Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Plan to Delay Ageing
Combining the best of the best to
āsuper-boostā your nutrition
THE HEALTHY EATING PLAN
The Delay Ageing Food Plan has a lot of plant foods but does not demand you become a vegetarian or vegan. More what has been termed a āreducitarianā ā eating mainly plant protein but with fish and some meat.
GREEN foods | 2 a day | Broccoli, chard, spinach, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, sprouts, rocket, asparagus, green peppers, peas, courgettes/zucchini, celery, leafy salads, mangetout /sugarsnaps |
RED foods | 1-2 a day | Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, red grapes, red pepper, red onion, tomatoes, apples, chilli peppers |
YELLOW and ORANGE foods | 1-2 a day | Carrots, sweet potatoes, oranges, grapefruit, mango, apricot, pumpkin, banana, sweetcorn, squash |
BLUE and PURPLE foods | 1-2 a day | Blueberries, bilberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, black/concord grapes, raisins, plums, aubergine/eggplant, beetroot |
WHOLE GRAINS | 2 a day | Wholegrain bread, cereals, pasta, rice, oats, quinoa, buckwheat, rye, barley, etc |
Fruit/vegetable JUICE | max 1 a day | Single or mixed fruits or vegetables (pure fruit/veg, no added sugar) |
PREBIOTIC and HIGH FIBRE foods in addition to fibre in fruits, grains and vegetables | 4 -5 times a week | Onions, garlic, leeks, artichokes, lentils, bananas, beans (kidney, haricot, borlotti, black-eye etc), chickpeas and products eg. dhal, hummus. Add occasional fermented foods, like sauerkraut, miso, kefir, tempeh. |
MUSHROOMS | 3 x a week | All eg. chestnut, portobello, oyster, shiitake, maitake, chanterelle, reishiĀ 8 |
HERBS and SPICES | as frequently as you can | Turmeric, ginger, cayenne, chilli, curry powder, basil, thyme, black pepper, cinnamon, oregano, rosemary, nutmeg, sage, coriander, etc. They add health benefits and flavour, reducing need for salt. |
SOYBEANS and products | 1-2 times a week | Tofu, edamame, miso, textured soy protein, natto |
NUTS and SEEDS | small handful daily | Nuts eg. walnuts, cashews, peanuts, almonds, brazil nuts. Seeds eg. flax (linseeds), chia, hemp, sesame, pine, pumpkin. |
Oily FISH (Optional) |
2-3 times a week | Salmon (esp. wild), herring, trout, anchovy, mackerel, sardines, pilchards. Occasional shellfish eg. prawns (for selenium, zinc). |
MEAT (Optional) |
1-2 times a week | Chicken, turkey, game, duck, lamb. You need about 1g a day of protein per gram of body weight. Organic/free range if you can. |
EGGS (Optional) | up to 7 a week | Organic and free-range hens have better feed quality and lifestyle, and their eggs have higher nutrients. |
DAIRY (Optional) |
in moderation | Dairy contributes calcium, magnesium and vitamins, but these are also in vegetables. Choose organic milk and butter, real cheeses, especially green and blue, and plain āliveā yogurts. |
Plant-derived FATS and OILS | as needed | Extra virgin olive, flaxseed or hempseed oils for salads and general cooking. Avocado oil for high-temperature frying. |
DARK CHOCOLATE | 2-3 squares daily | Cocoa flavonols are healthy and thereās much less sugar and no dairy compared to milk chocolate. |
DRINKS | frequent | 6-8 glasses equivalent of water-based drinks ie. water, teas (green, black, chamomile, herbal), coffee. Moderate red wine (women 1 glass a day; men 1-2). |
Comprehensive nutritional health supplement | daily | This eating plan is already far healthier than the average person's diet. But it still falls short of the optimum all-round health-protective nutrition intake in the level and range of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, DNA-protective and immune-supporting nutrients each day.
