Meat and Egg Recalls: Retirement Planning Lessons

Is anything safe to eat anymore? asked fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Linda Stern, who wrote about the recent deli meat and egg recalls earlier this week.

Believe it or not, the recent recalls offer a wise lesson for planning a prosperous and healthy retirement. It's very simple: Eat much less meat and fewer eggs, and instead, consume more fruits and vegetables.

Eating too many meat and dairy products has been linked to many of the chronic, expensive diseases we suffer from in our later years, including heart disease, obesity, some forms of cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia. By reducing the odds of contracting these diseases with an improved diet, you can potentially save thousands of dollars over your lifetime, and you'll better enjoy life.

If you want more details about the extensive research that's shown the connection between diet and chronic disease, I encourage you to read one of these popular books:

• Healthy at 100, by John Robbins
• Blue Zones, by Dan Buettner
• The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell

Not only can you save money on medical bills through your diet, you'll most likely save a lot of money on grocery bills as well. Simply compare the price per pound of meat -- often several dollars or more -- to the price per pound of fruits and vegetables, which are usually no more than a dollar or two. Boomers will need to make every dollar count in retirement, and careful grocery shopping can help.

Think this switch in your diet will lessen your eating enjoyment? Read this recent article from Time magazine titled Chefs Do More With Less Meat, where seven top chefs tell you how to make the most of a lot less meat.

Change to a low-fat diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables, and you'll live long and prosper!

More on CBS MoneyWatch
WalMart Meat Recall: Is Anything Safe to Eat Anymore?
How to Spend Less in Retirement
Healthy Eating: Increase Your Life Expectancy, Feed Your Piggybank
Retiring Baby Boomers: Dropping Out to Make Every Dollar Count

Steve Vernon

View all articles by Steve Vernon on CBS MoneyWatch»
Steve Vernon helped large employers design and manage their retirement programs for more than 35 years as a consulting actuary. Now he's a research scholar for the Stanford Center on Longevity, where he helps collect, direct and disseminate research that will improve the financial security of seniors. He's also president of Rest-of-Life Communications, delivers retirement planning workshops and authored Retirement Game-Changers: Strategies for a Healthy, Financially Secure and Fulfilling Long Life and Money for Life: Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck.

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