Health

Ditch those fad diets and instantly boost your future health

Midlife health boost, fitness trackers, hair woes

We all get sucked into the latest fad diet – but the conflicting nutritional advice can be confusing. One minute we’re told to ditch carbs at night, the next eat kale with every meal and increase our protein intake. Eek! But the older we get, the more vital it is to avoid fad diets and convoluted nutritional approaches like detoxing and “clean eating”. Mimi Spencer and Sam Rice, authors of The Midlife Kitchen, look beyond buzzwords and crazy diet plans. They’re all about

commonsense eating and taking a more sensible, grownup approach that doesn’t overpromise. Here they reveal their basic guiding principles.

Variety is vital

“Restrictive diets aren’t just a bore, they reduce gut microbe diversity, which can in turn lead to all manner of health issues. In the West, the average person once ate around 150 different foodstuffs – now it’s 20, repackaged in 50 different ways. So our banner is inclusion, not exclusion. A welcome sign, not a ‘keep out’ notice.”

Whole truth

“A balanced diet, rich in fresh produce and low in processed foods and refined sugars, seems to be the most effective long- term health insurance and current best advice, so maximise the use of natural, whole plant foods.”

Less sugar, better fat, good carbs

“We’re well aware that decades of low-fat diet regimens have got us nowhere – obesity, stroke, heart disease and cancer rates haven’t responded – so we’re looking elsewhere for clues.

“Good fats (the unsaturated omega-3s, olive oil, coconut oil and, yes, some butter) are very welcome at the midlife table. The only foodstuff we’d limit is sugar. There’s good evidence to suggest that curbing your refined sugar intake and sticking to slow-burn, wholegrain carbohydrates can help control blood sugars and improve insulin sensitivity, which lessens the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. So embrace good grains and slow-burn cereals such as brown and black rice, quinoa and oats.

“For sweetness, stick to fruit sources, date syrup, honey and maplep syrup.”yp