With age usually comes some form of health “reality check.” Suddenly you notice your joints are increasingly creaky, new wrinkles are popping up, it’s getting harder to read that label, you’ve misplaced your keys once again. You might feel that you’re slowing down physically, with nagging fatigue or a need for more recovery time after strenuous activities; perhaps you have new aches and pains or chronic ones; or possibly brain changes, such as slower recall, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, or a lowered ability to multitask. You might ask yourself, How did I get here?
It all seems to happen out of nowhere, and there seems to always be someone nearby assuring you not to worry—that this is all normal and you need to accept the fact that you are getting older.
And yet, chalking up these symptoms to the normal effects of aging just doesn’t feel right, when you know deep down you have a lot more life to experience.
If you have a sneaking suspicion that you do not need to believe that feeling “old” is normal, and you just know that you are capable of more, we are here to support your emergence from the “trap” of aging. Let’s start by considering the suggestion that the human body is dynamic and ever-changing, and that healing and growth are always possibilities when given a proper healing environment. People are much like a garden that needs healthy soil, basic nutrients, water, sunshine, diversity, and an ability to recover easily from environmental stresses.
What if we told you there is a simple solution that will allow you to feel more in control of your health and vitality? If you want to defy your age, step one is as easy as this: eat more plants instead of animal products, every day.
No matter how old you are, a plant-based vegan diet can help you live longer, look younger, feel younger, and stay active for life—steering clear of cognitive decline, heart disease, diminished senses, and other common age-related health challenges. Stronger bones and muscles and smoother skin are ours for the taking.
Before we dive further into the book, when we say plant-based, we are referring to a diet that eschews all animal products. It’s essentially a vegetarian diet (no meat, fish, or fowl) that also eliminates animal by-products, such as dairy and eggs. A vegan diet is synonymous with a plant-based diet, though vegan tends to extend to eliminating the use of animals in any way from your lifestyle as well as your diet. By emphasizing whole foods, as opposed to processed and junk foods (yes, there are even vegan junk foods!), you can enjoy the vast array of delicious plant nutrition choices that nature provides. These include the colorful and exciting world of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and vegan dark chocolate!
That said, please know that the vegan police are not part of the plan! Even if you want to get started and dip your feet into the water by having just one meatless meal a week, the rewards are sure to follow.
There is a difference between your chronological age—how long you have been alive—and your “physiological age” or “biological age,” which takes into account not only your genetic makeup, but also lifestyle factors, such as your diet, activity level, and sleep habits. Physician Swapnil Jaiswal tells us, “Biological age is a truer measure of your age than your date of birth.” While we cannot halt the aging process entirely, we can help slow it down.
Believe it or not, you really can change the rate at which your body ages! It all comes down to your basic dietary choices and habits—making simple changes to your daily routine. By understanding how to best prevent damage over time and to boost the body’s natural rejuvenation abilities, you can continue to enjoy vitality well into maturity.
Healthy aging is not only about the number of years lived, but the quality of your life, too. Most important is how old you feel. And most would agree that you want to feel young! Here’s the good news: Everyone gets to choose. Feeling in control, empowered, and energized is always within reach. You can experience the joy and satisfaction of knowing that you are doing everything possible to maintain mental sharpness and physical fitness throughout your life.
WHO WE ARE
We are Mark Reinfeld, a vegan chef, and Ashley Boudet, a naturopathic doctor, who have teamed up to share our experience and knowledge with those seeking a more elevated state of health through our business, The Doctor and the Chef. We have over thirty years’ combined experience in the world of plant-based cuisine and natural healing modalities. For us, this represents the future both of food and of medicine: a return to a sustainable way of feeding ourselves, and of preventing many illnesses before they have a chance to develop, as well as reversing those that have already advanced. It is putting Hippocrates’s edict to “let food be thy medicine” into practice in our everyday lives.
Our passion is to show others just how easy it is to succeed on a plant-based lifestyle.
Through our seasonal wellness retreats, as well as in our online membership community, we have had the privilege of witnessing countless people who chose to take their health back into their own hands through positive diet and lifestyle choices. Oftentimes they even surprised themselves in how extreme the results have been: swift drops in cholesterol levels, reversing diseases, getting off medications, sudden pain relief, and pushing themselves even further than they thought they could go. We are inspired by seeing more stories about people defying age everywhere: The ninety-year-olds taking up yoga, the seventy-plus-year-olds competing in and winning marathons, the sixty-plus-year-old body builders. The list goes on! Twenty years ago, you rarely, if ever, heard of such stories. Now they are becoming more commonplace.
