates.

Cabbage. Then there’s cabbage. It also belongs to the brassica family of vegetables and also contains sulforaphane, indoles, and isothiocyanates. Although green cabbage is lower in carotenoids—you can tell by its lack of dark coloring—it’s another great vegetable to include in your diet. Red cabbage gives you a boost of anthocyanins, a potent antioxidant flavonoid that is also protective against heart disease and cancer.

Now, you may think that you hate cabbage, too. But what about sauerkraut and coleslaw? It’s a rare guy who doesn’t like at least one of these, and both are made with cabbage. Both contain the same indoles and isothiocyanates as regular, boring cabbage. So grab a Reuben sandwich (that’s corned beef, cheese, and sauerkraut for all you laymen) and fight cancer, one bite at a time.

Citrus. Citrus fruits are especially important disease protectors and have proven in studies to be useful in combating a range of cancers, specifically prostate cancer, the most common cause of cancer death among men in the United States; lung cancer; cancer of the esophagus, oral cavity, and pharynx; and stomach cancer, the most common cancer worldwide. Their high levels of vitamin C may protect cell membranes and DNA from oxidative damage that can lead to cancerous changes. Vitamin C may also stunt cancer growth by altering the chemical structure of the potentially carcinogenic compound nitrite so that it becomes something safer: nitrosamine. And the vitamin’s ability to synthesize collagen may hinder tumor growth.

Citrus fruits also contain coumarin and D-limonene, phytochemicals shown in several studies to increase the activity of glutathione transferase, an enzyme critical to the body’s natural detoxification process.

Alliums. Garlic, onions, shallots, leeks, and chives belong to the allium family of vegetables, which contain organosulfides known as allyl sulfides. Also responsible for making your eyes tear during peeling and preparation, allyl sulfides have been shown in the lab to inhibit tumor production. Studies of human populations have shown that people who eat a lot of garlic and onions have lower risks of cancers of the stomach, colon, and other similar cancers. Allyl sulfides are found in higher amounts in the most pungent alliums, so sweet onions like Vidalias and Walla Wallas do not contain as much. Also, heat can destroy the compounds. But because most of us can’t tolerate much raw onion or garlic, a quick sauté will retain more allyl sulfides than slow cooking.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes contain the phytochemicals p-coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid. During digestion, both acids interfere with the production of nitrosamines, which have been implicated in the development of stomach cancer.

Fatty fish. Back to omega 3s. Some experts point to the Mediterranean Food Guide Pyramid, which is quite fish-heavy, as one of the best anticancer eating paradigms. They are backed by a three-decade investigation showing that men who ate fish regularly had half the risk of contracting prostate cancer than did men who didn’t eat fish. This is so important that my Full-Power Meal Plan in chapter 10 suggests you eat fish at least five times a week, rather than just weekly, as the Mediterranean Food Guide recommends.

Tomato Sauce. Here’s a rare instance in which taking a bite out of vegetables and fruits isn’t the best way to get the nutrients that are inside them. Because vegetables and fruits contain so much water, the lycopene inside tomatoes, watermelon, and grapefruit really isn’t concentrated enough to wage war against rogue cells. Rather, the amount of lycopene tested in studies that saw decreased risk for prostate cancer came from concentrated sources: tomato products like tomato soup, tomato paste, and ketchup. Whereas guys who ate, say, pasta with marinara sauce five times a week had a significantly reduced risk of cancer, guys who ate a tomato every day didn’t enjoy the same protection, although it’s certainly good to eat any kind of vegetable daily.

RATING THE FRUITS

WHILE THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE 5-A-DAY FOR BETTER HEALTH PROGRAM and the Food Guide Pyramid is to eat two to four servings of fruits each day, the recommendations don’t specify which fruits to eat, other than noting the need for good sources of vitamin C and beta-carotene. Although any fruit is better than none, some fruits are even better than others. To help identify the most nutritious ones, Drs. Paul LaChance and A. Elizabeth Sloan conducted research at Rutgers University and developed a rating system for the 28 most popular fresh fruits based on the average of the percent contribution to the daily value for protein, total vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

Fruit (fresh, 100 grams)	Daily Value
Kiwifruit	16
Papaya	14
Cantaloupe	13
Strawberries	12
Lemon, peeled	11
Mango	11
Orange (Florida)	11
Red currants	10
Mandarin orange	9
Avocado	8
Tangerine, sections	8
Apricots	7
Grapefruit, sections	7
Lime, peeled	7
Raspberries	7
Honeydew	6
Persimmon	5
Pineapple	5
Banana	4
Blueberries	4
Grape (Empress)	4
Plum	4
Cherry	3
Nectarine	3
Peach	3
Watermelon	3
Apple, with peel	2
Pear, sliced	2

How you eat fruit matters, too. The best preparation method is none—eat fruit whole and raw. Juicing, on the other hand, preserves most of the nutrients but eliminates some of the precious fiber. With premade juices, some of the nutrients have been lost through heat processing and pasteurization. Freezing retains more nutrients than any other storage method, and frozen fruits actually have a better nutrient profile than raw fruit that’s been stored for too long or improperly. Canning, drying, cooking—all of these methods rob fruits of some of their vitamin C through heating and water loss.

Elevating your intake of lycopene is one great nutritional strategy for stacking the deck in your favor where prostate cancer avoidance is concerned, especially when combined with daily doses of vitamin E, selenium, and various antioxidants.

Whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, and baked beans. The fiber in these three staples is key in the battle against several cancers, including colon cancer. Because the food you eat passes through your colon, bringing the toxins and contaminants of the outside world along for the ride, colon cancer is a genuine concern for all men as they age.

The seminal research in fiber science came in the 1960s, when Drs. Walker and Burkitt went around and collected the stools of native tribesmen in Africa. (Anything in the name of science, huh?) They found a tribe in Africa where intestinal problems were virtually unheard of. Intrigued, they weighed their stool and checked it for fiber. Bingo—a theory was born about the benefits of fiber, one that has been supported consistently by 40 years of subsequent research findings.

What fiber does that’s so unique and so key for disease prevention is slow the absorption of chemicals, metabolites, and other things the body is trying to get rid of. By quickening the excretion process, it leaves less opportunity for things to be reabsorbed. Fiber is particularly effective right at the site of the action: the intestinal lining. That’s why risk for cancers of the intestine, rectum, and colon are all greatly reduced with a high fiber intake.

Fiber may prevent cancer through another mechanism as well. Researchers at Harvard found that cancer cells contain high levels of a protein called interleukin-6. When they treated those cells with butyrate, produced when the body breaks down fiber, it interfered with the protein’s cancer-promoting function. Whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, and baked beans are all high in butyrate.

Green tea. University of Rochester researchers recently determined that a green-tea extract can help prevent the growth of cancer cells. The people in lab coats at Medical College of Ohio found that a compound called EGCG, a potent antioxidant in green tea, may help slow or stop the progression of bladder cancer. Tea has also been shown to reduce the incidence of cancers of the prostate, breast, colon, esophagus, stomach, and pancreas.

Water. Studies in Israel, Great Britain, and the United States have observed that the more fluid that people drink, the lower their risks of bladder, prostate, kidney, testicular, pelvic, and colon cancer. In some of the studies, a decrease in cancer risk was specifically associated with water intake.

