You can avoid diseases

LIFESTYLE NEWS - Covid-19 has highlighted the plight of people living with chronic conditions.

Those who suffer from diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure are the least likely to recover from the virus.

In South Africa many also suffer from heart disease and high cholesterol. More and more people are being diagnosed with cancer.

But, to a large extent these diseases and conditions can be avoided by eating correctly. A mainly vegetarian diet with an emphasis on raw fruits and vegetables is proven to keep diseases at bay.

The current fashionable diets focusing on animal proteins and fats are therefore a no-no.

Well-known adventurer and author Dan Buettner has travelled most of the globe and interviewed people who live the longest and are the healthiest. He has called the areas where these people live blue zones, in his book of the same name.

In Blue Zones, Buettner relates that these people eat animal protein only about five times a month. Animal protein includes dairy, red meat, poultry, fish and seafood.

Healthiest people
The world's healthiest people eat these types of foods: pulses such as different beans, dried peas and chickpeas; nuts and seeds; vegetables, salads and fruits; and whole grains, such as wheat berries, brown rice, barley and buckwheat.

There are also many delicious dried fruits and berries to add to one's diet.

People in the blue ones eat very little salt and sugar and avoid processed foods which are made in factories.

The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) has for many years advocated eating "five a day": five fruits and vegetables per day.

Buettner says the world's healthiest people "celebrate food". They make tasty food. They do not limit what they eat. They don't need to because their chosen foods are low in fat and calories.Food can be flavoured with a variety of fresh and dried herbs, garlic, ginger and other spices which are beneficial to ones health, rather than salt and sugar and factory-made sauces which are full of perservatives.

This book advocates a mainly vegetarian diet.