a day is a minimum. When you are actively following the SIRT Diet plan – on both jump-start and normal SIRT Diet days – you should aim for at least ten SIRT portions each and every day.
GETTING ENOUGH SIRTS
Are you worried that you can’t get enough SIRTs into your diet? Perhaps you have a passionate dislike for kale? Don’t worry, there are many different ways to get your daily SIRT requirements. So if there is a food or two you want to avoid, then just steer clear, there are many other options. Have a look through the ‘Top SIRT foods: quick reference’ (see here) and see what your favourites (or easy wins) are.
Think about your green vegetables – ideally one to two portions daily. If you don’t like the stronger tasting leafy greens, then perhaps plainer broccoli or cauliflower? You only need a handful of parsley (10g) and it has a mild, unobtrusive taste. You could buy a growing pot of parsley from the supermarket and add a portion to your main meal or a salad.
Olive oil and olives – at least one portion a day. Olive oil is such a versatile oil that it can be used in virtually all your cooking. Use extra virgin olive oil in salads and a light and mild version for frying when you don’t want an oliveoil flavour.
Onions and apples – at least one portion a day. Raw red onion is great in salads or salsa. Many a main dish starts with lightly sautéed onions. And what could be easier than grabbing an apple as a mid-afternoon snack?
Resveratrol: red wine, red grapes, chocolate – at least two portions a day. Oh the hardship!
Turmeric – at least two portions a week. You only need ½ tsp to get a portion of SIRTs from turmeric. Easy to add to Indian and North African dishes. There are lots of ideas for turmeric in the recipe section of this book.
Oily fish – at least two portions a week. I think you know the drill on this one. Salmon, trout and mackerel all count. Salmon is especially versatile and is very quick to cook. Or try a posh breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.
With all these normal everyday foods, it is very easy to increase the amount of SIRTs you eat each day. A few wise decisions will pay huge dividends.
Here are ten easy snacks you can reach for when you need a SIRT top-up.
1 Green tea
1 cup (200ml) • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 0 calories
Never, ever, underestimate the healthy SIRT boost that a cup of green tea can give you. Have as many cups as you can per day – I recommend at least two cups. Not only that, the SIRTs in green tea are cumulative so you can get up to four portions of SIRTs daily if you have four cups of green tea or more.
2 Red grapes
10 grapes • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 30 calories
A very easy and low-calorie way to get one of your SIRT portions. Keep a punnet or two in the fridge and have a handful at breakfast or lunch or even both!
3 Apples
1 apple • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 47 calories
An apple a day really does keep the doctor a way. Reach for an apple as an after-lunch treat. It will help keep sugar cravings at bay too.
4 Cocoa
2 tsp/10g cocoa • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 33 calories
Try making a chocolate shot with 2 tsp cocoa, 1 tsp sugar and 30ml milk. Mix the cocoa and sugar together with a little boiling water from the kettle to make a smooth paste. Stir in the milk. An (almost) instant chocolate hit with only 68 calories.
5 Olives
6 large black or green olives • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 75 calories
A versatile snack in the afternoon or a pre-dinner treat. Serve at room temperature to get a fuller flavour.
6 Freshly pressed orange juice
1 small glass (200ml) • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 77 calories
Squeeze your own or buy fresh orange juice. It must be not from concentrate and with juicy bits.
7 Blackberries
15 blackberries • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 32 calories
Another easy SIRT fix to keep in your fridge. Available in the supermarket or your nearest hedgerow. Also great as a frozen treat.
8 Dark chocolate 85%
6 squares/20g chocolate • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 125 calories
Get your chocolate hit here! If you prefer 70% dark chocolate, you’ll need 9 squares/30g, which will be 180 calories.
9 Pomegranate seeds
50g/half a small pack • 1 of your SIRT 5 a day • 50 calories
Easy to obtain while on the go, pomegranate seeds pack a large SIRT punch and you only need half a 100g pack to get one of your SIRT portions.
10 Blueberries
25 blueberries (80g) • 1 of your sirt 5 a day • 36 cals
One large handful of blueberries is all you need to get your SIRT 5 a day.
For some people, myself included, the idea of a diet that allows any alcohol, particularly one as delicious as red wine, has got to be the best diet ever. There are a few rules to follow when it comes to having a drink (there to make sure you don’t go overboard) and you have to stick to red wine as it’s the only one that contains resveratrol, one of the most important SIRT bioactives.
One small glass of red wine (125ml) is one of your SIRT 5 a day. I wouldn’t recommend any wine on your jump-start days as even a small glass of wine has 120 calories and may encourage you to eat more.
However, on days 3–7, a small glass of red is acceptable, even encouraged, with your evening meal. On days 6 and 7, or whatever days happen to be the weekend, up to 2 small glasses (or 1 large) is allowed. Enjoy the wine knowing it’s good for you and helping with your diet, but be aware of how even a small alcoholic drink may affect you. Firstly, it is sometimes hard to resist a second or third glass of wine with the bottle open and the first glass being so tasty. This really isn’t allowed on the SIRT diet and is counterproductive. If you find that 1 glass of wine is never enough and willpower is a problem, consider cutting out the wine altogether and getting your SIRTs from other sources. The other tricky concern is does drinking wine make you eat more later in the evening? I find that this can be a problem for me. Even a small glass of wine inspires a ‘laissez-faire’ attitude and can leave me scurrying for the biscuit tin.
Everyone
