Diet modifications
It’s easier to modify your lifestyle when you live alone.
As I’ve aged, my diet has been refined.
Sugar was minimised 30 years ago, but this has now been almost eliminated. No added sugar to coffee or porridge, no sweets, cakes, biscuits, commercial bread, ice cream, etc. Basically no refined carbohydrates, and the steel-cut oats for breakfast don’t belong in that category, nor does fruit. Some sugar remains in the two squares of 90% dark chocolate, in the soy milk I have with coffee, and in the 100 g of Greek yoghurt.
I keep away from ultra-processed snacks like chips, etc. A single beer once a month when I am being social.
It’s basically a full Mediterranean diet with red meat about once a month, and primarily plant-based. Fresh salmon is readily available in Nelson, and I do eat chicken.
I recognise it’s fairly austere and quite repetitive, but I survived four years of boarding school so I can cope.
Combined with plenty of exercise and low levels of stress, it’s a pretty healthy lifestyle here in Paradise.