What Does Your Refrigerator Say About Your Health?

Open your refrigerator and take a good look inside. You may be looking at one of the most important determinants of how well — and perhaps how long — you will live.

What we eat day after day has an enormous influence on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and even cognitive decline. And it is never too late to improve. A 2023 evaluation estimated that a sustained shift toward a healthier diet beginning at age 40 could add nearly ten years to life expectancy. Even making the change at age 70 was associated with gains of about five years.

Hippocrates understood the basic principle 2,400 years ago: “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise — not too much and not too little — we would have found the safest way to health.”

If your goal is long life and better health, you need to examine your lifestyles — that is, your food intake, exercise program, sleep habits, tobacco and alcohol use, and stress tolerance. The benefits of improving your lifestyles (for the long term, not just for a few weeks or months) will be multifold: feel better, improved health, less chronic illnesses, and a longer lifespan free of disease; call it a longer healthspan.

An excellent place to start the path of healthy lifestyles is with what you eat; for that, a good starting point is to look into your refrigerator. When thinking about what to eat, I suggest you follow the basics of the Mediterranean diet or its variation, the MIND diet. Your refrigerator tells a story of what you choose to eat. Ideally, its contents would be primarily fruits and vegetables, and fin fish. Moderate amounts of dairy, poultry, and eggs are excellent. Some meat is fine, but it is best if it is from animals grass-fed only. Do cut way back on added sugars. Outside your refrigerator there are olive oil, nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains, and wine. This diet has been repeatedly shown to be associated with better health, wellness, and a longer health span.

The MIND diet is like the Mediterranean Diet, with an added emphasis on berries, dark green leafies, and other colorful vegetables such as beets and sweet potatoes. Like the Mediterranean diet, it recommends lots of beans and nuts, whole grains, olive oil rather than butter, and limits pastries and fast foods, and avoids ultra-processed foods. It has been shown to benefit brain function and delay cognitive aging, although not all studies are consistent.

Diet need not be a stressful word

“Diet” is simply a shorthand description of what you eat. Everyone has a diet. A “diet” is not a punishment. It is a choice. Your choice. It can be whatever you want it to be. A healthy diet can be delicious, nutritious, satisfying, filling, and fun.

During my childhood, meat was the main attraction at dinner time. Vegetables were just “sides.” Today, I will try to cover two-thirds of my plate with vegetables. My wife keeps that refrigerator filled with veggies and fruits that are as fresh and local as possible, preferably organic.

Supermarkets, dollar stores, and gas station markets encourage us to purchase foods that are already processed or prepared by a manufacturer or foods from the deli bar. It is quick and easy, but many ultra-processed foods are calorie-dense, high in added sugars, sodium, and refined starches, and relatively low in fiber and other beneficial nutrients.

Disturbingly, Americans today obtain almost 60% of their calories from ultra-processed foods which in turn greatly increase our consumption of added sugars. Fast foods generally lack anything that looks like a vegetable, save the pickle and some ketchup; asking for fruit is a non-starter.

Consider instead straightforward ways of cooking “from scratch.” Steaming, stir-frying, sautéing, and baking are easy, take little time, and result in quality, tasty meals. Fresh vegetables are all flavorful on their own, although herbs and spices or a little olive oil can enhance their natural flavor.

Dark greens (e.g., spinach, kale, collards, dandelion, arugula, Swiss chard, etc.) with their high concentrations of micronutrients and fiber, should be consumed daily, either cooked or in a salad with other vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, or peppers that add color, texture, and more nutrients.

Fruits of assorted colors are equally important in a healthy diet. Fresh, local fruits are preferable, although frozen fruits are fine. Canned fruits usually contain added sugar. Berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries) are high in polyphenols, which are beneficial for many metabolic processes and especially good for the brain. They are emphasized in the MIND diet. Yes, fruits do contain natural sugars, but not too much. Beware of fruit juices, which are usually loaded with sugar.

Grains — avoid refined white flour

The list of whole grains does not include refined white flour. White flour has little nutritional value and is found in most breads, pasta, cereals, cakes, pies, cookies, and pizza dough. This flour digests directly into sugar in your mouth and gut, where it is rapidly absorbed and jacks up your insulin levels increasing your risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Consumption of these foods, in moderation, is acceptable as an occasional treat but not in a daily diet. Whole grains include whole wheat flour, brown rice, quinoa, barley, millet, and oatmeal. They do not have the germ, bran, or fiber removed, as do refined grains. Unlike refined grains, whole grains can lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol. They are digested more slowly and do not lead to spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels.

