Straying from my traditional scifi theme I offer some nutritional advice. I am not a certified nutritionist and I have had no formal training in nutrition. Living forever means surviving the next 40 years to the point where life expectancy will increase at least 1 year every year. Aubrey de Gray and Ray Kurzweil are the champions of extending life expectancy all the way to immortality. 40 years ago it was science fiction. 40 years from today it will be reality. (See! I did tie this post into my scifi blog.)

Michael Pollan has a book "Food Rules", you may have seen him on Oprah. He offers 3 simple rules for eating:

1 Eat real food

2 Mostly plants

3 Not so much

I offer here a few more rules which build upon his.

4 Be a little hungry, 4 times a day.

My advice is that you should be a little hungry when you wake up, before lunch, before dinner, and when you go to sleep. This is a significant extension of rule #3 recognizing that there is real value to a slight amount of hunger. Some may claim this is the same as #3, but it's not. Mr. Pollan's rule doesn't imply that hunger is good. Famished people will usually overeat, so don't ever skip meals. Slight hunger is the first step in calorie restriction diets.

Catholics used to fast for the spiritual value. They learned that being hungry is not a terrible thing. We have lost that ideal and most people now associate slight hunger with misery. But being a little hungry is not a problem, try it out. Skip desserts and all beverages with calories, eat a small lunch. See how you feel. I predict that when you are little hungry you will actually feel better.

5 Drink more water, especially when you want a snack.

Water is a nutrient and drinking anything else is a very poor substitute. We need 1-2 liters per day. Most snacking is due to thirst. Every time you want a snack, drink a cup of water and wait 10 minutes. You'll probably find you don't want a snack any more.

6 Take some vitamins, especially D

Vitamin D is a miracle drug. Almost nobody gets enough sunshine these days, and excess sunshine carries risks of skin cancer. Take 1000 or 2000 IU of vitamin D per day, every day. Never take more than 5000 IU per day unless your doctor tells you to.

It's hard to eat a well balanced diet, and a lot of our plants are picked before they are ripe so the nutrients are much lower than in the past. Taking a multi-vitamin once/day is a good idea. Don't go to an extreme, don't megadose.

Simplicity should dominate the way you eat. Complex rules and procedures will not work for most people. Follow these 6 rules and you will lose weight, feel better, be green, be healthier, save money on healthcare, and quite possibly live forever.