What constitutes a plant-based diet?
Q: You keep saying we should eat a plant-based diet, but what does that mean exactly if I still eat meat? — Jose R., Boston
A: A plant-based diet is one in which most of your nutrients come from a wide variety of colorful plants that add up to around seven to nine servings a day. Animal-based foods are complements to that and are limited to animal proteins that are lean or contain healthy fats, like salmon, sea trout and skinless poultry.
An example of a healthy plant-based diet would be a half-cup of berries on oatmeal with soy, oat or almond milk in the morning, a mid-morning snack of an orange and a handful of walnuts, a lunch that includes a salad (maybe arugula, half an avocado, cherry tomatoes and sliced carrots with a lemon or lime and olive oil dressing) and a 6-ounce salmon burger along with a cup of quinoa, teff or brown rice.
Then dinner is lighter fare (before 7 o’clock), with 3 ounces of broiled chicken breast with a lemon-caper-olive oil marinade and a side of 3 cups of raw steamed spinach or baby kale with onions, garlic, mushrooms and olive oil and a cup of black beans. Dessert is a ½ cup of strawberries with 1 ounce of dark chocolate.
Q: I’m worried about my mom, who is only 66. She seems like she’s becoming a grumpy old lady, pessimistic, uninterested in new ideas. What can I do to help her have a younger outlook on her life? — JayCee M., Memphis, Tenn.
A: Just as you can have a Realage that is older or younger than your chronological age, depending on your physical fitness and overall health, you can have a psychological Realage that is older or younger than what is commonly associated with healthy mental and emotional norms for your age.
Attitude, just like blood pressure, is a true marker of overall health.
First, if you think this is significant depression, help your mom find an in-person or online therapist to help her sort out her feelings.
Your mom might like to take a new quiz that measures psychological age at https://app.young.ai/psychoage.
But whatever it says, we can tell you that if she signs up for online classes, Zooms with her friends frequently, makes sure she is getting exercise and tries the healthful, super-tasty recipes from Dr. Mike’s “What to Eat When” cookbook, you’ll see her mood and ’tude become younger, along with her health.