NutriShield Premium contains 43 protective nutrients in optimum daily amounts - a baseline that reproduces the micro-nutrients in the world's healthiest diets. It's also your safety-net, because in reality we all enjoy the occasional take-away, ready meal, croissant or bacon roll! |
EAT FEWER PRO-INFLAMMATORY AND PROCESSED FOODS
All refined sugar foods | EAT FEWER | Sugary soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, confectionery |
All refined starchy foods | EAT FEWER | White-flour baked goods, white rice, crisps, snacks |
Processed and fast foods | EAT FEWER | With high fat, particularly saturated animal fats and excess Omega-6 oils like sunflower, corn and palm |
Smoked or cured meats | EAT FEWER | eg. Bacon, ham, hot dogs, with nitrosamines linked to cancer |
THE DELAY AGEING FOOD PYRAMID
You will have seen food pyramids before, but ours is inverted, with the foods to eat most of at the top, and foods to eat sparingly at the bottom.
Notice that the inverted foundation consists of vegetables, because veggies contain some of the most protective nutrients and fibre. But there is another reason. When University College London published their study confirming 9-10 portions of fruit and veg a day as optimal, they also showed that consuming vegetables had an even greater protective effect than eating fruit.
ACTIVITY AND LIFESTYLE
Physical activity | 5 times weekly at least half an hour | Brisk walking, active gardening and housework, yoga, exercise and dance classes, gym workouts, swimming, cycling, all kinds of active sport
Some strength training eg. push-ups against the floor or wall or the plank, helps to retain muscle mass as you get older. |
Mind relaxation | daily | eg. an effective 3-minute relaxation exercise. |
Mental activity | daily | Puzzles, quizzes, planning projects, organising events |
The Healthy eating/healthy Ageing plan anyone can follow
based on Dr Claytonās 35 years of research
Ā ā Download pdf here


Dr Clayton is the former Chair of the Forum on Food and Health at the Royal Society of Medicine. In researching his best-selling book āHealth Defenceā, he set out to determine exactly what foods and lifestyles could maintain good health into old age.
His conclusions are based on thousands of peer-reviewed research studies and clinical trials. And from analysis of the nutritional intakes in the regions of the worldās longest lived and healthiest people ā the Blue Zones.
The result was not just a best-selling book, but an invitation to present his findings to a UK Parliamentary Select Committee.
"Health Defence" is over 600 pages long, and still available to buy in print or read online. Dr Clayton has also made his updated conclusions available as a simple to follow one-page plan here.


Optimum nutrition helps you look younger, too
High blood levels of Omega 3 and protective plant compounds ā anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatories, vitamins, minerals and trace elements ā are also linked to younger appearance. Because a healthy look on the outside is a function of healthy cells and active mitochondria on the inside.
Our simple plan recognises that there is a role for a comprehensive daily health supplement to āfill in the gapsā so that you can achieve optimum nutrition every day. Not the least, because our intensively-farmed soils are becoming less nutrient dense.
But a simple one-a-day vitamin and mineral pill is not enough ā especially for older people (50+).
RDAs are established at ājust adequateā levels to prevent deficiency diseases ā like scurvy or rickets ā not at optimised levels to help counteract accumulated damage. And there is little evidence that RDA-level multi-vitamins alone reduce the risk of heart disease or cancer.
So an effective supplement needs to include the sort of co-factor plant nutrients found in the Blue Zones, too. Some can even help turn genes on and off ā health-promoters on and health-threateners off.
BENEFITS OF 12 SUPERFOOD PLANT NUTRIENTS
NutriShield comprehensive supplement
NutriShield helps you make sure you "eat a rainbow" every day.Ā It is a daily comprehensive supplement, designed by Dr Paul Clayton, containing a rainbow of ALL the protective bio-active plant micro-nutrients highlighted above, PLUS an optimum level of essential vitamins and minerals and Omega 3.