Water likely reduces the risk of the various urinary tract cancers by keeping urine more dilute. In theory, this would keep toxins less concentrated, giving them less chance to be reabsorbed into the body. A similar mechanism may be at work with water and prostate and other hormone-related cancers. A connection may exist between high concentrations of hormones and these cancers, so if you keep everything more dilute, your risk might decline.

Regardless of the mechanism, a number of studies have shown a direct correlation between the quantity of fluid consumed (measured as cups per day) and the incidence of certain cancers. Basically, the more water you drink, the better. For example, a study done at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that men who drank four glasses of water or more a day had a 32 percent decrease in the risk of colon cancer compared with men who drank one glass or less. Although in men this was a trend rather than statistically significant, the data in women were highly significant. Because drinking more fluid—and water in particular—is a pretty benign dietary change and has been shown to be significant in other studies, I like to err on the side of more fluids here versus the risk of getting cancer.

Cancer Causers

Let’s talk ketchup. Even if it does contain prostate-protecting lycopene, it won’t help if it’s slathered over a mound of French fries, one of the many foods that may make you more susceptible to getting cancer. As a general rule, limit your consumption of the following foods and chemicals, which studies have shown put men at significant risk for several cancers.

Acrylamides. These are particularly worrisome, potentially cancer-causing food chemicals. They may or may not occur naturally at low levels in the food supply, but levels can become elevated, perhaps dangerously so, during food preparation. These troublemakers are most commonly produced when French fries and potato chips are fried in fat, but they may also be produced when food is being microwaved in certain containers. It probably depends on how frequently you heat food in the microwave, as well as the container in which it is being heated. If you have questions about whether a certain plastic is safe, use glass. It’s safer.

Dairy. A huge asterisk accompanies this entry, as calcium is a critically important nutrient. One recent study, however, has suggested a possible link between dairy products and testicular cancer. The researchers aren’t really sure what the mechanism might be. One obvious variable, whole milk versus reduced-fat and fat-free milk, didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Another theory is that something in cheese is at fault, and still another possible culprit getting a lot of attention is calcium itself in amounts that might turn on a cancer gene.

The amounts of dairy in question exceed the 3 to 4 cups a day recommended in many of this book’s meal plans. Those studies were looking at 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams, and sometimes as much as 2,000 milligrams of calcium daily. The research is very young, but it did receive a lot of press coverage. So if you’ve been wondering about how much milk you can drink and stay healthy, it looks like you’ll be fine with 3 to 4 cups a day. As with so many things, moderation is the key. Remember, not only is the jury out on this one, but we’re still collecting evidence.

Red meat. The most popular cuts of red meat are high in total fats (see “Meet the Beef” on the next page), saturated fats, and cholesterol. This might be at the root of some of the research that shows a link between red meat consumption and colon cancer. Although the topic is still controversial, and in some studies the association only marginal, the theory is that both the total fat and the saturated fat in high-fat meats may directly cause cancer. On the other hand, a new study from Argentina has shown that if you look specifically at what types of red meats people are eating, it is the high-fat and not the lean red meats that are causing the problem. There may be confusion in the research because prior studies have not teased out this detailed level of information from the subjects. In the end, if you eat red meat, choose lean, low-fat cuts. In addition, because you need to eat so many other great sources of protein during the week, you’ll probably have the opportunity to eat red meat only a couple of times a week. When you do, you should enjoy it.

It’s not just the fat content by itself that’s causing the problem. It could have something to do with the way the meat is prepared, especially if it’s grilled. Flamed grilling isn’t something you want to do on a regular basis. Some people grill out almost every day, particularly in the summer in California, where it’s as much a part of the culture as earthquakes and liposuction. When you do grill outside, be sure to use lower-fat meats. It’s the high fat content of the meat that grilling can alter, sometimes into carcinogenic substances. If part of your grilled meat is charred, remove that section and throw it away, feed it to your dog . . . just don’t eat it.

Farm-raised salmon. After all the praise I’ve heaped on eating fish, this one is bound to turn a few heads. But there’s an enormous difference between wild salmon and the farm-raised variety. The feed used for farmed salmon is from marine animals, and a concentrated source of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). When consumed by the farmed salmon, the salmon become even more concentrated sources of this cancer-causing chemical.

MEET THE BEEF

When it comes to keeping saturated fat and cholesterol at bay, the right amount and cuts of beef, as well as their preparation, will make a big impact. Keep serving sizes between 3 and 5 ounces. On average, a 3-ounce serving of cooked lean beef contains 8.4 grams of total fat and 3.2 grams of saturated fat. Some cuts contain even less. For a 3-ounce serving of cooked meat, start with 4 ounces of uncooked, boneless meat.

Selecting the right cut of meat is important, too. Some cuts of beef are leaner than others. The leanest cuts come from the loin and round (leg) of the animal. The skinniest six cuts of beef contain fewer than 8.6 grams of total fat, 77 milligrams of dietary cholesterol, and 180 calories for each 3-ounce cooked, trimmed serving.

Skinniest 6

Top round	Top loin	Tenderloin
Eye of round	Sirloin	Round tip

Beef is also graded according to fat marbling: prime, choice, and select. Select is the leanest grade. Purchase lean cuts closely trimmed of fat, or trim them yourself at home before you cook. Leaner beef needs to be handled and prepared properly to retain moistness and tenderness. For loin cuts, cook using a dry-heat method like broiling or grilling, and serve immediately. When broiling or grilling, remember that larger pieces of meat will maintain moistness better than smaller pieces of meat. Be careful to pay attention while preparing lean cuts to avoid overcooking or charring the meat.

For less tender cuts such as round cuts, cook using a moist-heat method, or marinate to tenderize. It’s the acid (vinegar, citrus juice, or wine) that tenderizes the meat, not the oil. To reduce total fat and calories, replace oil with water without losing the tenderizing effect.

To improve the tenderness of cooked meats, carve into thin slices, on the diagonal and, when possible, across the grain.

So what do you do? Easy. Eat wild Alaskan salmon and Pacific Ocean fish. These are naturally lower in pollutants and contaminants and still high in the beneficial omega-3 fats that they have become so well known for. If you need help discerning which is which, ask your supermarket attendant (or fishmonger) to help.

A final note: One thing that doesn’t appear to cause cancer, allaying some concerns, is aspartame. After studying more than 10 years of data, Europe’s Scientific Committee on Food says it was unable to find any link between the artificial sweetener and cancer or other possible side effects.

Avoiding D-Day: Diabetes

We can’t stress enough the importance of managing your blood-sugar levels through proper exercise and diet. Allow yourself to get too heavy and too out of shape, and you might as well beg for diabetes.

Diabetes comes in two forms:

Type I diabetes. Also called juvenile or childhood diabetes, this afflicts kids and young adults, as the name suggests. This form of diabetes is an autoimmune disease, much like rheumatoid arthritis. The immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, and the insulin-making mechanism in the pancreas shuts down completely. As far as early malfunctions go, that’s right up there with losing an engine during take-off. At one time, it was thought that this error was genetically encoded in victims’ bodies, but that view has been largely discarded. The source now looks to be viral, although the jury is still out on that, too. Regardless, it has nothing to do with lifestyle. Because of the lack of insulin, untreated Type I diabetes leads to overly high blood-sugar levels and an inability to metabolize the sugar. This creates a metabolic condition called ketosis, then ketoacidosis, which leads to coma and death when left untreated.

