Eating Natural Foods and Colorful Plants Equates to Living Longer

Dieting was first mentioned in literature during ancient Greece, when being fat was suddenly considered physically and morally detrimental to society. People were encouraged to eat emollient foods, work hard, walk about naked, take seawater enemas and vomit after lunch. A study using carbon dating suggests Ancient Egyptians had a rather constant diet based on their status. Wealthy ancients used honey as a sweetener, whereas the lower class relied upon dried dates and other fruits. A thick beer made from crumbling bread into vats and letting it ferment provided a nutritious drink that was full of protein.

No matter your eating style, if it relies on natural foods, colorful plants and little added sugar, you likely will live healthier and longer. Listed below is a chronology of popular fad diets:

• IMMORTALITY DIET - Five hundred years later, Italian nobleman Luigi Cornaro created the Immortality Diet that consisted of 12 ounces of food and 14 ounces of wine and lived to 102 years of age.
• MEATLESS DIET - One of the earliest dietitians was George Cheyne. An obese English doctor, Cheyne wrote An Essay of Health and Long Life in 1724, in which he outlined the meatless diet of milk and vegetables that he followed to restore his own health.
• LOW-CALORIE DIET - In 1918, American doctor and author Lulu Hunt Peters published a best seller entitled Diet & Health: With Key to the Calories that presented the concept of counting calories as the best form of weight loss. The once overweight medical columnist directed her publication at women who wanted a newfound body image as "thin was suddenly in".
• HOLLYWOOD DIET - Since the 1930s some dieters have believed that grapefruit helps to burn fat, especially when eaten before meals. Also known as the Grapefruit Diet, experts warn dieters about following extremely low-calorie versions of the diet for extended periods.
• APPLE CIDER VINEGAR DIET - Although similar to Lord Byron's liquid diet, the apple cider vinegar diet became popular in the 1950s. Dieters were instructed to drink a cocktail of honey and vinegar. Today's version, has people consume three teaspoons of vinegar before each meal.
• ORNISH DIET - Dr. Dean Ornish convinced dieters to try the Ornish Diet by telling them they could eat however much food needed to fill them up. The only catch was foods must be low-fat, high-fiber and daily intake had to contain less than 10% of calories from fats.
• ZONE DIET - Another diet that Hollywood celebrities embraced was the Zone Diet created by biochemist Barry Sears. The low-carbohydrate fad diet requires structuring every meal around specific macronutrient thresholds for protein, fats and carbs.
• SUBWAY DIET - The new millennium saw the rise of the Subway Diet, when spokesperson Jared Fogle lost 245 pounds in less than a year by limiting his food intake to one 6-inch turkey sub for lunch and a foot-long vegetable sub for dinner along with a bag of baked chips and a diet soda.

A sustainable diet should contain whole food sources of macronutrients, such as unrefined carbohydrates like legumes, fresh fruit and raw vegetables. But, your body also needs protein and fats to help regulate hormone production and your metabolic rate. So, watch your dietary intake as you progress toward your target weight.