Eating to Live

By BARBARA HOFFMAN
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Dr. Steven Pratt, in fighting form at 58, eats what he preaches.

December 23, 2003 --

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THE secret to longevity lies in the supermarket.

According to "SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life" (William Morrow, $24.95), some foods will not only improve your life - but may well extend it.

Beans, blueberries, broccoli, oats, oranges, pumpkin, salmon, soy, spinach, tea, tomatoes, turkey, walnuts and yogurt - all rich in nutrients and relatively low in calories - are all credited with preventing, and in some cases even reversing, heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers and dementia.

Not only that, claim "Superfoods" authors Dr. Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, but build your diet around them and you'll have more energy and look better, too.

"Foods - the right foods - can actually change the course of your biochemistry," they write. "They can help to stop damage at the cellular levels that can develop into disease . . .

"The delightful side effect . . is that you feel better, have more energy, look better, and can embrace all that life has to offer you with more optimism."

Pratt - a plastic surgeon and ophthalmologist at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. - is a walking advertisement for eating right. At 58, he looks 20 years younger, lifts weights, plays tennis, runs, skis and rises at 5 a.m.

He started tracking studies on diet and disease in the mid-'80s, when reports starting trickling in that zinc, selenium and other antioxidants could ward off macular degeneration and other diseases that plagued his aging patients.

By adding certain foods to their diets and subtracting others, like refined foods, sugar and salt, he found that they flourished.

The research seems to bear him out. Among the sources cited in his 14-page bibliography are the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry.

"The reasoning sounds very good," says Katherine Tallmadge, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

"I'd put cocoa in there, too - new research says it may have more antioxidants than green tea - but [Pratt] has the ones most people would agree with. I eat oats, blueberries and yogurt every day, too."

Another ADA spokeswoman concurs.

"Whenever you promote whole foods, it's a good thing," says Julie Upton. "These are good, healthy whole foods we all should be eating."

Also in the book are recipes, shopping tips and substitutes, or "sidekicks," for each of the 14 foods.

Some are no surprise. Spinach - shown to fight everything from cataracts to cancer - has been touted since Popeye's time, while broccoli, despite its bashing by the first President Bush, has long been lauded in fighting cancer, cataracts and birth defects.

But who knew pumpkin was such a powerhouse?

High in fiber, vitamins, potassium, magnesium and alpha- and beta-carotene, it goes way beyond Halloween carving duty. It even comes in cans.

So does wild salmon - the only salmon Pratt recommends. (The farmed, Atlantic salmon contains food-coloring and antibiotics.) Buy it with the skin and bones, and you'll boost your calcium, too.

Can't find blueberries in season? Buy them frozen. They, along with wild salmon and spinach, are the superpremium of the superfoods - the most nutritionally dense of the bunch.

Two-thirds of a cup of blueberries, for instance, gives you the same antioxidant protection as 1,733 units of vitamin E - and more protection than 1,200 msg of vitamin C.

Atkins followers may find some superfoods hard to swallow: Both oats and beans are relatively high in carbs, while oranges and other fruits contain sugar.

Frankly, Pratt doesn't care.

"We evolved on fats, carbohydrates and proteins," he explains. "If you eat a healthy, whole-grain diet you'll feel full long before you get fat."

As for beans' more infamous properties - memorialized in "Blazing Saddles" - Pratt simply advises: "Go slow, and your body will adjust."

But simply eating right won't guarantee good health and longevity, he says. You have to exercise, too. According to the book's "lifestyle pyramid," the linchpin of good health includes 30 to 60 minutes a day of aerobic exercise and weight training two to three times a week.


THESE healthy foods make delicious snacks and accompaniments to meals:

BEANS

Also try: green beans, sugar snap peas, green peas, chickpeas

What they've got: low-fat protein, fiber, B vitamins, iron, folate, potassium, magnesium

Try to eat: at least four 1/2-cup servings per week

Great ways to use it: toss in salads; combine with pasta; puree into hummus.


BLUEBERRIES

Also try: cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, currants, purple grapes

What they've got: fiber, folate, vitamins C and E, potassium, magnesium, iron, riboflavin, niacin, phytoestrogen, few calories

Try to eat: 1 to 2 cups daily

Great ways to use it: sprinkle on yogurt, hot oatmeal and cold cereal; whip into a smoothie with soy or nonfat milk and ice.