Fats and oils are not only acceptable in a healthy diet, they are essential. Get them from olive oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds. Avoid trans fats, which are found in many ultra-processed foods. Omega-6 fatty acids, found in most ultra-processed food, kept to a minimum, are needed for many body functions. The “good” fats include omega-3 fatty acids from finfish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, and others — wild-caught if possible. They are found in some plant-based foods like flax meal, but it is hard to get enough without a good fish.

Most beef is sourced from cattle placed in small pens and fed corn and soybeans to fatten them up. This fat is mainly saturated fat that clogs our blood vessels along with omega-6 fatty acids, which contribute to inflammation. Beef and lamb from animals grazed on grass for their entire life have much less fat and much-reduced omega-6’s. Select meats from animals without additives — either on the range, the feed lots, or after butchering. Additives include antibiotics, growth hormone, nitrites, and other chemicals that adversely affect your gut health. Recently, I have noticed meat packers adding liquid “to retain moisture and improve taste.” This is hogwash. All the extra liquid does is increase the weight of the meat so that you pay more!

Chickens are usually raised in structures where they never see the light of day. They are fed antibiotics and hormones to stimulate quick growth. Look for chickens that roam in the fields (free-range) and have not been fed additives. Likewise, eggs produced by hens similarly raised will be better for you; the yolks will have a brighter yellow-orange color.

Avoid added sugar

Declare added sugar to be your sworn enemy. Avoid it as much as possible. This is not easy since we have been trained to desire sweet tastes. Sugar is basic to sodas, baked goods, ice cream, and many yogurts and cereals and added to hundreds of other products. The upper daily “safe” limit for women is twenty-five grams of sugar. For men, thirty-seven grams. Consider that a 12-ounce can of soda contains about thirty-nine grams — the full complement for a man and well over that for a woman. A “Big Gulp” (32 ounces) is obviously dreadful for your health. Cultivate your natural taste for water.

Real cheese has natural color, so avoid those with added coloring. While yogurt itself is extremely healthy, yogurt containing fruit usually contains sugar. Try eating plain yogurt with your own fresh fruit added to it. Greek yogurt offers greater amounts of protein per serving. Look for “live culture” yogurt — that is, yogurt made from milk pasteurized before the cultures have been added, not yogurt pasteurized after the addition of cultures. Almost all flavored/fruited yogurts have no live cultures.

What yummy thing that is healthy can you eat that is not in your refrigerator? Dark chocolate that is 85% cocoa or more. It is inherently healthy. It contains caffeine, so be careful not to overconsume chocolate in the evening.

Feeding your bugs

You are eating not only for yourself but also for the bacteria in your intestines. There are 100 trillion of them in your gut microbiota (microbiome). They help maintain your immune system and intestinal lining cells and produce nutrients for your cells’ energy needs. The “food” your bacteria love is the fiber your intestinal enzymes cannot digest. The best sources of this fiber are vegetables, beans, fruits, and whole grains. If you do not consume adequate fiber, the “good” bacteria are starved.

Meanwhile, suppose you consume excess sugar, refined white flour, or too much alcohol. In that case, you are feeding the “bad” bacteria with detrimental results: increased intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”), local inflammation, systemic inflammation, the passage of toxins into the bloodstream, and an environment conducive to various complex chronic illnesses. Given Americans propensity to consume ultra-processed foods, it is not surprising that we suffer from a plethora of diseases induced or exacerbated by inflammation.

So, treat those “good” bacteria well. Beans, fruits, and whole grains, with their high fiber content, are called prebiotics. Live culture yogurts, live culture Kefir, non-pasteurized sauerkraut, kimchi, and other fermented foods, with their bacteria and yeasts, are called probiotics. They are all beneficial to your gut microbiome and health overall.

A final peek into the refrigerator

Look at the freezer in the watercolor. You will see a package of ice cream. It is there because we all need a treat, an indulgence. Just do not overdo it.

Your everyday food choices directly affect your healthspan so take one more look into your refrigerator. It does not need to be perfect, ours certainly isn’t. But what fills most of those shelves, day after day, may have a surprisingly large influence on how many healthy years you have ahead of you. And no matter your age, it is never too late to adjust your eating habits.