How to Stay Young as Long as Possible: The Longevity Diet Part 2

Last week we hopefully established the scientific case for adopting the Longevity Diet by referencing the “Live to be 100” Netflix documentary and the books, Nine Hallmarks of Aging and The Longevity Diet. This part discusses its ten principles (divided into three sections, what, how much, and when to eat) and how we implemented them.

What to Eat

We know the first two principles well:                                                              1. maximize vitamins and minerals (or eat lots of fruits and vegetables) and 2.  minimize salt, sugar, and bad fats (or stay away from processed foods).

However, I was surprised by the third principle: 

3. minimize proteins before the age of 65 (white meat, but especially). 

This is based on a large study of 50–65-year-olds that shows moderate and high-protein diets are directly linked to significantly higher mortality rates, especially from cancer.

As far as carbohydrates and fats are concerned, it is recommended that we   4.  eat complex carbs (not flour/sugar but whole grains/beans/legumes) and 5. use olive oil generously. 

Finally, it is recommended that we                                                                      6. introduce variety to what we eat, especially those foods from our ancestry.   Longo says that the diet that comes closest to it is the Mediterranean plus the pescatarian diet.

How Much to Eat

Another large study showed that the high-calorie American diet vs. the medium-calorie Japanese diet vs. the low-calorie Okinawan (Japanese Blue Zone) diet showed a direct relationship between high-calorie consumption to diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases. 

Therefore, we must 

7. restrict calories to just what we need. 

Multiply your weight by 15 and subtract 500 to maintain weight, and 1000 to lose weight. Recalculate as you lose weight, ensuring a slow but steady weight loss vs. the drastic results of other flash diets.

We can help ourselves do this. We must                                                               8. regulate the number of times we eat.                                                     Eat It Three meals and one snack of 100 calories daily are recommended for those over 65 or two meals and one snack for those below 65. 

Finally, we should                                                                                             9. practice the Blue Zone rule to stop eating when you are 80% full.           Drinking water before meals also helps.

When to Eat

There are many benefits to fasting. The reason people fast is usually for religious or weight loss purposes. But the best reason for fasting is to reboot our cells and allow for repair and recycle times. 

Therefore, 

10) fasting is highly recommended. 

Every day, we should follow an eating window (8-12 hours) and a fasting window (16-12 hours), more popularly known as intermittent fasting. 

In addition, twice a year a longer fast of three to five days is recommended. To help with longer fasts, we can supplement with a fast-mimicking diet (FMD) of very very low protein, very very low sugar, very high good fats).

How We Implemented the Principles at Home

This is how we have implemented these ten principles at home. First, I have stopped or minimized the following (except on my rare cheat days):

1.    Drinks: soda, coffee, alcohol, milk, and sweetened drinks

2.    Sweets: candy, cake, chocolate (except dark), ice cream

3.    Carbs: white rice, white pasta, white bread, potato

4.    Proteins: red meat

The only oil I use is olive oil, and I even deep-fry with it occasionally. I modify recipes that I love, reducing meats by half and doubling vegetables. Often humming “Bahay Kubo,” a favorite Filipino song celebrating rural life and Philippine vegetables, I have brought back to our table a lot of Philippine dishes I love and which Bill has grown to love.

For my special needs to control my blood glucose and acidity levels, I researched both the glycemic load and PH level of my favorite foods and listed down those that satisfy my requirement of low GI (low carbohydrate and sugar load) and high PH (alkaline).  With the resulting list of proteins, carbs, fruits, and vegetables that I can have, I made another list of dishes that I can prepare. I came up with 28 different dishes from Philippine cuisine, American cuisine (Bill’s favorites), and international cuisine (our mutual favorites) for lunch and dinner. That means we don’t have to repeat a dish in a month, meeting the requirement of variety and preference for ancestral foods. We did the same thing for breakfast and snack items.

Lastly, we eat breakfast at around 7:30 am, lunch at around 11:30 am, snack at around 2:30 pm, and dinner at around 5:30 pm. We don’t eat anything else after 5:30 pm, giving us a fasting window of 14 hours and an eating window of ten.

I lost three pounds in August 2023 the first month I implemented the principles, two in September, and a pound a month since, for a total of ten pounds. My daily calorie requirement has been reduced to 1,240 calories. My a1c dropped from 6.6 in May to 6.4 in November. Since this is still at a prediabetic level, I will continue this plan and hope that it is even lower in time for my May bloodwork.