Fruit Is Not the Enemy

If you have diabetes already, should you avoid fruit because it contains sugar? Not at all. For example, the pectin in apples controls diabetes by regulating blood sugar. In fact, the natural sugars in fruit and fruit juices raise blood-sugar levels less than many refined starchy carbohydrate foods do. Clinical studies of fructose consumption in noninsulin-dependent diabetics resulted in improved metabolic control of blood sugar, or at least no changes. The more slowly metabolized fruit sugar—combined with pectin, which slows food’s digestion and absorption—makes whole fresh fruit an excellent choice for the diabetic diet.

Type II diabetes. Here’s the one you need to think about. Also called adult-onset diabetes, Type II targets mostly adults whose pancreas may or may not still secrete plenty of insulin. Usually, the problem is that their body cells have become resistant to receiving insulin. Because insulin is transporting sugar to those cells, getting turned away by cells is a huge problem. Having not been deposited in cells as intended, the sugar being transported collects in the bloodstream at dangerously high levels. The risks of Type II diabetes are not the same as those of Type I. If you fail to do what it takes to bring the disease under control, your symptoms progress more slowly, but ultimately you risk blindness, impotence, limb amputation, kidney failure, and heart disease. Again, left untreated for an extensive period of time or to a point where insulin is completely unavailable or ineffective, the outcome will be the same as with Type I diabetes: ketosis, ketoacidosis, coma, and death.

In the past, doctors treated Type II diabetes by overloading the body with more insulin. It was an attempt to “ambush” cells and force at least some insulin to connect with cell receptors, which at least would lower blood-sugar levels somewhat. Today, the first line of defense against Type II diabetes is meal planning for blood-sugar control, weight loss, and exercise. If this isn’t successful, doctors will usually prescribe oral medications, but changing lifestyle is the most desirable treatment option.

It appears that although some people have a genetic predisposition to Type II diabetes, they’re not destined to get it—unless they get fat, don’t exercise, and otherwise don’t take care of themselves. Lifestyle has a lot to do with Type II diabetes, and obesity is the primary risk factor for getting it. The disease certainly will turn the tables and have a huge impact on your lifestyle if you’re unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with it.

No one has really been able to finger a specific food or nutrient whose consumption, or overconsumption, becomes a fairly predictable precursor of Type II diabetes, at least not in the way that saturated fat is linked with heart disease. But the growing consumption of high-fructose corn syrup may be playing an increasingly significant role. The average kid today is no stranger to guzzling rivers of high-fructose corn syrup in sodas. Combine that with a few hours daily in front of the television and, ultimately, more kids are going to get fat. This perverse equation has had a disturbing effect: shrinking the age differentiation between Type I and Type II diabetes. Type I diabetes still occurs predominately in young people, but adult-onset diabetes could now be called teen-onset (and in some cases child-onset). A doctor I know diagnosed a 3-year-old with Type II diabetes! Approximately 50 percent of all new cases of Type II diabetes are occurring in children, which is an appalling statistic.

It’s frightening to think of the metabolic and physiological consequences for children who already have Type II diabetes. By the time these kids reach 30, they’re going to have chronic lifetime diseases that we’re used to seeing in the elderly—the sorts of things that happen to guys in their 70s and 80s who got Type II diabetes in their 40s.

And the cost of that kind of extended healthcare for this nation is going to be extraordinarily expensive. How will our healthcare system be able to afford an entire population of sick people?

One of the most dangerous aspects of diabetes is that it increases your risk of heart disease. In fact, your entire circulatory system is pretty much ravaged by diabetes, which takes a heavy toll on what are called microvessels, the smallest tributaries for blood extended into your hands, feet, penis, and even your eyes. Eventually, gangrene in your fingers and toes can require surgery, perhaps even amputation. In extreme cases, you can go blind as well. Impotence is also common among diabetics. Want that to happen?

To combat diabetes, you need to get moving every day, and you need to eat the right things. Commit to exercise, record it, and keep track of what you’ve been doing. Exercise will make your insulin-resistant cells more sensitive to insulin. Resistance training will help improve blood-sugar control and lower cholesterol levels. Everything will begin to work better, and you’ll feel better, too.

Now that you’re feeling better because you’re moving rather than melting into your couch, you should be able to think more clearly about all the foods that your body is craving: whole fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. They don’t take much preparation. It’s just as easy to grab a piece of fruit as it is to scarf down a doughnut. The fruit will keep you healthy, but the donut—or 6 of them—will definitely turn you in the wrong direction.

One piece of great news that we’ve collected in the past decade is the glycemic index of foods. It’s a rating based on how quickly 100 grams of a food raises your blood-glucose levels after eating, compared with 100 grams of glucose. Glucose is at the top at 100—it is absorbed very rapidly. What difference does this make? When blood sugar is raised, it stimulates an insulin response. Insulin helps remove the sugar from your bloodstream and transport it into muscle and liver cells. Blood sugar returns to normal and stays there for several hours until it begins to drop and you eat again. This is the normal, healthy response that we want. However, when blood-sugar levels rise rapidly over and over again, too much insulin may be secreted. This constant wash of insulin over the cells of your body causes the cells to become resistant to insulin, inhibiting the transport of glucose into the cells. Give it time, and you’ve got Type II diabetes.

Just Say Joe (and Cinnamon) to Diabetes

Anyone suffering from diabetes (or even anyone simply at risk for the disease) might want to up their intake of cinnamon-infused lattes. Studies have shown that both cinnamon and coffee have properties that help fight the causes of diabetes.

Many things affect the glycemic index of a food. Other nutrients, like fat and protein, slow absorption. Fiber slows absorption to a remarkable extent. If absorption of carbohydrates is slower rather than faster, then glucose passes into the bloodstream in a timed-release fashion and the insulin response stays well under control. Carbohydrate metabolism remains normal and healthy.

SAVING THE NUTRIENTS IN YOUR FRUIT

STORING YOUR FRUITS CORRECTLY WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE in how long they stay fresh and how good they taste. Because fruit is generally shipped unripe during most of the year, it needs to stay out of the refrigerator until it ripens. To speed ripening, place fruit in a closed paper bag on a kitchen counter. The gases produced by the fruit promote the ripening process. Check it daily so it doesn’t overripen. Then make sure to store ripe fruit, except bananas, in the refrigerator.

You can minimize the loss of nutrients from your fruit by following these very simple guidelines.

Always purchase fresh produce.

Store fruit in its whole form, rather than cutting it up.

Never soak produce for extended periods of time.

When peeling and paring, remove as little as possible.

If you purchase precut produce, refrigerate it in airtight wrappers or containers.

Defrost fruit in the microwave to preserve the water-soluble nutrients.

Cook fruit in large pieces to lessen the amount of exposed surface to water.

Cook in just enough water to prevent scorching, and put a lid on the pan.

All those whole foods that I was talking about earlier in this chapter are low to moderate on the glycemic index scale, and that’s where you want to target your diet. Check out the nutrition plans for losing weight in chapter 3, especially the pre-diabetes diet. Just like exercise, losing body fat will help your cells become more sensitive to insulin. But remember, stop thinking about what you can’t eat next. Instead, focus on all the foods that your body needs to eat to stay healthy. Fuel yourself so that you can begin to increase the amount of exercise that you are doing. It’s the most positive way to change those old, unhealthy habits into new healthy habits.

