A cardiologist overhauled his diet to boost his longevity. Here’s the grocery store path he takes to stick to his meal plan and avoid bad foods.

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A cardiologist overhauled his diet to boost his longevity. Here’s the grocery store path he takes to stick to his meal plan and avoid bad foods.

Ultra-processed foods are consistently linked to bad health outcomes, but they can be hard to avoid.

A cardiologist writing a book about longevity decided to quit UPFs almost entirely.

He shops the perimeter of the grocery store and enjoys more salads and yogurt.

When cardiologist Eric Topol goes to the grocery store these days, his cart stands out among the crowd. It’s no longer filled with boxes or packaged goods, he says it’s largely just

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— a big change from what he used to buy.

“I was reading a lot of labels, and now I avoid things with labels,” Topol told Business Insider. “When I’m in the grocery store and I’m only buying produce, people look at me like, ‘what’s wrong with this guy?'”

Topol said he eats less ultra-processed food than he used to, and endorses a Mediterranean-style diet.Courtesy of Eric Topol

It all happened about a year ago, as he was deep into research for his new bestselling

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“Super Agers: An evidence-based approach to longevity.” That’s when he overhauled his relationship with packaged and mass-produced foods, cracking down on any

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(UPF).

“I call ’em UFOs,” Topol said. “A lot of those things I didn’t realize were so full of bad things.”

A key reason ultra-processed foods are bad: they’re anti-fiber

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Ultra-processed foods tend to lack fiber, which is naturally abundant in fresh fare like vegetables and beans.beats3/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Topol shops now using the common nutritional rule-of-thumb to stick to the

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, the area where the fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, bulk grains, and frozen veggies are stored. It’s those middle aisles full of ultra-processed products that he generally avoids.

As Topol explains in his new book, ultra-processed foods are “the polar opposite” of

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, a key nutrient abundant in fresh foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts,

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, and grains, which we know is great for our long-term health in all different kinds of ways.

For example, fiber slows down and aids digestion, improves cholesterol, fosters the health of the gut microbiome, and even helps stabilize blood sugar. UPFs generally don’t.

“What is referred to as the ‘Western diet,’ rich in

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and linked with metabolic dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and

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,” Topol’s book says. His diet wasn’t wildly unhealthy before, but he’s become a more rigorous shopper as a result of his latest research.

“If it’s packaged or boxed or canned, I know it’s probably gonna be a problem,” Topol said. “I’ll check it out. Sometimes, you can be surprised.”

Not all packaged foods are created equal

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Frozen vegetables and canned beans are not UPFs.iStock

Ultra-processed food researchers say

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. Studies show that

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breakfast cereals and ultra-processed yogurts aren’t as bad for you as hot dogs, packaged desserts, or

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like soda and juice. That second group of foods is more consistently linked to poor long-term health outcomes, like higher rates of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Some cans and boxes in the grocery store aren’t even ultraprocessed at all. A can of chickpeas or some ****** beans seasoned with salt, frozen vegetables, canned fish — these are simply processed foods. They aren’t linked to all the same bad health outcomes as UPFs, instead, they’re great shortcuts to help encourage more healthy eating at home.

Topol says his new shopping routine has morphed his daily diet in a near-effortless way. Plus, he doesn’t have to spend so much time reading labels anymore, looking for the long list of ingredients he tries to avoid like high-fructose corn syrup, palm oil, artificial sweeteners, and more.

“I eat

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at night, I eat yogurt and some

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in the morning, and not a whole lot in between,” he said. “It’s a pretty healthy diet, I think.”

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