Modern government health departments generally have advice about what to eat and the recommendations are similar and easy to follow. However, much of their advice is based on epidemetigolical research (food surveys) rather than randomized control trials (RCTs) and influenced by food industry sponsors and animal activists.
- Georgia Ede: Brainwashed — The Mainstreaming of Nutritional Mythology
- 8 Ridiculous Myths About Eating Meat
- UN FAO: Food-based dietary guidelines
- Canada's Food Guide
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans
- United Kingdom: Eatwell Guide
- Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population
Basically, their dietary recommendations are:
- Eat plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables.
- Eat plenty of nuts, seeds, and legumes (low glycemic indexes and lots of dietary fibre).
- Grain-based foods should contain the whole grain with a minimum of refining/processing.
- Eat more foods that contain unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
- Eat less foods that contain saturated fats.
- Minimize the consumption of red meat. Consume fish, poultry, beans or nuts instead.
- Avoid highly processed foods.
- Avoid foods containing trans fats.
- Drink water whenever you're thirsty. If you're craving a snack, drink some water instead because might be mistaking a hunger for thirst.
- Don't drink your calories (soda, fruit juices, etc). Artificially sweetened drinks have an adverse effect on health.
There are significant benefits to having a low-carb, high-fat diet. LCHF diets recommended by experts (such as Dr Ben Bikman, Dr Sarah Hallberg, Dr Paul Mason) contradict government dietary recommendations to maintain healthy, lean body mass. There also appears to no upper limit to the amount of dietary protein and the improvement in lean body mass is enhanced with resistance training. This is my understanding of a good high fat, low carb diet:
- Minimize the consumption of carbohydrates (approximately < 50g/day) and ensure that those carbohydrates have a low glycemic index.
- Consume more protein (1.5-2 g/kg of body weight per day) and NO LESS than 1.3 g/kg of body weight.
- Consume the balance of your daily caloric requirements from high-quality, minimally-processed fats.
- Consume more Omega-3 fats and less Omega-6 fats.
- Avoid foods that a metabolized in the liver, especially those that contain added sugar (sucrose & fructose).
- Avoid foods manufactured from industrial processes.
- Consume more protein as you get older.
- Saturated and mono-unsaturated fats (including those from red meats) are good to consume. Avoid poly-unsaturated fats - especially vegetable/seed oils high in linoleic acid.
- Eat when you're hungry, don't eat when you're not. No need to count calories because fat consumption tends to be self-regulating in total daily caloric intake.
- Avoid snacking between meals (unless you're hungry) to allow blood sugar to fall low enough for ketosis (fat burning) to occur.
Some sites for healthy diet recipes:
- Canada's Food Guide Recipes
- Canadian Living Magazine's Recipes (one of my wife's favourites)
- Diet Doctor: Low-Carb Recipes
More information about Blue Zone diets:
- Eating To Break 100: Longevity Diet Tips From The Blue Zones
- Okinawa Diet
- Mediterranean Diet
- Ikarian Diet
- Sardinian Diet
- Loma Linda Diet
- Mesoamerican Agriculture