LONGEVITY SUPPLEMENTS

THOUGH FOOD WILL TAKE YOU A LONG WAY, a few effective supplements can aid your battle for longevity. Take these and you may be having conversations with your great-grandchildren someday.

Vitamin E. This is a must-have longevity supplement. Vitamin E has been shown to help prevent heart disease and slow down Alzheimer’s disease, among many other benefits, yet it’s almost impossible to get enough from whole-food sources like wheat germ oil, vegetable oil, nuts, seeds, and olive oil. Dose: 100 to 200 international units (IU) daily.

Alpha-lipoic acid. In animal studies, supplementing with this has improved metabolic activity and lowered the degree of oxidative stress by several measures. Combined with other supplements, particularly vitamin E, it also may have applications for diabetes patients. In fact, it’s often prescribed in Europe to treat nerve damage associated with diabetes. Dose: 50 to 100 milligrams daily.

Vitamin C. If you follow The Powerfood Nutrition Plan diets, you’ll probably get enough of this antioxidant, but given its potent anti-inflammatory effect, it doesn’t hurt to be safe. Dose: 500 milligrams daily.

Grapeseed extract. This is another free-radical fighter that shows promise in increasing the antioxidant capacity of blood. Studies have shown that a glass or two a day of red wine reduces the risk for heart disease and possibly certain cancers, and this supplement would work through a similar mechanism. Small studies have also suggested that grapeseed extract might protect blood vessels and enhance circulation. Dose: 100 milligrams daily.

Lutein. This antioxidant protects against macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in Americans over the age of 65. Good food sources of lutein include cruciferous vegetables, green leafy vegetables, bananas, berries, grapes, black currants, Mandarin oranges, starfruit, potatoes, and yellow sweet potatoes. Lutein is included in name-brand multivitamins such as Centrum, but you’ll get only 250 micrograms or less in that and similar products. One unique product, I-Caps (lutein and zeaxanthin formula), does contain 4 milligrams of lutein and a number of other important nutrients associated with eye health. Most of the studies showing efficacy used 6 milligrams. Dose: 6 milligrams daily.

Green tea extract. Catechins, the active compounds in green tea, are potent antioxidants. The studies that have been done show that green tea can slow or even stop the initiation of malignant tumors. It also seems to support immune function. Dose: 300 milligrams daily.

Ginkgo biloba. This improves circulation to the brain, so it might have a role to play in delaying Alzheimer’s disease, which is characterized by brain-function atrophy. Another possible application is improving problems with microcirculation (brain, extremities, sex organs), which are often caused by diabetes. Dose: For microcirculation, 120 to 160 milligrams a day. For cognitive application, 240 milligrams a day. Those amounts should be divided among 2 or 3 daily doses.

Saw palmetto. This is reported to decrease the activity of 5-alpha reductase, which has been implicated in prostate enlargement (and baldness) because it stimulates the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Saw palmetto’s DHT-blocking mechanism is similar to that of the drug finasteride. Talk to your physician before self-prescribing saw palmetto. Although rare, it can cause headaches, diarrhea, and nausea. Dose: 160 milligrams taken twice daily; 320 milligrams total.

EPA and DHA. In cold-water fish, these omega-3 fatty acids are phenomenal for longevity. Extracted and put into supplement form, however, something gets lost in the translation, according to several studies that show no positive effect on cholesterol. Dose: Not recommended.

Lycopene. Like EPA and DHA, this phytochemical has amazing longevity capabilities in food, but that’s the best place to get it—the supplement version doesn’t produce the same benefits. In a study published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, rats who were fed a diet of tomato powder were 26 percent less likely to die of prostate cancer than rats not given any supplements. Rats given a lycopene supplement were only slightly more likely to survive than rats given no tomato products. Dose: Not recommended.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Oxidative stress takes a toll on the brain as well as the body. In fact, researchers are increasingly convinced that this oxidative stress plays a primary role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder of the elderly characterized by progressive memory loss and deterioration of cognitive function.

We discussed this in chapter 2, but it also needs to be discussed in the context of food and longevity. To understand how food might be able to help prevent this disease—or at least slow it down—you need to understand what actually causes it, at least to the extent that science has figured out that medical conundrum.

The brains of Alzheimer’s patients are characterized by a generalized atrophy, as well as by nerve cells that are tangled, coated with plaque, or both tangled and coated. Their brains also contain abundant amounts of a substance called beta-amyloid. When researchers place this substance in nerve cell cultures, it unleashes free radicals that attack and kill those cells. Extrapolate from that cluster of cells in one petri dish to the billions in your brain, and you can imagine how this onslaught could become both inexorable and devastating. Given that Alzheimer’s is an aging disease and free radical formation increases with age, the connection makes sense.

If you paid attention previously when we wrote about free radicals—you did pay attention, didn’t you?—you probably would theorize that antioxidants might be able to help, because they help neutralize free radicals. Lo and behold, when researchers added vitamin E, a natural antioxidant, to that petri dish, it was beta-amyloid’s turn to get terminated. It seems to work on humans, too. In a study of advanced Alzheimer’s disease patients conducted by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, subjects treated with 2,000 International Units of vitamin E (and equivalents) suffered slower functional deterioration than those who didn’t receive vitamin E.

The results raise the possibility that vitamin E may slow disease progression in Alzheimer’s patients. The initial physiological changes of Alzheimer’s probably occur years, if not decades, before symptoms appear, at which point many of those early changes—say, in nerve deterioration—have likely become fixed and extremely difficult to treat in any significant way. If sound nutrition early on can help push back that process, the symptoms shouldn’t appear as quickly.

Start Now, Live Longer

The take-home lesson from this chapter is actually very positive. Except in unusual cases, most guys can live a long, healthy life without terrible risk of disease if they just take care of themselves. As time passes, you’ll age, but your body will be geared up to handle most of what life has to throw its way.

One of the keys is moderation: Don’t do most things, especially bad things, to an extreme. Free radicals are bouncing around in your body 24/7, and for the most part, that’s okay. It’s under control. Your body is designed to handle it. The problem comes when your diet, your lifestyle, or your environment is so extreme that the internal system of checks and balances breaks down, allowing free radicals to accumulate and overrun the defense mechanisms designed to control them.

Short of that happening, there’s no reason you need to contract any sort of life-threatening illness through your own doing. (Alas, there’s an element of randomness in human physiology and illness pathology that can’t be denied or avoided.) The body is a remarkable machine in that respect. If you just take proper care of it, you can live for a really long time. Sometimes your internal programming has mistakes or internal flaws in the form of a genetic defect, which can be hard to overcome, but even there, those coding mistakes might never get expressed if you take care of yourself. Conversely, you can have the best genetics in the world, but if you don’t keep the hoses clean, so to speak, things will clog up and your risk of dying prematurely will skyrocket.

The human body comes with awe-inspiring mechanisms for self-defense, almost better than we deserve. People who have smoked for 50 years can still reduce their risk of getting lung cancer and heart disease by stopping. Better to stack the odds in your favor rather than tempting fate, though. Bob Dylan once wrote, “People don’t do what they believe in/They just do what’s most convenient/Then they repent.” That may or may not work in the spiritual realm, but if you approach your body and your diet that way, you’re really pushing your luck. Don’t take the attitude that you can do whatever you want until you’re 50 and then make changes; often, that’s too late. In fact, you might be dead before you reach that milestone. Or your health might have been so severely compromised that your quality of life will decline precipitously from 50 onward.

