A diet rich in uncooked, wholesome food will be a major determining factor in your health and wellbeing as you age. Keep in mind, youth enhancing nutrients are destroyed during processing, storage and exposure to heat. It is also important to reduce your exposure to artificial additives and salt. Artificial additives, chemicals, hormones and antibiotics in our food are suspected and have been proven to cause serious problems to the health of the body including cancer, growing resistance to antibiotics when we need them, and hormone disturbers.

It is recommended we eat five portions of fruit and vegetables daily. Following the basic rules of nutrition can help prevent the diseases of aging such as stroke, heart disease, high cholesterol and Alzheimer’s. Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, the nutrients in food which help ward off disease and aging. How can you eat this much fruit a day? It is not that difficult. You can add sliced fruit to your wholegrain cereal in the morning, snack on apples or bananas or dried fruits in the day and eat fresh fruit cocktail for dessert.

Brightly colored red, yellow, orange and dark green vegetables are the healthiest. Try vegetables such as red, yellow, orange peppers, broccoli, kale, spinach, sweet potatoes and carrots which are full of antioxidant carotenoids that provide protection against DNA damage, age-related eye problems, cancer and heart disease. Eating vegetables in the raw state are best or cooking with extra virgin olive oil which helps aid absorption of nutrients. Your meal plate should contain a lot of vegetables and just a small portion of meat or fish.

Eating organic, free range meat and chicken will prevent you from ingesting excess hormones and unnecessary antibiotics. If you ever wonder why and how the “super bugs” – infections resistant to traditional antibiotic therapy got into our system, you have no further to look than our grocery stores and corporate farming.

Variety is the spice of life and diversity on your dinner plate is essential. Eating a varied diet will ensure you get the nutrients you need because just one food will not give you all the nutrients you need. Best to think like a vegetarian – not necessarily becoming one if you don’t wish to – because vegetarians are 20% less likely to die a premature death than meat eaters. Eating more stir fries, casseroles and soups will help you eat less meat.

Eating less meat also means you should eat more fish. Aim to eat fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel and halibut will provide you with the Omega 3 Fatty Acids necessary for your health. Fish should be eaten three times a week minimum for optimum health benefits.

Eating healthily, eating more raw foods and avoiding fad diets, reducing processed foods and bad fats will help you in your battle against excess weight, maintaining health and fighting the diseases of aging. Two of the healthiest eating styles in the world are the Okinwa and the Mediterranean diets It takes the same amount of effort to eat well as it does to eat “garbage food”, a label we give to a diet laden with bad fats, processed food and chemical additives. It’s the choice you make about how you want to feel and about taking care of Number One – You and Your Body.

What do you think is the most dangerous thing you’ll ever encounter? What do you consider to be the biggest threat to your life?

Let me help you answer. Here are some suggestions.

Is it a car crash? A bus crash? A plane crash? Being wrapped around a lamppost, having been hit by a transport vehicle? An accident at the workplace? A misadventure while taking part in a sport? Encountering some wild psycho lurking around the corner of a dark alley? Etc, etc. -All these things are indeed serious considerations, but a least statistically they pale into insignificance when I tell you the answer.

The biggest threat to your life is the food you eat.

Many, many people become ill or dead through the effects of constantly taking bad nutrition, far more than any accident or injury. For example, if you’re in a crowded place sometime, quietly count ten people at random. Then say to yourself, eight out of those ten people will die of a cardiovascular related problem or cancer. And all eight could prevent their conditions from happening if they only chose to eat the right food.

A politician, whose name has long escaped me (not relevant), once addressed a select committee on nutrition and human needs. What he said really hit the nail on the head.

As a nation, we have come believe that medicine and medical technology can solve our major health problems. The role of such important factors as diet in cancer and heart disease has long been obscured by the emphasis on the conquest of these diseases through the miracle of modern medicine. Treatment, not prevention has been the order of the day.

The problems can never be solved merely by more and more healthcare. The health of individuals and the health of the population is determined by the variety of biological, behavioural and environmental factors. None of these is more important than the food we eat.’ 1.

Too many people continue to doff their hat to the doctors. But many doctors know very little about the healing powers of nutrition because they’re too busy promoting invasive and expensive drugs with potentially damaging side effects that only treat symptoms.

Here are the essential potentially life-saving nutrition facts.

Good nutrition is:

v Natural – Grown from the garden, farmed and raised in natural conditions…etc.

v Has had little or no heat treatment.

v Is free of chemicals & toxins.

v Is immune system building.

v Ultimately allows the free flow of energy in the body.

Bon appetite!