 

TRAVEL AWAITS: 6 Unique Dining Experiences In The Shrimp Capital Of The World

The original article was published in Travel Awaits on May 1, 2022.

In two previous articles, I wrote about my favorite restaurants in Phoenix, Arizona where we live, and Calgary, Alberta where my daughter lives. We selected these places to celebrate significant occasions not just by feasting on good food, but also by enjoying a unique dining experience.

When we began to spend our winters in Mazatlan, our all-inclusive resort with nine restaurants did not give us reasons to go out. Later, however, some resort staff became family. They gave us the motivation to dine out, and not just for shrimp, in this the “Shrimp Capital of the World” that ships 40,000 tons of this seafood around the globe every year. The good thing is that they knew which restaurants met our dual criteria. Here are the six discoveries they helped us find.

El Presidio Cocina de Mexico

One of the first we took out for dinner was the gracious Capitan of La Concha, one of our resort’s two main dining areas. He chose El Presidio which many consider being the #1 restaurant in Mazatlan. We rode the pulmoniya, the “open” taxi the city is known for, to meet him and his wife there. And, upon reaching it after winding our way through Centro Historico’s narrow alleys lined by old colonial buildings resplendent in the night lights, we could only say, “Wow!”

It’s on Blvd. Ninos Heroes on a restored 1876 farm whose venerable courtyard is adorned by centuries-old trees. There was an “almost jungle-like feel surrounded by walls that proudly show their years.” Under one of these trees, we delighted in traditional Mexican cuisine made new by “merging techniques and ingredients from other parts of the country.” My husband relished their different take on the beloved mole sauce on chicken breast called Mole Negro de la Casa. I chose the Carnitas de Cerdo con Cilantro or pork smothered in cilantro, and loved it.

Pro-Tip: The Courtyard Bar is long and inviting. And we have to go back to experience dining inside its great colonial rooms.

Casa 46: Cocina de Autor

Plazuela Machado is the place to be for a festive night in Mazatlan. Top-notch restaurants and lively watering holes surround a central plaza with a main gazebo in the middle, colorful souvenir kiosks distributed around the walking path, a giant monigote left behind from Carnaval days, and four bands alternating music from each corner.

The very talented Chef of La Concha chose Casa 46 at the southern end of the plaza on Calle Constitucion and, sure enough, it gave us a memorable sensory dining experience. Offering regional Sinaloan, and Mazatlecan cuisine, traditional flavors are served with a twist, and dishes are interpreted as influenced by the five foreign cultures that settled in the city (French, Spanish, German, Asian and American). We still cannot forget the delectable appetizer, Confit Duck Enchiladas served with another amazing black mole sauce.

The main jewel of the restaurant is La Terraza, a second-floor veranda where you get a panoramic view of the entire plaza. Aside from this privileged location, Casa 46 can rightly be called a restaurant-museum. The Carnival and Maritime Halls honor the different periods of the Port of Mazatlan’s history and provide images of distinguished personalities who participated in the development of the state of Sinaloa. There is also an extensive wine cellar with more than 140 labels, making the bar (The Library) ideal for watching sports, playing poker, and having drinks.

Pro-Tip: Allow three to four hours to fully appreciate Casa 46, Plaza Machado,  and the cultural icon, the Angela Peralta Theater on the opposite side.

La Mazatleca

Mexicans are legendary for their hospitality and service-orientation. And the gracious ladies of Club Elite VIP Lounge do not only look fabulous, especially when not in uniform, but also take very good care of us. We took two of them out and they chose the beachfront restaurant closest to our resort so they could easily go after their shift. La Mazatleca takes the traditional cuisine of the city and turns it into “high-quality avant-garde dishes, which generate totally new experiences.”

True to their word, their ceviches are differently presented (created on plates instead of bowls) and specially flavored (not just with salt and vinegar). Each of us also ordered four different shrimp dishes and were all very satisfied: coconut, garlic, breaded, and bacon-wrapped. But we were completely surprised when we got each of the cheesecakes we ordered for dessert! Immediately, we realized that we should have just shared one. It is a quarter of a whole tall cake served with two sauces (strawberry and caramel), glazed nuts, and fresh berries!

Pro-Tip: The restaurant is also great for family. Children can play on the reclaimed beachfront right next to the dining tables while you feast on sights of boats against the lovely island backdrop, best during sunset.