While you attend to your stock portfolio, your 401(k), your retirement plan, and paying for your kids’ college tuition, make a small investment in yourself, too, even if it’s something as simple as eating more fiber. That one simple act can help prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity—virtually everything we just talked about in this chapter. No matter what diet or meal plan or nutrition guru you’re following, you need to eat plenty of fiber. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t know what he or she is talking about.

THE DIABETIC-GUY MEAL PLAN

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS DIABETIC, THIS IS THE MEAL PLAN TO CHOOSE. This diet features low-to-moderate GI carbs, without any high-fructose corn syrup. Expect to get plenty of fiber, especially the soluble stuff, and a good dose of healthy fats. We’ll also stress chromium. (Remember also that exercise is imperative to help fight Type-2 diabetes.)

Daily Assumptions*†

2,500 calories

250 grams carbohydrates

188 grams protein

83 grams fat

Daily Breakdown*†

4 bread

5 fruit (2 citrus, 2 berry, 1 other)

4 milk

6 vegetable (3 carotenoid, 2 brassica, 1 allium)

8 very lean protein

6 lean protein

1 medium-fat protein

1 bean

2 nut

2 soy

7 fat

Note: Occasionally, a fat-free product, like mustard or cooking spray, is included on the menus. These do not count toward your daily breakdown but should not be overused.

*Use every day.

†Based on a 185-pound man.

THE MENU

DAY 1

Breakfast

2 bread	1 cup Shredded Wheat
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	¾ cup fresh blueberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, scrambled in a nonstick pan
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray (for egg)

Snack

2 soy	1 cup edamame
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
2 fat	2 tablespoons ranch dressing (for dipping)
	Water

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	Salad with 1 cup romaine lettuce, 1 cup spinach
6 very lean protein	6 ounces turkey
1 bean	½ cup garbanzo beans
2 fat	2 tablespoons olive oil and vinegar dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 peach
1 milk	6 to 8 ounces sugar-free yogurt
2 nut	20 peanuts

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1¼ cups frozen strawberries
2 very lean protein	14 grams whey protein powder
	1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast

Dinner

2 bread	1 small ear corn on the cob
	1 small whole-wheat roll
2 brassica	1 cup grilled broccoli and cauliflower
1 allium	½ cup grilled onions
6 lean protein	6 ounces salmon, grilled
2 fat	8 Kalamata olives
	1 teaspoon butter

DAY 2

Breakfast

Combine yogurt, fruit, and honey. Combine muffin and egg for sandwich.

2 bread	1 whole-wheat English muffin
1 milk	1 cup fat-free unsweetened yogurt
1 citrus	½ cup grapefruit juice
1 berry	1¼ cups whole strawberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 soy	2 ounces soy nuts
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
2 fat	2 tablespoons ranch dressing
	Water

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup romaine lettuce, 1 cup roasted red pepper
6 very lean protein	6 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
2 fat	2 teaspoons olive oil (for roasted vegetables)
	2 tablespoons fat-free dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 plum
1 milk	½ cup cottage cheese
2 nuts	2 tablespoons roasted sunflower seeds

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	¾ cup frozen blueberries
2 very lean protein	14 grams whey protein powder
	1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast

Dinner

2 bread	1 cup cooked pasta
2 brassica	1 cup Brussels sprouts
1 allium	½ cup grilled shallots, garlic (for shrimp)
1 bean	½ cup kidney beans
6 lean protein	6 ounces shrimp, grilled
2 fat	2 teaspoons olive oil 2 tablespoons fat-free dressing

DAY 3

Breakfast

2 bread	2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 milk	½ cup cottage cheese (on bread)
1 citrus	4 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice (with pulp)
1 berry	¾ cup blueberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, cooked sunny-side up in a nonstick pan
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray (for egg)

Snack

2 soy	2 ounces soy nuts
1 carotenoid	1 cup sliced bell pepper
2 fat	2 tablespoons creamy peppercorn dressing
	Water

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup spinach or bok choy
	1 cup yellow squash, stir-fried with garlic and fresh ginger
6 very lean protein 1 bean	6 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, stir-fried ½ cup black beans
2 fat	2 teaspoons oil (for stir-frying)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 nectarine
1 milk	1 ounce fat-free cheddar cheese
2 nut	10 cashews

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1 cup frozen raspberries
2 very lean protein	14 grams whey protein powder
	1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast

Dinner

2 bread	1 ounce croutons (for salad)
	1 cup chicken noodle soup
2 brassica	1 cup cauliflower and broccoli, steamed
1 allium	½ cup onion
6 lean protein	6 ounces swordfish, grilled with ginger and scallions
2 fat	2 teaspoons olive oil (for fish)

DAY 4

Breakfast

1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	1 cup raspberries
1 milk	1 cup milk (½ cup for French toast)

FRENCH TOAST (See recipe directions on this page.)

2 bread	2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 soy	50 Genisoy soy crisps
2 nuts	1 tablespoon almond butter
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
	Water

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	Salad with 1 cup lettuce, 1 cup spinach
6 very lean protein	6 ounces turkey
2 fat	2 teaspoons olive oil (for cooking)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 apple
1 milk	1 fat-free latte, tall
2 nuts	30 pistachios

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1¼ cups frozen strawberries
2 very lean protein	14 grams whey protein supplement
	1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast

Dinner

2 bread	2 small whole-grain dinner rolls
	1 cup raw chopped tomatoes cooked with chili seasoning (for chili)
2 brassica	1 cup coleslaw
1 allium	½ cup onion, garlic for seasoning
1 bean	½ cup kidney beans (add to chili)
6 lean protein	6 ounces lean beef, minced (add to chili)
2 fat	¼ avocado, diced

DAY 5

Breakfast

2 bread	1 cup quick oats (not instant)
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	1¼ cups strawberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 soy	1 cup edamame
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
2 fat	2 tablespoons ranch dressing
	Water

Lunch

Combine ingredients.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup sautéed peppers
6 very lean protein	6 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
1 bean	½ cup fat-free refried beans
2 fat	2 teaspoons olive oil (for cooking)
	2 tablespoons salsa

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 pear
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 nut	1 tablespoon almond butter

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1 cup frozen blackberries
2 very lean protein	14 grams whey protein powder
	1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast

Dinner

2 bread	1 small pita
	½ cup couscous
2 brassica	1 cup broccoli slaw
1 allium	Onion, shallots, garlic (add to couscous)
6 lean protein	6 ounces fresh trout (stuffed with ½ cup couscous)
2 fat	4 tablespoons reduced-fat vinaigrette

DAY 6

Breakfast

2 bread	2 slices multigrain bread, toasted
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	1 cup raspberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 soy	50 Genisoy soy crisps
2 fat	20 peanuts
1 carotenoid	1 cup sliced bell pepper
	Water

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	½ cup sliced carrots, 1½ cups spinach
6 very lean protein	6 ounces turkey
2 fat	2 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette (for spinach and carrots)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	½ large banana
1 milk	1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
2 nuts	2 tablespoons roasted sunflower seeds

