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Organic produce is more nutritious and healthier
In 1950 there were 100 varieties of tomato grown in New Zealand; today you can expect around 5. In 1903, in the US there were 46 varieties of asparagus, now there are 3; and there were 164 varieties of celery, there are now 3.
Eat organically grown vegetables when you can
Eating most red meat delivers antibiotic fallout. New Zealand animal farming uses 80,000 kg of antibiotics every year. Hormone growth promotants (HGPs) are still used in areas of New Zealand even though they have been banned by the EU since 1988.
The Jason Shon Bennett ‘Not-A-Pie’ Chart
Here is a reminder of the basic way we have always eaten. Mostly plants. Mostly wholefoods. Greens dominating the plate. Lots of fibre. Lots of colour. This is how I eat. A plant-based wholefood diet. Very cool for your fridge door or wherever the food is!
The Jason Shon Bennett Healthy Food Pyramid
This is a ‘Jason’ version of the varied and controversial official food pyramids. It is a basic guide, a support, an inspiration, an overview. Print it and stick it up somewhere you will look at it while getting food, preparing food, cooking food or buying food!
Breast Cancer, Animal Fats, Meat & Alcohol: References
‘Red meat intake and breast cancer among women’ ‘Cooked meat and risk of breast cancer’ ‘Premenopausal dietary fat in relation to pre- and post-menopausal breast cancer’ ‘Dietary animal-derived fat intake and breast cancer risk’ ‘Chicken intake not associated with lower risk of breast cancer’.
Overweight, Overfat or Obesity Long Term is Deadly: References
‘Overweight teenagers have heart damage already’ ‘Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease rising in children’ ‘Prevalence of NAFLD is increasing among U.S. adolescents’ ‘Obese children have 50% higher risk of colon cancer and heart disease risk factors’.
Sleep Deprivation Causes Disease: References
‘A lack of sleep raises blood pressure risk of heart disease’ ‘People who regularly sleep less than six hours a night are more likely to die younger’ ‘Sleep is the critical factor for weight loss’ ‘Teenagers sleeping 5 hours or less are 48% more at risk of suicide’
Plant-Based Diets Prevent Disease: References
‘Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease?’ ‘Cardiovascular disease mortality and cancer incidence in vegetarians: a meta-analysis and systematic review’ ‘Hypertension and blood pressure among meat eaters, vegetarians, and vegans in the EPIC study’
My 20 GOLDEN Rules (Book): Reference Endnotes
References & Endnotes from my second book (my ‘Health Bible’); ‘My 20 GOLDEN Rules’ is a guide for people who are willing to change and want to get healthy, but don’t know how. This book acts as the perfect reference guide for healthy longevity.
The JSB Health Quiz: Research, References & Reasoning!
The reason I am so hard on the JSB Quiz is that 90%+ of Kiwis are dying young from NCDs. We lose more than one Kiwi every 90 minutes from preventable heart disease alone. Over 40% from heart disease (which we know is around 99% preventable).
Feel Great & Live Longer (Book): Reference Endnotes
References & Endnotes from my third book ‘Feel Great & Live Longer’, where I have condensed the best of my advice and philosophy into one easy-to-follow handbook. Feel Great & Live Longer is the perfect book for those who want to feel alive again.
Eat Less, Live Long (Book): Reference Endnotes
References & Endnotes from my first book ‘Eat Less, Live Long’ takes you through the basic journey I went on to get well, and what I learnt along the way from the world’s oldest and healthiest people, including their secrets to youthful vitality and longevity.
Cancer links to Diet, Lifestyle & the Environment: References
World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research’s 2007-2011 Expert Report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, is the most comprehensive report ever published on cancer/diet.
Alcohol is a Poison: References
Alcohol causes 4% of all global cancer deaths. The first update of alcohol-linked cancer deaths in 30 years shows that drinking just 1.5 drinks per day (or less) accounts for 30% of all alcohol-attributable cancer deaths and 15% of all breast cancer deaths.
Celiac, Gluten & Wheat Intolerances: References
The myriad of research on gluten intolerance: ‘White Flour Withdrawal Produces Chemical Response’, ‘Impact of A Dietary Change on Emotional Distress’, ‘Nonceliac gluten sensitivity: sense or sensibility?’, ‘Infertility and pregnancy outcomes in celiac disease.’