La Marea

Every winter, our resort also offers many activities, among them a free Spanish class. That’s where we met a young couple, Canadian Coast Guard employees who seemed to be traveling on a budget and was not on the all-inclusive program. We wanted to hear more about the stories they were sharing so we took them out to La Marea as suggested by the Elite ladies.

We were surprised by traditional dishes served enclosed and steaming under a plastic covering. The restaurant’s two levels are wrapped around the top of Cerro de Vigia (Vigia Hill), which is exactly across from the Cerro de Creston (Creston Hill) where the El Faro Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in the world, stands. Both hills offer beautiful views of the historic Port of Mazatlan.

There are two ways to get there. The Pulmoniya can take you up the hill from the Malecon, the longest boardwalk of Latin America, or you can take the green bus all the way to its last stop. After getting off the bus, you can walk towards the right side of the street and climb the stairs from the bottom of the hill. Turning left, on the other hand, takes you to the El Faro Lighthouse which can also be reached by climbing stairs. If you go by taxi, be sure to ask your waiter to call one for you when you are about to finish your meal. No public transportation goes up the hill. 

Pro-Tip: Go for dinner so you can take fabulous sunset photos among the hammocks, the cannon, or Mazatlan Sign at the top and the scenes of El Faro, the Port, cruise ships, and the sea as backdrop.

La Concha

I would be totally remiss if I do not include our two favorite restaurants among the nine offered by our resort. There are four hotels in the complex and at one of them where we stay, the main dining tent is called La Concha. With a giant palm-roof, it overlooks the Sea of Cortez from three dining levels inside the giant hut. Additionally, a large deck offers al fresco and beachfront dining. The restaurant provides regular breakfast (a popular brunch on Sundays), lunch, and dinner buffets besides an extensive a la carte menu. This last season it offered two special buffets: Mariscos (seafood) on Tuesdays and BBQ on Saturdays.

La Concha is always true to its claim of an extensive international menu with staff who are “friendly and attentive, even when the dining room is crowded.” Live music, from mariachis, saxophonists, or folk singers, accompanies pleasant dining. All these make it a popular wedding venue; there was at least one each week.

Pro-Tip: La Concha is open not just to guests but also the public.

La Marina 

The other one is La Marina at another hotel located in the Marina section of Mazatlan, separated from the other three but served with a shuttle. The buffet theme varies each day: beginning Monday, Oriental, then Seafood, BBQ, Italian, Caribbean, Shrimp, and Mexican. We don’t miss the Oriental (of course), Seafood (where you get the best crabs), and Italian (when you get the best pizzas). There is also an extensive international a la carte menu.

But what makes this dining experience unique is the marvelous view of the Marina, where a variety of boats, yachts, and catamarans are docked. We always try to go early to make sure we have a couple’s table by the windows to get that view, best at night when all the boats are lighted, along with the other buildings, from a distance across the water.

Pro-Tip: La Marina is also where people can have the fish that they catch on fishing trips cooked to their liking for only $10 per fish.

There should be a seventh on this listing but I just wrote about this unique dining experience at El Meson de los Laureanos in this recent article. Only 30-45 minutes away from downtown Mazatlan, the whole town of El Quelite IS the restaurant.

Mazatlan is truly a food lover’s delight. It’s where you will find authentic dishes beyond the Mexican food we know in North America. But it’s not only about the bounty of the aquatic and agricultural center that Sinaloa is. It’s also about the scenery and history around the Port together with the warmth of Mexican people and culture that the dining experience becomes unique.   

FOR THOSE ON MOBILE, THE SHARE BUTTONS APPEAR WHEN YOU CLICK WEB VERSION AT THE VERY END AFTER COMMENTS.

PREVIOUS POST

My Favorite 22 Stops On the Longest Malecon in Latin America

TRAVEL AWAITS: Six Unique Dining Experiences In and Around Calgary

 

The full article first appeared in Travel Awaits on Dec. 7, 2021.

I previously wrote about dining experiences to celebrate significant occasions around Arizona. I considered them unique because they were not only fine dining but had a special ambiance. We visit my children a lot so we have also collected such experiences in Calgary, Alberta where my second daughter lives. Later I will also share those I found in San Francisco and Melbourne where two other daughters make a home.

River Café on Prince Island in the Middle of Bow River, Calgary

Calgary reopened right before our 13th anniversary and we hurried to go because we had missed our family there for two years. Luckily, we found River Cafe in the middle of Prince Island on the Bow River next to downtown Calgary. You could not drive there; the only way to reach it was to walk. Fortunately, we started from the southern Bow River Pathway at the end of the beautiful Peace Bridge. And that takes you all the way to a park concession building in the middle of the lovely Prince Island Park.