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1 cup frozen raspberries
2 very lean protein	14 grams whey protein powder
	1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast

Dinner

2 bread	2 slices rye bread
2 brassica	1 cup coleslaw
1 allium	½ cup chopped onion (mix into tuna)
1 bean	½ cup fava beans
6 lean protein	6 ounces tuna in olive oil, drained
2 fat	2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise

DAY 7

Breakfast

2 bread	2 cups Kashi
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup grapefruit juice
1 berry	1 cup blackberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 soy	1 cup edamame
1 carotenoid	1 cup radishes
2 fat	2 tablespoons peppercorn salad dressing
	Water

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup romaine lettuce, ½ cup carrots, ½ cup peppers
6 very lean protein	6 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
1 bean	½ cup pinto beans
2 fat	2 teaspoons oil (to cook chicken)
	2 tablespoons fat-free ranch dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	17 grapes
1 milk	1 ounce fat-free cheese
2 nut	10 walnuts

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	¾ cup frozen blueberries
2 very lean protein	14 grams whey protein powder
	1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast

Dinner

2 bread	3-inch square of corn bread
2 brassica	1 cup broccoli, steamed
1 allium	½ cup leeks (sautéed for salmon)
	Salad with 1 cup lettuce, ¼ cup tomato, ¼ cup cucumber
6 lean protein	6 ounces poached salmon
2 fat	1 teaspoon olive oil
	Included (in corn bread)
	2 tablespoons fat-free Caesar dressing

THE ANTI-HEART-DISEASE MEAL PLAN

IF YOU WANT TO PREVENT OR DEFEAT HEART DISEASE, a high-antioxidant diet is your priority. You’ll be drinking some red wine (not to mention some tea), feasting on leafy vegetables and legumes, and upping your consumption of fiber. This diet will stress anti-inflammation while reducing your overall high-fructose corn syrup intake and upping your low-to-moderate GI carbs. Also, pay attention to how much fat you’re getting— if the monounsaturated fats and omega 3s aren’t on your menu, you’ve got a problem. That means eating fish, soy, and nuts.

Daily Assumptions*†

2,500 calories

313 grams carbohydrates

131 grams protein

81 grams fat

Daily Breakdown*†

5 bread

6 fruit (2 citrus, 2 berry, 2 other)

3 milk

8 teaspoons added sugar

6 vegetable (3 carotenoid, 2 brassica, 1 allium)

4 very lean protein

5 lean protein

1 medium-fat protein

8 fat

2 soy

1 bean

2 nut

Note: Occasionally, a fat-free product, like mustard or cooking spray, is included on the menus. These do not count toward your daily breakdown but should not be overused.

*Use every day.

†Based on a 185-pound man.

THE MENU

DAY 1

Breakfast

2 bread	1 cup Shredded Wheat
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	¾ cup fresh blueberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, scrambled in a nonstick pan
2 fat	3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray (for egg)

Snack

2 soy	1 cup edamame
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
	Tea

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	Salad with 1 cup romaine lettuce, ½ cup tomato, ½ cup pepper
4 very lean protein	4 ounces turkey
1 bean	½ cup garbanzo beans
3 fat	3 tablespoons oil and vinegar salad dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 peach
2 nut	20 peanuts

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1¼ cups frozen strawberries
6 teaspoons added sugar	2 tablespoons honey

Dinner

3 bread	1 small ear corn on the cob
	1 whole-wheat roll
1 other fruit	1 apple
2 brassica	1 cup grilled broccoli, cauliflower
1 allium	½ cup grilled onions
5 lean protein	5 ounces salmon, grilled
3 fat	8 Kalamata olives
	2 teaspoons olive oil (for veggies)
2 teaspoons added sugar	2 teaspoons sugar or honey
	Tea

DAY 2

Breakfast

Combine yogurt, fruit, and flaxseed.

2 bread	1 whole-wheat English muffin
1 milk	1 cup fat-free unsweetened yogurt
1 citrus	½ cup grapefruit juice
1 berry	1 ¼ cups fresh strawberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
2 fat	3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 nut	1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
	Tea

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup romaine lettuce, ½ cup tomato, ½ cup roasted red pepper
4 very lean protein	4 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
3 fat	1 tablespoon olive oil (for roasted vegetables)
	2 tablespoons fat-free dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 plum
2 soy	2 ounces soy nuts

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	¾ cup frozen blueberries
6 teaspoons added sugar	2 tablespoons honey

Dinner

3 bread 1 other fruit	1½ cups cooked pasta 1¼ cups cubed watermelon (1 slice)
2 brassica	1 cup Brussels sprouts
1 allium	½ cup grilled shallots, and garlic (with shrimp over pasta)
1 bean	½ cup kidney beans
5 lean protein	5 ounces shrimp, grilled
3 fat	1 tablespoon oil (for shrimp)
2 teaspoons added sugar	2 teaspoons sugar or honey
	Tea
	2 tablespoons fat-free salad dressing

DAY 3

Breakfast

2 bread	2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 milk	1 cup fat-free cottage cheese (on bread)
1 citrus	4 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice (with pulp)
1 berry	¾ cup blueberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, cooked sunny-side up in a nonstick pan
2 fat	3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray (for egg)

Snack

2 soy	2 ounces soy nuts
1 carotenoid	1 cup sliced bell pepper
	Tea

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup spinach, bok choy
	1 cup yellow squash, stir-fried with garlic and fresh ginger
4 very lean protein	4 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, stir-fried
1 bean	½ cup black beans
3 fat	1 tablespoon oil (for stir-frying)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 nectarine
2 nut	10 cashews

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1 cup frozen raspberries
6 teaspoons added sugar	2 tablespoons honey

Dinner

3 bread	4 crackers
	1 ounce croutons (for salad)
1 other fruit	1 peach
	1 cup chicken noodle soup
2 brassica	2 cups raw cauliflower, broccoli, steamed
1 allium	½ cup onion (for cauliflower and broccoli)
5 lean protein	5 ounces swordfish, grilled with ginger and scallions
3 fat	1 tablespoon olive oil (for fish)
2 teaspoons added sugar	2 teaspoons sugar or honey
	Tea

DAY 4

Breakfast

1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	1 cup raspberries
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk (½ cup for French toast)

FRENCH TOAST (See recipe directions on this page.)