In our own personal lives, too, we have experienced what you might consider a health renaissance, looking and feeling much younger than our chronological age. We have more energy now as truly nourished vegans than we did in our twenties and thirties.
Joining us is an expert on the matter of living well, the renowned Michael Klaper, MD, a physician with decades of experience treating people and helping them to live a healthy and active lifestyle on a plant-based diet. His famous three words explain so many of our modern diseases and how to treat them: “It’s the Food!” Dr. Klaper reviewed the manuscript and contributed feedback based on his vast scientific knowledge and clinical expertise.
TURNING BACK THE CLOCK
We want to show you how a plant-based diet can help you reclaim your health, extend your life, and thrive at any age. A vast number of scientific research studies clearly show a wide gap in the health effects of a whole food, plant-based diet versus one heavily laden with animal products and highly processed foods. To sum it up, scientific evidence supports that animal-based/processed-food diets contribute to premature aging, and that eating more plant foods is the solution we seek to defy the aging process.
The basics of maintaining a young physiologic age are to avoid the toxins and foods that lead to potential cell and organ damage, and to eat the foods and nutrients that fuel your cells, help you naturally eliminate potential toxins, and directly strengthen and balance your body. We also aspire to show you how easy it is to include these life-giving foods and practices in your life through the delectable vegan recipes and simple wellness tips we have to share. This will help you on your way to continued health and longevity.
The first half of this book will introduce you to the astounding evidence that supports increasing the plant foods in your diet as a way of optimizing your health as you age. Then, we’ll show you how and what to eat for an aging intervention! Enter the second part of this book, “Age-Defying Vegan Recipes.” This section features over 175 simple recipes—using just seven main ingredients or less—so you can ace vegan meal preparation and never miss the meat. This section also introduces you to some simple kitchen hacks that will allow you to quickly become your own plant-based chef, no matter your level of cooking experience. Recommended kitchen gear, pantry items, techniques, and more will have you chiffonading like a pro in no time.
Be sure to rotate through as many of the recipes in the book as possible. This will provide you with a wide array of important nutrients that stave off age-related decline and other illnesses, and keep you looking and feeling great.
Use these recipes as a starting point for creating your own versions and specialties based on your preferences and whatever ingredients are on hand and available locally. Once you learn the simple concept of a Template Recipe you will discover how easy it is to create dozens of variations to please any palate.
We chose recipes that feature easy-to-prepare, everyday ingredients that can help you stay energized for a lifetime. You’ll be enjoying a wide selection of colorful, plant-based whole foods. And while these recipes are oh-so-flavorful, what you won’t find here are excesses of sodium, processed oil, and sugar. Excessive daily use of these three flavor enhancers are well known to significantly increase the risk for the very degenerative changes we are looking to prevent. As Dr. Klaper says, “You are as old as your arteries.” It is important to take good care of them by avoiding damage from high blood pressure (excess sodium), protein-damaging molecules (excess sugar), and inflammatory lesions (oxidized vegetable oils).
FOODS FOR OUR FUTURE
We recommend using organic ingredients. Organic food is grown without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, most of which have not been fully tested for their long-term effects on humans. Pesticides are known to be direct neurotoxins, so it is always a good idea to protect your brain from them when possible. Also, these are chemicals that can actively contribute to the oxidation processes we are working to repair. Our grandparents never had to question whether their food was organic. It was just food. Now with all of these toxic chemicals infiltrating our food system, it is more important than ever to choose organic when possible to protect ourselves from the ravages of aging.
We also recommend cooking with whole foods whenever possible, and minimizing the use of processed and packaged ingredients. This is much better not only for your life, but the life of the planet as well. Also, eating locally grown foods ensures they’ll be at their best flavor. Grow foods in your own garden if you have the opportunity. Community supported agriculture (CSAs) and farmers’ markets, where you can meet the people growing your food, are the next best choice. Ask the vendors how the food was grown, if not labeled “certified organic."
Excerpted from The Ultimate Age-Defying Plan by Mark Reinfeld & Ashley Boudet, ND with Michael Klaper, MD.
Copyright 2019. Available from Hachette Books.