BROCCOLI

Also try: Brussels sprouts, cabbage (red and green), cauliflower, bok choy, kale

What it's got: folate, fiber, calcium, vitamins C and K, beta-carotene

Try to eat: 1/2 to 1 cup daily

Great ways to use it: in stir-fries, soup (puree with sautéed onions and mix with low-fat milk), dipped in hummus


OATS

Also try: wheat germ, brown rice, barley, wheat, buckwheat, rye, millet, quinoa

What they've got: high fiber, few calories, protein, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, selenium, thiamine

Try to eat: Five to seven servings a day

Great ways to use them: use whole grain bread and crackers; add to stuffings, meatballs and meat loaf


ORANGES

Also try: lemons, grapefruit, kumquats, tangerines, limes

What they've got: vitamin C, fiber, folate, potassium, pectin

Try to eat: one serving daily

Great ways to use them: eat them raw; drink juice; add the zest to cakes, cookies, muffins and yogurt


PUMPKIN

Also try: carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, orange bell peppers

What it's got: alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, high fiber, few calories, vitamins C and E, potassium, magnesium

Try to eat: 1/2 cup daily

Great ways to use it: mix canned pumpkin with yogurt or applesauce; use canned pumpkin in recipes for soups, breads and muffins


WILD SALMON

Also try: Alaskan halibut, canned albacore tuna, sardine, herring, trout, sea bass, clams

What it's got: omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B and D, selenium, potassium, protein

Try to eat: two to four times a week

Great ways to use it: bake, roast or grill; buy tuna packed in water to avoid extra fat


SOY

Also try: tofu, soymilk, soy nuts, edamame, miso

What it's got: omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, potassium, folate, magnesium, selenium

Try to eat: at least 15 grams a day

Great ways to use it: use soymilk on cereal; stir soy protein powder into fruit shakes; snack on soy nuts

SPINACH

Also try: kale, collards, Swiss chard, bok choy, romaine lettuce, mustard and turnip greens

What it's got: beta-carotene, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins C and E, thiamine, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc

Try to eat: one cup steamed or two cups raw daily

Great ways to use it: layer in a lasagna; add to soups and omelettes; shred for salads


TEA

Also try: green tea

What it's got: flavonoids, fluoride, no calories

Try to drink: one or more cups daily

Great ways to use it: brew at least three minutes, one minute if you're caffeine sensitive; add lemon or lime with rind for a polyphenol boost


TOMATOES

Also try: watermelon, persimmons, pink grapefruit

What they've got: lycopene, few calories, alpha- and beta-carotene, vitamin C, potassium, chromium, fiber

Try to eat: one serving per day

Great ways to use them: sauté in olive oil and toss over pasta; toss canned diced tomatoes in soups or stews; make homemade pizza with extra sauce


TURKEY (skinless breast)

Also try: skinless chicken breast

What it's got: low-fat protein, niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, iron, selenium, zinc

Try to eat: three to four 3- or 4-ounce servings per week

Great ways to use it: in sandwiches, tacos and burritos


WALNUTS

Also try: almonds, pistachios, sesame seeds, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews

What they've got: omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins E and B6, magnesium, protein, fiber, potassium

Try to eat: 1 ounce, five times a week

Great ways to use them: on cereal or yogurt; crushed as a coating for fish and poultry cutlets


YOGURT

Also try: kefir

What it's got: live active cultures, calcium, vitamins B2 and B12, potassium, magnesium, zinc

Try to eat: two cups daily

Great ways to use it: in smoothies; topped with fruit

Re Atkins:



I agree with him on this one - if you're talking about the kids you're raising. But it fails to address those of us who have already sugared-and-starched our poor pancreases to death and blew our insulin sensitivity.

...not to mention the fact that all of those foods are fine by the time you get to maintenance!



I haven't seen "Blazing Saddles", but dare I guess what the title refers to?

I noticed that the author didn't mention any grains in the superfoods. But then...I totally disagree with this one. I can overeat even whole grains so easily that I got fat without even trying.

Woops! I guess I can't read -- oats are a grain. My bad...