An 83-year-old doctor and triathlete transformed his health. He shared the 4 key principles of his diet

Joseph Maroon, a neurosurgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who is part of the Aviv Clinics Global Aging Consortium, told Business Insider that he struggled to walk up a flight of stairs in his 40s.

“I was out of shape, living on fast food and no exercise,” he wrote on his website.

That year, his father died and his physical and mental health hit rock bottom. But after a friend suggested she try to beat her depression, she began making gradual lifestyle changes, exercising more and eating better.

At age 53, Maroon entered his first Ironman triathlon, and since then has completed a total of eight. Maroon placed second in his age category for the triathlon at the 2022 National Senior Games.

Maroon previously shared with BI how she stays in shape, and her diet principles are explained below.

Follow a Mediterranean-style diet

Maroon says she follows the Mediterranean diet, which US News & World Report has named the best way to eat for seven years in a row.

It’s not a “diet” in the sense you might think, but rather a way of eating that focuses on healthy choices rather than restrictions.

It is primarily plant-based and focuses on whole foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, and healthy fats such as olive oil. It does occasionally include some fatty fish and red meat.

This diet has been associated with a multitude of health benefits, including a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Avoid ultra-processed foods

Ultra-processed foods, or UPF, are made using techniques that are difficult to recreate at home and can include additives such as salt, sugar and saturated fat, according to Nova’s scale, which ranks foods based on how processed they are.

An easy way to tell if something is ultra-processed is if it doesn’t look like its ingredients — like protein bars or hot dogs.

Avoid trans fats

Trans fats can raise the level of “bad” low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the blood while lowering the level of “good” high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, he said. previously for BI Dana Ellis Hunnes, senior dietitian at UCLA Medical Center.

Artificial trans fats are made by hydrogenating vegetable oil. These were commonly found in packaged UPFs until the FDA declared trans fats unsafe for consumption in 2015. The FDA gave food manufacturers three years to remove trans fats from their products, so most foods no longer contain them. contain.

Eat less sugar

The healthiest diet involves “avoiding a lot of things that people like to eat,” says Maroon, including sugar.

Heidi Tissenbaum, a professor of molecular, cellular and cancer biology at the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine, previously told BI that in her research, removing added sugar from the diet of roundworms, which are used to model the lifespan of humans, has been linked to increased longevity. His theory is that this is because when the body metabolizes sugar, it produces byproducts associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.

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