It was an amazing setting and the menu was upscale, composed of dishes made from fine locally sourced vegetables, meats, and seafood. My husband had fire-grilled Springbank bison striploin cooked medium rare accompanied by grilled Sudo Farms baby cabbage, wilted Ark Farms Swiss chard, and juicy Saskatoon berry jus gras. I chose the Haida Gwaii halibut with flavorful Canadian dashi, spongy shiitake mushrooms, and Sudo Farms wilted bok choy oozing with scallion oil. And the sweetened old-fashioned rice pudding was a great finish.

Afternoon Tea at the Prince of Wales, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

During our lone weekend, we also camped at Waterton Lakes National Park, two and a half hours from the city. Its upper Waterton Lake lies partly in the US and that is why it is partnered with Glacier National Park as an International Peace Park. And we made sure we experienced the Afternoon Tea at the colorful Prince of Wales Hotel perched atop a bluff in the middle of the park.

It could have been just the same as other ones we had tried like “the most expensive” at the Ritz-Carlton in London and “the best in the world” at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia. But what made this one different is that there were special treats for the little ones. Of course, they do not care for fruit scones with clotted cream or delicate finger sandwiches of salmon or crispy cucumber. They were given small plates of fine little chicken nuggets, small brownie bites, and craft flowers fashioned with sweets.

Devonian Gardens Inside the CORE Shopping Center, Downtown Calgary

When we got back to the city, my daughter took me to the CORE Shopping Center on 7 Ave SW in downtown Calgary. Imagine my delight when I discovered The Devonian Gardens inside! It’s a one-hectare botanical garden and urban oasis on the fourth floor, with at least 500 trees, 50 plant varieties, a living wall, several fountains, a few fish ponds, and a playground for kids.  

And the Food Court is wisely situated right next to it. So we all ordered Pad Thai for under CA$7 (US$5) at her favorite Thai kiosk and happily brought along our little noodle baskets and chopsticks to an empty nook at the center of all the busy-ness. We had an inexpensive delectable lunch amid the Garden’s greens.

Sky 360 at the Calgary Tower, Downtown Calgary

Also in downtown Calgary, no one will miss the iconic city landmark called the Calgary Tower. As a rule, we thought such places emphasize location and view, but do not necessarily have great food. However, my daughter gifted us with a dinner for two at the Tower’s Sky 360 for another anniversary.  We were happily surprised to find that our hypothesis was not correct. The food upheld the Alberta tradition of great beef, grilled to the exact doneness, with just a little pink for me.

And the sweeping 360-degree views of the city contributed to making our anniversary special. After this positive experience, we also tried The Loupe Lounge in Seattle’s Space Needle and The Top of the World Restaurant at the STRAT Hotel in Las Vegas. I also learned not to leave my drink on the ledge because I did not want to wait for the floor to turn 360 degrees before I could take the next sip!

Lakeview Lounge, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (headline photo)

A few years ago, my husband drove me to Lake Louise, that postcard-pretty place about 30 minutes from Banff and two hours from my daughter’s home. I had been there twice before, once in late spring so the glacier was still in its full glory and at another time during summer when it was not so impressive. This time he led me to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise where he had reserved a table at the Lakeview Lounge. I thought that the place was way too expensive for us. But, as we sat in front of a huge picture window looking out to the perfect “Lake Louise” scene for a Mother’s Day lunch, the basic burger I ordered tasted like the premium steak for the Queen! 

Rundle Lounge, Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

After lunch, we checked in at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel where my children had gifted me a suite. The hotel is a large, castle-like building built in 1888 during the time of railway tourism. For dinner, my husband had reservations at the elegant Rundle Lounge. We again had the famed Alberta beef as we shared the Prairie Heritage house dry-aged New York striploin accompanied by succulent Canadian lobster tails in garlic butter. And the views were again spectacular from the wide balcony off our table. The hotel is set off on its own in a wooded area so we looked out to the Bow River tumbling over a magical cliff-like rise.  

FOR THOSE ON MOBILE, SHARE BUTTONS APPEAR WHEN YOU CLICK WEB VERSION AT THE VERY END AFTER COMMENTS.

PREVIOUS POST 

My 7 Favorite Stops from California to Montana on I-15