The Delay Ageing Healthy Eating Food Plan| NutriShield

THE DELAY AGEING HEALTHY EATING FOOD PLAN

The Delay Ageing Healthy Eating Food Plan summarises 25 years of research into ways of eating that support a long healthy life.

It has a lot of plant foods, but does not demand you become a vegetarian or vegan. More what has been termed a ‘reducitarian’ – eating mainly plant protein but with fish and some meat, if that's your preference.

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. Add wheatgerm to breakfast cereals, which contains a compound that reduces senescent cells.
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, reishi
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 and sustainable if you can.
*EGGS* (Optional)	up to 4 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 and in plant 'milks', which we recommend you switch to. Cheese is fermented and a healthier form. If you continue with dairy, choose organic milk and butter, real cheeses, especially green and blue, and plain ‘live’ 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 flavanols are healthy and there’s 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	As you get older, you need increasing levels of quality nutrients to counteract the drivers of ageing and illness. This eating plan helps combat the root causes of biological ageing. It is already far healthier than the average person's diet. But most people will still fall short of the optimum daily level and range of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, DNA-protective and immune-supporting nutrients. NutriShield Premium fills that gap – adding 43 powerful food nutrients, in optimum ideal daily amounts, that longevity research confirms help to slow ageing and protect against illness.
Add a cell energy supplement	daily after the age of 60-65	Energy is needed to power all the body's organs and functions – and is especially important to help prevent loss of cognitive capacity. Cellular energy is dependent on NAD+, which declines after the age of 60-65, and Uni-Vite's NR+A (Nicotinamide Riboside plus Apigenin) is formulated to boost NAD+ levels.

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
Replace table salt with a potassium-enriched low-sodium alternative	REPLACE	You need some salt, but lowering excess sodium intake is linked to lower incidences of stroke and high blood pressure

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 a week or more	Brisk walking, active gardening and housework, yoga, exercise and dance classes, gym workouts, swimming, cycling, all kinds of active sport. When walking, speed up to a high intensity rate of 80% of your maximum capacity for just 30 seconds, every 5 minutes.
Strength training	5 times a week	Build a short routine around these Super Six exercises – Plank, Wall Squats, Bridge, Lunge, Push-Ups, Crunch. Helps to retain muscle mass and prevent frailty as you get older.
Interrupt lengthy sitting	as often as you can	Whether at a desk job or watching TV, get up and stand for 5 minutes every half-hour.
Mind relaxation	daily	eg. an effective 3-minute relaxation exercise.
Mental activity	daily	Puzzles, quizzes, planning projects, organising events

Our simple plan recognises that there is a role for a comprehensive daily health supplement to ‘fill in the gaps’ 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 – especially for older people (50+).

RDAs are established at ‘just adequate’ levels to prevent deficiency diseases – like scurvy or rickets – 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 – health-promoters on and health-threateners off.