Well, I'll dive into this quagmire, even tho I'm new on this forum.
* Been experimenting on diet since 1979. No, doesn't make me an 'authority', but I do have 30+ yrs experience in a dietary study on ONE person
* Tried just about everything 'cept the "let's overdose on bacon diet". Never could quite get my stomach around that one.
What I'm now into is a variation(my own spin) on work written by these two guys:
"Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman. The basics. Not invented by him, but refined somewhat from earlier works and his own thoughts.
"Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution". Appears to(me) be a refinement of Furhman's stuff. I dunno if the two ever connected or not, but this guy is the real deal. World famous heart surgeon(Palm Springs), got tired of being one of the fat slobs he kept seeing on the slab in front of him and did something about it.
BOTH books are worth a read. Note, tho, Eat to Live is earlier than Diet Evolution.
Where I think many people go astray(on this board, too) is in not differentiating between eating what's good for you vs. what's bad for you. By this, I mean if you're changing diet, consider the two separately. In approaching the above diets, I focused -first- on adding into my diet what I thought might be lacking. ONLY after that, did I consider what I might wanna cut back on.
Translation: Make sure you're getting the right nutrition in the right form FIRST, then start elminating the other stuff. Just cutting back on the 'crud' ain't gonna cut it, cuz your body will always be craving good nutrition. If you're not getting the right nutrition, your cravings will ramp up a LOT on the crud stuff, as your body wants correct nutrition wherever it can find it; even if that means eating a ton of crap just to get the little bit of goodness in it.
So, for me, what I found out as I ate more and more 'green veggies', in as raw a form as possible was that I had fewer cravings for the more junky stuff. High carbs, lots of fish protein(I quit eating red meat/pork decades ago), and the occasional sugar highs ALL became much less of a craving for me.
In addition, while I don't have scientific evidence(yet), I do feel much lighter and more energetic; kinda reminds me a bit of feeling like a kid.
Time will tell on this one. I have been very careful on diet for 30+ years, but -did- notice a real change, based on the books above.
I don't expect to change anyone's rabid opinions in this thread, but would like to point out these guy's work for anyone who's mind isn't totally fossilized yet...
Worth a read. I got my copies el cheapo from ebay, so money ain't the issue here.
Btw, I suspect my chances of croaking from ________ (fill in the blank; diabetes, colon cancer, Alzheimer's, mad cow disease, etc.) are about zero. Won't know till then, but that's my read on it now...
You are what you eat. I'm convinced health & long living is about 85% diet and the rest is exercise and stress control.