2 bread	2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg
2 fat	3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray

Snack

2 nut	1 tablespoon almond butter
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
	Tea

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	Salad with 2 cups romaine lettuce
4 very lean protein	4 ounces turkey
3 fat	2 tablespoons low-fat dressing
	2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 apple
2 soy	1 cup edamame

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1¼ cups frozen strawberries
6 teaspoons added sugar	2 tablespoons honey

Dinner

3 bread	1 hamburger bun
	1 small ear of corn
1 other fruit	1 ¼ cups cubed watermelon (1 slice)
2 brassica	1 cup coleslaw
1 allium	½ cup onion, garlic (for seasoning)
1 bean	½ cup baked beans
5 lean protein	5 ounces lean beef, minced (add to chili)
3 fat	1⁄8 avocado, diced
	1 teaspoon oil (for onion)
	Included (in coleslaw)
2 teaspoons added sugar	2 teaspoons sugar or honey
	Included (in baked beans)
	Tea

DAY 5

Breakfast

2 bread	1 cup quick oats (not instant)
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	1 ¼ cups strawberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
2 fat	3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 soy	1 cup edamame
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
	Tea

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup sautéed peppers
	2 tablespoons salsa
4 very lean protein	4 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
1 bean	½ cup fat-free refried beans
3 fat	1 tablespoon olive oil (for cooking)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	1 pear
2 nut	1 tablespoon almond butter

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1 cup frozen blackberries
6 teaspoons added sugar	2 tablespoons honey

Dinner

3 bread	1 large pita
	½ cup couscous
1 other fruit	1 apple
2 brassica	1 cup broccoli slaw
1 allium	½ cup onion, shallot, garlic (in couscous)
5 lean protein	5 ounces fresh trout (stuffed with ½ cup couscous)
3 fat	2 tablespoons reduced-fat vinaigrette
	Included (in broccoli slaw)
	1 teaspoon oil (for onion and shallot)
2 teaspoons added sugar	2 teaspoons sugar or honey
	Tea

DAY 6

Breakfast

2 bread	2 slices multigrain bread, toasted
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice
1 berry	1 cup raspberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
2 fat	3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 nut	1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 carotenoid	1 cup sliced bell pepper
	Tea

Lunch

Roll vegetables and turkey in lettuce leaves.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	1 cup carrot sticks
	1 cup leaf lettuce
4 very lean protein	4 ounces turkey
3 fat	¼ avocado, sliced
	2 tablespoons reduced-fat ranch dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	½ large banana
2 soy	2 ounces soy nuts

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	1 cup frozen raspberries
6 teaspoons added sugar	2 tablespoons honey

Dinner

3 bread	2 slices rye bread
	1 cup noodle soup
1 other fruit	1 pear
2 brassica	1 cup coleslaw
1 allium	½ cup chopped onion (mix into tuna)
1 bean	½ cup fava beans
5 lean protein	5 ounces tuna in olive oil, drained
3 fat	1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise (for tuna) Included (in coleslaw)
2 teaspoons added sugar	2 teaspoons sugar or honey
	Tea

DAY 7

Breakfast

2 bread	2 cups Kashi
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup grapefruit juice
1 berry	1 cup blackberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked (for egg salad)
2 fat	3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Snack

2 soy	1 cup edamame
1 carotenoid	1 cup carrots
	2 tablespoons fat-free dressing
	Tea

Lunch

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 carotenoid	Salad with 1 cup lettuce, ½ cup tomato, ½ cup red pepper
4 very lean protein	4 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
1 bean	½ cup pinto beans
3 fat	2 tablespoons low-fat salad dressing
	2 teaspoons oil (for cooking chicken)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 other fruit	17 grapes
2 nut	10 walnuts

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 citrus	½ cup orange juice with calcium
1 berry	¾ cup frozen blueberries
6 teaspoons added sugar	2 tablespoons honey

Dinner

3 bread	½ cup brown rice
	3-inch square of corn bread
1 other fruit	1 cup honeydew
2 brassica	1 cup broccoli, steamed
1 allium	½ cup leeks and garlic
5 lean protein	5 ounces salmon, poached
3 fat	2 tablespoons low-fat Caesar dressing
	Included (in corn bread)
	1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons added sugar	2 teaspoons sugar or honey
	Tea

THE HYPERTENSIVE-GUY MEAL PLAN

THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF THIS DIET IS BUILT ON THE RESEARCH FROM THE DASH studies. Potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and fiber levels meet the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension guidelines. Because we still expect you to exercise, the protein levels are slightly greater than in the DASH diet. This is not a diet to lose weight on. You should have enough energy to work out, but you probably won’t be building up on this diet either. If you are going to weight-train to build, rather than maintain, then increase your whole-grains and starches by 2 to 4 servings each day. That will boost your carbs and give you more energy to train harder and build muscle. The same goes for cardio work. If you’re doing long-distance training, increase your carbs by the same amount to give yourself more fuel. In general, avoid alcohol and caffeine.

Daily Assumptions*†

2,500 calories

298 grams carbohydrates

174 grams protein

67 grams fat

Daily Breakdown*†

8 bread

5 fruit

4 milk

3 teaspoons added sugar

5 vegetable

8 very lean protein

5 lean protein

1 medium-fat protein

1 bean

2 nut

3 fat

Note: Occasionally, a fat-free product, like mustard or cooking spray, is included on the menus. These do not count toward your daily breakdown but should not be overused.

*Use every day.

†Based on a 185-pound man.

THE DIET

DAY 1

Breakfast

2 bread	1 cup Shredded Wheat
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 fruit	¾ cup fresh blueberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, scrambled in a nonstick pan
1 very lean protein	2 egg whites, scrambled with whole egg
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray (for eggs)

Lunch

2 bread	2 slices whole-grain bread
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 vegetable	Salad with 2 cups romaine lettuce, ½ cup tomato, ½ cup cucumber
1 fruit	1 nectarine
4 very lean protein	4 ounces turkey
1 bean	½ cup garbanzo beans
1 fat	1 teaspoon olive oil with added vinegar, or 1 tablespoon salad dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 bread	¾ ounce pretzels (unsalted)
1 milk	6 ounces sugar-free yogurt
2 nut	20 peanuts (unsalted)
1 vegetable	1 cup sliced vegetable sticks

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fruit	¼ cup pineapple (frozen)
	¾ cup frozen strawberries
	½ cup orange juice with calcium
3 very lean protein	21 grams whey protein powder
3 teaspoons added sugar	1 tablespoon honey

Dinner

3 bread	3 ounces baked yam
	1 whole-grain dinner roll
1 fruit	1 slice watermelon
2 vegetable	1 cup broccoli and cauliflower
5 lean protein	5 ounces salmon, grilled
1 fat	8 Kalamata olives

DAY 2

Breakfast

Combine yogurt, fruit, and flaxseed. Combine muffin and egg for sandwich.

2 bread	1 whole-wheat English muffin
1 milk	1 cup fat-free unsweetened yogurt
1 fruit	1 ¼ cups fresh strawberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked
1 very lean protein	2 eggs, hard-cooked (discard yolks)
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Lunch

2 bread	2 slices whole-grain bread
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 vegetable	Large salad with 2 cups romaine lettuce, plus tomato, grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper
1 fruit	1 kiwi
4 very lean protein	4 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
1 bean	½ cup kidney beans
1 fat	2 tablespoons fat-free salad dressing
	1 teaspoon olive oil (for roasted vegetables)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 bread	2 rice cakes (unsalted)
1 milk	1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
2 nut	16 almonds (unsalted)
1 vegetable	1 cup sliced bell pepper

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fruit	¼ cup pineapple (frozen)
	¾ cup frozen strawberries
	½ cup orange juice with calcium
3 very lean protein	21 grams whey protein powder
3 teaspoons added sugar	1 tablespoon honey

Dinner

3 bread	1½ cups cooked pasta
1 fruit	1 ¼ cups strawberries
2 vegetable	1 cup ratatouille (over pasta)
	Salad with 1 cup lettuce, ¼ cup tomato, ¼ cup cucumber
5 lean protein	5 ounces lean ground chicken (add to ratatouille)
1 fat	2 tablespoons low-fat dressing

