89-year-old nutrition expert from New York shares diet secrets for long life: ‘I like vegetables, eggs, cheese…’
Marion Nestle, who resides in New York City and Ithaca, is a renowned figure in the field of nutrition. She’s been dishing out straight-shooting advice for decades, and her criticism of the food industry has made her a household name. Marion’s message? Whole foods are generally healthier than processed foods, and be cautious of clever marketing tactics. Also read | Fauja Singh dies at 114: When ‘world’s oldest marathon runner’ revealed why he ate only ‘simple Punjabi vegetarian food’
Marion’s secret to healthy eating?
In a November 5 interview with The Washington Post, Marion shared a glimpse of her diet at 89 – from what eats in a typical day, and which foods she loves and avoids.
She said, “I follow Michael Pollan’s (US journalist and professor) famous mantra: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. And I define food as being unprocessed or as minimally processed as possible. Not ultra-processed. I really think that takes care of it. That doesn’t mean I’m perfect. I’m an omnivore. I eat everything. I just don’t eat very much in part because metabolism drops with age, and I don’t have much metabolism left. I eat pretty healthy, but I don’t obsess about it. If I have a bad day of eating, I don’t worry about it. By this time, it’s pretty clear I’m not going to die prematurely. Obviously, what I’m eating is working for me because I’m 89 and I’m still here.”
At 89, Marion eats these foods to stay healthy
Asked what she eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Marion said, “I start with coffee between 8 and 9 am. I’ll have a couple of cups of weak coffee with milk, no sugar… I don’t get hungry until about 10:30 or 11 am. That’s when I’ll usually have oatmeal… my lunches are totally irregular. Sometimes I’ll have a salad for lunch. Or if I’m having lunch with someone, then I’ll eat whatever is in the restaurant. If I’m at home in New York City, I’ll harvest whatever is growing on my terrace. The peaches, cherries, raspberries and blueberries that I was growing are long gone. But I’ve still got some lettuce and tomatoes, so I’m going to go out and pick those. I might cut up some cheese or have it with peanuts. And I might have some bread with that…(Dinner) depends. I just don’t eat that much. But I do really like salads. I can have salads twice a day. If I’m at home, I might have an egg. I might have crackers and cheese with that.”
‘I don’t like ultra-processed foods’
Asked what some foods that she loves are, Marion said, “Fortunately, I like a lot of very simple foods. I like vegetables. I like eggs. I like cheese. I do eat some ultra-processed foods. But not a lot of them. I don’t like ultra-processed foods that have a long list of ingredients. Most of those don’t taste good to me. I do really like vegetables. I like the crunch, the flavours, and the colours. That makes it easy to eat healthy.”
Marion added that she doesn’t take supplements because she ‘eats a healthy diet and thinks she doesn’t need them’. Asked if she had any advice for people, she said ‘eating healthfully in today’s society is very difficult because you’re fighting an entire food industry on your own and that industry is trying to sell you the most profitable, least healthy foods available’. But one thing you can do is ‘read food labels’, according to her, as ‘there’s a lot of information on them’.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
