7 Best and 7 Worst Foods for Health and Longevity

Because food has the power to heal, my patients often ask me for my top list of healthy food – the anti-oxidant foods, heart healthy foods, and nutritious foods that are central to the Eat To Live program. These high nutrient foods, consumed regularly, will contribute to your health and longevity. What you eat -- now and when you were growing up -- dramatically affects the state of your health. The effect is cumulative, influencing everything from the amount of energy you have (or lack), to your emotional state, medical condition, and ultimately longevity

Top Seven Foods for Good Health and Longevity

• Black raspberries
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Flax Seeds
• Green Leafy Vegetables
• Tomatoes
• Broccoli sprouts

The healthy and nutritious foods are high antioxidant foods, primarily fruits and vegetables. I selected these healthy foods because they contain the most powerful phytochemicals and anthocyanins which illustrate strong inhibition of chemocarcinogens.

Other foods with high antioxidant and high anti-cancer potential include walnuts, sunflower seeds, pomegranates, beets, cabbage, peppers, and parsley. Make your diet strongly cancer-protective and longevity-favorable by including these highly beneficial, nutritious foods.

A good way to think about nutritious food: Produce is the most important health care your money can buy.

Food also has the potential to harm, and these are effective foods for those attempting to die younger. One of my daughters calls this list the Seven Foods of Death.

Worst Seven Foods for Health and Longevity

• Butter
• Cheese
• Potato Chips and French Fries
• Doughnuts
• Salt
• Sausage, hot dogs
• Pickled, smoked or barbequed meat

Foods high in saturated fat and trans fat are consistently associated with high cancer rates. Cheese and butter typically contain over ten times as much saturated fat as fish and white meat chicken and turkey.

Salt has been consistently linked to stomach cancer and stroke, even in populations that eat diets low in saturated fat.

Add the carcinogenic potential from heated and overcooked oils (usually trans containing) delivered in doughnuts and fries with the powerful cancer inducing properties of carbohydrates cooked at high heat (acrylamide formation) and you have a great cancer potion.

Needless to say, I advise people to avoid the foods on my “worst list” entirely.

The best foods to eat are the healthy, nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables. By making these antioxidant foods the major portion of your diet, you can protect yourself against cancer and other serious diseases. As you extend your youthful vigor into later years, you have contributed to your longevity by Eating to Live with a healthy, nutritious diet.