Live long and prosper: how to buy longevity promoting groceries

We live on a third of what we eat, the rest is what our doctors live on

I'm not sure who first coined that phrase but I think there's a lot of truth in that statement but a bit of fallacy as well. I'm not one for a spartan lifestyle with calorie-deficient diets and constantly watching my weight, which is probably why I am obese in the first place. Obesity is one of the factors that contribute to all sorts of diseases that shorten a person's lifespan. There are many other contributors. Here's some:

1. A sedentary lifestyle: sitting around a lot, not doing much of anything makes your body weak and unresponsive.
2. Overexercising: going to excesses of excersize, in a way many heroes of the sporting world do is very bad for your health. The average lifeexpectancy of a sportshero is much lower than that of the general public.
3. Stress: this should by rights be on the first place. Stress kills people, slowly and methodically. In addition it doesn't make for a fun life.
4. Smoking, drinking and doing drugs is generally bad for your health, even prescription drugs. The prevalence of such drugs in America is stunning to me.

So what should you be putting in your grocery bag when you want to live long and prosper?

Eat to live, not live to eat

The first answer to what you should be taking home from your grocery store is “less”. Sounds simple but it's true, we tend to overeat and in doing so we are subtracting years from our lives. But of course there's more to it than that.

The types of food we eat mean a lot to our system. It's not just about content either, but that is certainly a factor. A fresh look at some of the staple foods of America.

• Cereal. If you can find one that is sugarfree, perhaps honey sweetened, and certainly free of any artificial coloring and flavoring (including sugar substitutes) that would be a good thing to eat. Don't use milk with it though, milk is for baby cows, not people. If you must have milkproducts then go for sour milkproducts such as yoghurt.
• Mashed potatoes. If you buy the potatoes (organic of course) and you cook them yourself and mash them up with very little butter (real organic butter) then you might eat this.
• Vegetables. Fresh veggies you can eat a lot of. Hardly any of them are fattening and all of them are very healthy. However! Don't eat green leaves more than twice a week and don't ever reheat things like spinach: leafy greens that you eat cooked. Variety is key: use many different vegetables each week.
• Fruits. Apples have iron, pineapples have enzymes, kiwi's have oodles of vitamin C, more than any Oranges. As a rule of thumb though: Buy what is locally grown. If there's no Oranges where you live, you shouldn't be eating them.

Avoiding the bad stuff

Here's what to avoid putting in your durable holden bag at any cost:

• Anything freezedried or microwaved or needing such processing at home. In fact, first get rid of your microwave, then go shopping.
• Coffee, hot chocolate, black tea. Instead learn about the herbs and spices and their different properties and choose among their many healing qualities. Choose liquorice root tea of you have a sweettooth, but don't overdo it. (a cup a day max)
• Any food that is pre-processed: leave it at the store. It may be convenient, but it sure isn't food.