Dr. Tomiko Katsumoto

So half of the plate, I think, focusing on high quality vegetables, some fruits, and then a

quarter of the plate being proteins, preferably plant proteins or lean proteins, but, you know, things like beans and lentils.

I'm a big fan of tofu, you know, a lot of, and then whole grains.

I think the thing to keep in mind is that, as we know with our ultra-processed foods, we tend to eat a lot of these very refined grains, you

white bread, these things that have had a lot of the nutrients stripped out of them and a lot of the fiber stripped out.

So refined grains is where we want to go.

And so really whole wheat and whole, you know, things like quinoa, I love.

And some of these ancient grains are also really good, like farro and bulgur and millet.

If you kind of imagine, I guess it's really the plate method, the pyramid method is a little more complicated to think through, but those are the key staples that I try to encourage my patients to aim for.

Again, animal products in moderation, really limiting them.

If you look at the blue zones, they say that the majority of blue zones ended up eating meat less than five times a month.

So really that comes down to maybe once a week.

Meat should be considered a treat.

The other thing I'll mention that I love about the Blue Zones is that one thing that was commonly shared across all the five Blue Zones is they all ate a half to one cup of beans a day.

Beans are lentils, so these legumes that are so good for us, packed with protein, packed with fiber.

Another food type that I love a lot are things like chia seeds and flax seeds.

I think chia seeds are the perfect food.

They're high in fiber, high in omega-3, high in protein.

They've just got so many great components that I add them to my smoothies.

I just try to incorporate them wherever I can.