Always adjust your foods based on how you feel mentally and physically after consuming them. No one diet works for everyone. Some folks can eat gluten no problem; for others, gluten make them sick and tired. If you feel bloated then question your meal.
Gluten – why to give it a rest
Gluten has been shown to cause tiredness, anxiety and stress. The medical world accepts it can damage the gut, but it can also damage the brain, skin and nerves. Until now, many of these illnesses have been blamed on stress, to other medical conditions.
Stretching is the second most important exercise to do from your 30s onwards. Flexibility gives you better oxygen flow, a younger body, a calmer mind, a better blood flow and circulation to protect your heart. Just 10 minutes daily.
Throughout our long and varied medicinal history, fasting has been regarded as one of the most dependable, curative and rejuvenate measures available. Galen prescribed it. Paracelsus called fasting, ‘the greatest remedy; the physician within.’
Centenarian Juanita Black, age 105, said the key to her longevity was green tea. I believe that for most people, simply moving from coffee to good quality fresh green tea is one of the easiest and best things you can do for your long-term health.
Prebiotics and Probiotics combined is the magic. They help prevent constipation, reduce gastrointestinal illness, reduce bowel cancers, improve the strength of the immune system, deliver genuine long-term weight loss, extend your lifespan and on and on…
The word probiotic comes from the Greek language and simply means pro-life. Probiotics (also known as colonic bacteria, microbial organisms or micro-organisms), are the ‘good’ bacteria that when eaten, or made by our bodies, give stunning health benefits.
Archaeological records show our genetic development and digestive system evolved around a 60%-prebiotic-fibre-antioxidant-nutrient-rich diet of fruits, vegetables, subsurface tubers, rhizomes, corms, perennial bulbs, stems, nuts, seeds and occasionally meat.
The Secret to Sustainable Health Changes
A long healthy life is not actually about money, fame, power or medications. If your health fails, no amount of money can buy health. Health must be earned through diet, lifestyle and environmental choices; through behaviour and good habits.
You may get sick before you get well – Part Two
After she did this for a few days, her diarrhea, manic and skittery issues fell away; she became regular, she had more energy through the day (due to the longer lasting energy from the porridge) and she stopped catching colds, flu, bugs… A miracle!
You may get sick before you get well – Part One
I would recommend you allow yourself three to 12 months off an offending food. Once your energy is restored and the food choices you are making are serving you (not weakening you) then you are on your way to Food Freedom! This is the magic.
The Laws of The Body are UNBREAKABLE
You cannot break the body’s laws and get away with it – even if you want to. Have you ever tried breaking the ‘oxygen’ law? You can scream “I hate oxygen, I refuse to believe I need it!” but if you stop breathing oxygen, you will be dead in 10 minutes.
In my ‘healthy longevity’ world, HELP stands for Habits to Embrace for Longevity to Prevail. This website is designed to get you that HELP. As is with life anywhere, there are times when you need HELP. No matter how strong, determined or powerful you are.
We know that the success of the longevity champion centenarians leaves clues. We know your genetics are not the leading factors in you getting a major disease. We know your genes are triggered to express by your lifestyle and mostly… your diet.
A Basic Overview of What I Recommend
As food is so emotional these days (sigh), I would like to state my basic food philosophy right up front. This way you can choose to look through the site or not depending on what you are looking for: I recommend a healthy plant-based wholefood diet.
Most Breast Cancer is Not Genetic – Part Two
Japanese meat-eaters have 8 times higher rates of breast cancer than Japanese vegetarians. Rural vegetarian Indian women get breast cancer at a rate 400% lower than American women. A high meat diet = a 75% higher risk of having first period by age 12.
The Diabetes Pandemic – Part Two
Rosa Gonzalez, a type II diabetic, with diabetes right through her family tree, went on a plant-based wholefood diet, dropped 80 pounds, went from a size 18 to a size 6, cured her diabetes and regenerated her health – all through diet, all without drugs.
The basic summary of the research? Processed meats increase your risk of cancer – especially bowel cancer. NO amount of processed meat is safe for human health. The more meat you eat; the more heart disease, heart attacks and preventable cancers you risk.
Jason’s Sad Sick Story – Part Three
I knew nothing about the link between food and illness. This was a powerful turning point for me. I had to admit that I had no idea of what to do and that the medical establishment I had been relying on for years could not help me. I had to change my thinking.