DAY 3

Breakfast

2 bread	2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 milk	1 cup fat-free cottage cheese (on bread; sprinkle with no-calorie sweetener and cinnamon)
1 fruit	4 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice (with pulp)
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, cooked sunny-side up in a nonstick pan
1 very lean protein	2 egg whites, cooked with sunny-side up egg
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray (for eggs)

Lunch

2 bread	2⁄3 cup brown rice
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 vegetable	2 cups Chinese vegetables, stir-fried with garlic, onion, fresh ginger
1 fruit	½ cup mandarin oranges
4 very lean protein 1 bean	4 ounces scallops, stir-fried ½ cup black beans
1 fat	1 teaspoon oil (for stir-frying)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 bread	¾ ounce baked tortilla chips (unsalted)
1 milk	1 ounce fat-free cheddar cheese
2 nut	10 cashews (unsalted)
1 vegetable	1 cup sliced bell pepper
	¼ cup salsa

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fruit	¼ cup pineapple (frozen)
	¾ cup frozen strawberries
	½ cup orange juice with calcium
3 very lean protein	21 grams whey protein powder
3 teaspoons added sugar	1 tablespoon honey

Dinner

3 bread	1 cup kidney beans (add to chili)
	2-inch square of corn bread
1 fruit	1 pear
2 vegetable	1 cup chopped cooked tomatoes with chili seasoning
	½ onion, garlic (for seasoning)
	Salad with 1 cup lettuce, ¼ cup tomato, ¼ cup cucumber
5 lean protein	2 ounces lean beef, minced (add to chili)
	1 ounce ground turkey (add to chili)
1 fat	1⁄8 avocado, diced

DAY 4

Breakfast

1 fruit	1 cup raspberries
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk (½ cup for French toast)

FRENCH TOAST (See recipe directions on this page.)

2 bread	2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg
1 very lean protein	2 egg whites
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray

Lunch

1 fruit	½ mango
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk

FAJITAS

Combine ingredients.

2 bread	2 tortillas
2 vegetable	1 cup sautéed onions, peppers
	2 tablespoons salsa
4 very lean protein	4 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
1 bean	½ cup fat-free refried beans
1 fat	1 teaspoon olive oil (for cooking)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 bread	½ bagel
1 milk	½ cup reduced-fat ricotta cheese
2 nut	20 pistachios (unsalted)
1 vegetable	Radishes, tomatoes, mushrooms

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fruit	¼ cup pineapple (frozen)
	¾ cup frozen strawberries
	½ cup orange juice with calcium
3 very lean protein	21 grams whey protein powder
3 teaspoons added sugar	1 tablespoon honey

Dinner

3 bread	1 ounce croutons (for salad)
	1 small multigrain roll
	1 cup chicken noodle soup
1 fruit	1 nectarine
2 vegetable	Salad with 2 cups romaine lettuce, ½ cup tomato, ½ cup cucumber
5 lean protein	5 ounces swordfish, grilled with ginger and scallions
1 fat	2 tablespoons fat-free salad dressing
	1 teaspoon olive oil (for fish)

DAY 5

Breakfast

2 bread	1 cup quick oats (not instant)
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 fruit	½ cup diced apples
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, scrambled in a nonstick pan
1 very lean protein	2 egg whites, scrambled with whole egg
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water
	Oil-free cooking spray (for eggs)

Lunch

2 bread	1 cup cooked linguini
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 vegetable	Salad with 1 cup lettuce, ¼ cup tomato, ¼ cup cucumber
	½ cup marinara sauce
1 fruit	½ starfruit
4 very lean protein	4 ounces shrimp, grilled
1 bean	½ cup fava beans
1 fat	1 teaspoon olive oil (for cooking)
	2 tablespoons fat-free salad dressing

Pre-Workout Snack

1 bread	5 pieces melba toast
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fat	1 tablespoon almond butter
1 vegetable	1 cup sliced carrots, celery

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fruit	¼ cup pineapple (frozen)
	¾ cup frozen strawberries
	½ cup orange juice with calcium
3 very lean protein	21 grams whey protein powder
3 teaspoons added sugar	1 tablespoon honey

Dinner

3 bread	1 large pita
	½ cup couscous
1 fruit	1 large fig
2 vegetable	Salad with 2 cups romaine lettuce, ½ cup tomato, ½ cup cucumber
5 lean protein	5 ounces fresh trout (stuff with fig, couscous; drizzle with mint in lime juice)
1 fat	2 tablespoons reduced-fat vinaigrette

DAY 6

Breakfast

2 bread	2 slices multigrain toast
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, scrambled in a nonstick pan
1 very lean protein	2 egg whites, scrambled with whole egg
	Oil-free cooking spray (for eggs)

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 fruit	1 fresh/frozen peach
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	Water

Lunch

2 bread	1 whole-wheat bagel
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 vegetable	1 cup carrot sticks
	3 slices onion, tomato
1 fruit	½ papaya
4 very lean protein	4 ounces poached salmon
1 bean	½ cup edamame
1 fat	1½ tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese

Pre-Workout Snack

Wrap broccoli and cheese in tortilla, and heat.

1 bread	1 tortilla
1 milk	1 ounce fat-free shredded cheese
2 nut	20 mixed nuts (unsalted)
1 vegetable	1 cup broccoli florets

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fruit	¼ cup pineapple (frozen)
	¾ cup frozen strawberries
	½ cup orange juice with calcium
3 very lean protein	21 grams whey protein powder
3 teaspoons added sugar	1 tablespoon honey

Dinner

3 bread	2 slices rye bread
	½ cup macaroni salad with fat-free dressing
1 fruit	17 grapes
2 vegetable	½ cup coleslaw
	½ cup chopped vegetables (cucumbers, carrots, onions; mix into tuna)
5 lean protein	5 ounces tuna in olive oil, drained
1 fat	2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise

DAY 7

Breakfast

2 bread	2 cups Kashi
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
1 fruit	1 cup raspberries
1 medium-fat protein	1 egg, hard-cooked (for egg salad)
1 very lean protein	2 eggs, hard-cooked (discard yolks)
1 fat	1½ tablespoons ground flaxseed
	2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise (for egg salad)
	Mustard (for egg salad)
	Water

Lunch

2 bread	1 multigrain roll
1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 vegetable	Sliced tomato, lettuce (for sandwich)
	1 cup radishes, celery, carrots
1 fruit	1 slice watermelon
4 very lean protein	4 ounces skinless white-meat chicken, grilled with lime juice
1 bean	½ cup pinto beans
1 fat	2 tablespoons reduced-fat ranch dressing (for dipping)

Pre-Workout Snack

1 bread	1 small pita
1 milk	1 ounce fat-free cheese
2 nut	10 walnuts
1 vegetable	1 cup sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes

Post-Workout

SMOOTHIE

Blend until smooth.

1 milk	1 cup fat-free milk
2 fruit	¼ cup pineapple (frozen)
	¾ cup frozen strawberries
	½ cup orange juice with calcium
3 very lean protein	21 grams whey protein powder
3 teaspoons added sugar	1 tablespoon honey

Dinner

3 bread	1 ounce croutons
	3-inch square of corn bread
1 fruit	1 large tangerine
2 vegetable	Salad with 2 cups romaine lettuce, ½ cup tomato, ½ cup cucumber
5 lean protein	5 ounces poached salmon
1 fat	Included (in corn bread)
	2 tablespoons fat-free Caesar dressing