Discourses on a Sober and Temperate Life

Lewis Cornaro, also called Alvise or Luigi, was an Italian nobleman who lived during the 15th and 16th centuries. Discourses on a Sober and Temperate Life collects his four key writings on the importance of diet in sustaining health and long life. In it, he describes his youth of indulgent living, which lead to a great decline in his health and near death in middle age. Acting on doctors' advice, he then completely changed his habits, strictly limiting both eating and drinking. He explains how this change saved his life, gave him the strength to fight off illnesses, overcome physical injuries, and live a vibrant and fulfilling life into his eighties. (He claims to have reached his mid-nineti…