The Secret of Extreme Longevity

Interestingly, there is one food that scientific research has shown has a strong positive association with increased longevity in humans. So which food do you think that is? The answer is raw, leafy greens, normally referred to as salad.Leafy greens such as romaine lettuce, kale, collards, Swiss chard, and spinach are the most nutrient-dense of all foods.
Most  vegetables  contain  more  nutrients  per calorie  than  any other food and are rich in all necessary amino acids. For example, ro­ maine lettuce, which gets 18 percent of its calories from fat and al­ most   50 percent of its calories from protein, is a rich powerhouse with hundreds of cancer-fighting phytonutrients that protect us from a variety of threatening illnesses. Being healthy and owning a diseaseresistant body is not luck; it is earned. In  a  review of    206  human-population  studies,  raw  vegetable consumption showed the strongest protective effect against cancer of any beneficial food. However, less than one in a hundred Ameri­ cans consumes enough calories from vegetation to ensure this de­ fense. I tell my patients to put a big sign on their refrigerator that says

THE SALAD IS THE MAIN DISH. The word salad here means any vegetable eaten raw or uncooked, e.g., a bowl of cold pasta in olive oil with a token vegetable is not a salad. I encourage my patients to eat two huge salads a day, with the goal of consuming an entire head of romaine or other green lettuce daily.  1 suggest that you go and make the sign and tape it to your fridge now — and then come back. If you plan on doing it later, you may forget. If you learn but one practical habit from this book, let it
be this one.