Jason’s Sad Sick Story – Part Two
As a child and teenager I can clearly remember doctors telling me many times, ‘You are an asthmatic and you will be for life. The best thing we can offer is medication. You just have bad genes. Keep taking the drugs.’ He was doing the best he knew of course.
GOLDEN Rule 20: Find your H.A.P.P.Y. Paradigm
These are the things that make the biggest difference in strengthening body, mind and soul for the hard times. The hard times come and go like the weather. The more robust we are be during these times, the more we move ahead when the sun is out.
GOLDEN Rule 19: Get your Nutrients from your Food
Eating an apple is always better than trying to find the magical component in an apple, isolating it, extracting it, recreating it from a genetically engineered piece of corn sugar, and then synthesizing this artificial substance into a pill. Just eat the apple.
GOLDEN Rule 18: Combine And Layer Meals (CALM your stomach)
Some proteins and starches do not combine well in the stomach. Combining heavy carbohydrates and proteins can cause digestive problems. For example, eating meat and potatoes at the same time could be the cause of constipation and bloating.
GOLDEN Rule 14: Stop Eating at 7pm
Eating too much food and too much of the wrong sort of food in the evening will not only stress your liver but also make it harder for you to sleep. The 7pm-10pm period is where many overeat and over-drink. Clear your stomach, sleep well, improve your skin.
GOLDEN Rule 13: Rhythm, Routine and Regularity (R & R & R)
Routines create willpower, health and strength, and balanced internal organs, which give a happy stomach, a happy liver and a happy bowel. This leads to a calmer mind, more peaceful emotions and therefore; better life choices, such as habits and routines.
GOLDEN Rule 12: Feel the Flow and Let it Go!
One of the most death-defying acts a human being can do is to allow the remains of a meal (the fecal material) to remain in contact with the delicate lining of the colon for three or four days at a time. That is exactly what some 99% of Westerners are doing.
GOLDEN Rule 5: Read Ingredients Panels (RIP) or Rest in Peace
Food labels describe what a food contains and ultimately what you are consuming, so that you can choose what to (or not) include in your diet. Labels also need to indicate any precautions , such as storage or cooking instructions or allergen warnings.
Calorie Restriction (CR) Extends Life
Japanese women’s life expectancy is 86, with 1.5% obesity, and very low sickness. They eat 30% less than U.S. women. U.S. women’s life expectancy is barely 80 (and dropping), with nearly 40% obesity, and 30 years of pain, drugs and disease from age 40 onwards.
Eating around 30% less than our modern average is a secret shared by the healthiest and longest-lived cultures throughout history. It is the most powerful and scientifically-proven way to dramatically improve your chances of a long and healthy life.
Allowing Smoking to continue is INSANITY
It is pointless for smokers to complain that their rights should be given equal weight since there is no equivalence between the two groups: there is no entitlement to pollute others’ environments. Clean air is a fundamental right. Without clean air, we die.
Quit Smoking Now and never go back
One of my missions in life is to have cigarette smoking banned from planet Earth. I say we should be the first country to ban smoking outright. New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote. That move was seen as threatening, risky, dangerous.
Smoking is child abuse, drug addiction and slavery
Cigarette companies target the young, uneducated, poor and ethnic at the most emotionally vulnerable time of their lives; when they are kids. Cigarette companies are guilty of the world kind of child abuse; drug addiction for profit. Smoking is slavery.
Banning smoking is the only sane solution
If you drink alcohol right next to me, it does not turn me into an alcoholic, nor does it get me drunk, nor do I suffer any aftereffects. That is the difference; Smoking kills everyone — not just the smoker. Smoking kills innocent bystanders as well as killing you.
The Smoking decline is still too slow
At the present rate of decline it will take about 70 years to reduce smoking to zero. This is too slow. Making smoking nearly impossible will save lives. Period. If tobacco was introduced today, it would be illegal. Banning smoking is the first step. Think about it.
Third-hand smoke exposure is DEADLY
Third-hand smoke is the tobacco smoke that remains after the cigarette is extinguished. It’s the toxic layer that is deposited on every surface indoors where a smoker lights up: in cars, on smokers’ clothing and hair. It is deadly to our loved infants and children.
