What to Eat to Live Longer and Healthier: The Longevity Diet

  

 Everyone desires a longer lifespan. However, a better life with increased mental and physical wellbeing, the capacity for activity, and independence are all goals of a long life. I've seen many people in their 70s, 80s, and beyond who are healthier than people half their age throughout my time as a registered dietitian.

While there is some hereditary influence, lifestyle influences are significantly more important, and diet plays a large part in lifestyle. Here are five dietary habits to adopt to increase your chances of living longer for health and wellness and taking full use of each year.

Eat your fruit and vegetables.

Eating more produce is perhaps one of the most significant and beneficial habits you can form, even if you probably hear this one a lot. And guess what? The majority of Americans are totally mistaken. Only one in ten individuals, according to the CDC, consumes enough fruits and vegetables. Only 9% of people meet the daily goal of two to three cups of vegetables, and 12% meet the daily goal of one and a half to two cups of fruit.

Besides increasing your food intake, achieving those minimums may lengthen your life by years. According to a meta-analysis that was written up in the British Medical Journal, eating more fruits and vegetables is linked to a decreased risk of mortality from all causes, particularly heart disease. Aim for five servings or more each day. More is fine, but according to certain studies, increasing this quantity did not further lower the chance of mortality.

Achieving those minimums may increase your food intake and add years to your life. Eating more fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of death from all causes, particularly from heart disease, according to a meta-analysis that was reported in the British Medical Journal. Aim for at least five servings each day for you. More is good, but other research claims that doing so did not further reduce the risk of death.

Give nuts a try (and nut butters)

Nuts are a powerhouse of nourishment. They include essential minerals like potassium and magnesium as well as healthy fat, plant protein, fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins. It makes sense that they are related to life extension. In one research, almost 7,000 men and women were followed for nearly five years and allowed to choose between three different diets: a low-fat diet, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with almonds, or a Mediterranean diet enhanced with olive oil. More than three one-ounce servings of nuts per week were associated with a 39 percent decreased risk of overall mortality compared to people who did not eat nuts. In actuality, the study's participants who consumed nuts had the lowest overall mortality risk.

Two tablespoons of nut butter also qualify as a serving; an ounce of nuts is about equal to a quarter cup. Use nut butter as a dip for fresh fruit or celery, or blend it into your smoothie or porridge. Nuts may be popped as is or added to salads, stir-fried vegetables, and other dishes. Crushed nuts are a fantastic substitute for bread crumbs for coating fish or adding a garnish to meals like lentil soup or mashed cauliflower. Another excellent option to increase your intake is to bake with nut flours or use them in pancake recipes.

Eat more meat-free meals for health

Over 15 years have passed since the inception of Meatless Mondays. That's great, but if you want to live a long time, you should incorporate plant-based meals into your weekly schedule on more than one occasion.

Five regions in the globe have been identified by researchers as having the longest and healthiest life spans. These locations, known as Blue Zones, may be found all over the world, from Ikaria, Greece, to Okinawa, Japan. They eat diets that are mostly composed of plants, which is one thing they have in common. The staple foods are beans and lentils, while meat is consumed on average five times a month in portions of three to four ounces, or roughly the size of a deck of cards.

In Loma Linda, California, which has the greatest percentage of Seventh Day Adventists, there is just one Blue Zone in the United States. This community, noted for eating largely plants, has a lifespan that is ten years longer than that of those in North America. According to one research that included over 73,000 Seventh Day Adventist men and women, vegetarians had a considerably reduced chance of dying overall than omnivores. This comprised pesco vegetarians, vegans, and lacto-ovo vegetarians, who do consume dairy and eggs (who do eat seafood).

Replace the meat in your meals with pulses—a general name for beans, lentils, peas, and chickpeas—to reap the advantages. Instead of include chicken in a salad, choose to serve lentil or black bean soup on the side. Replace the meat in a stir fry with black-eyed peas, and eat vegetables with hummus as a snack rather than jerky. Look into ethnic eateries in your neighborhood that provide meals with pulses, such as Ethiopian lentil stew and Indian chickpea curry.

Consume as a Mediterranean

A Mediterranean diet continues to be the gold standard for living longer and more healthily because it emphasizes total eating habits rather than just one cuisine or food category. A high intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, pulses, healthy fats like nuts, olive oil, and avocado, as well as herbs and spices, along with seafood a few times per week, define this eating pattern. In contrast, consumption of dairy products, eggs, and alcohol is moderate, and meat and sweets are kept to a minimum.

Telomere length is one indicator of lifespan that is frequently used in studies. In a nutshell, telomeres are caps that shield DNA at the ends of chromosomes. When they are too short, a cell ages or stops working properly. This explains why having shorter telomeres is linked to a reduced life expectancy and a higher chance of getting chronic illnesses. Greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet has been related to lifespan through preserving longer telomere length, according to research.

According to other studies, the chance of dying from any cause decreases by 4–7% for every one-point increase in the Mediterranean diet score (which gauges adherence to the diet). To make your meals more Mediterranean, swap butter for nut butter or avocado on toast and extra virgin olive oil for butter while sautéing veggies. Keep meals straightforward and snack on fresh fruit with almonds, olives, or roasted chickpeas. Fish served over greens dressed in extra virgin olive oil, together with roasted potatoes or quinoa on the side, and a bottle of pinot noir may make up a well-balanced Mediterranean diet supper.

Green tea, please

Green tea is what I like to think of as a mug of preventative medication. It has been associated with a reduced risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease, and several other diseases. It may also lengthen your life. One study found that elderly Japanese seniors who drank seven or more cups of green tea per day were 76% less likely to pass away throughout the six-year study period. Another discovered that women who drank at least five cups of green tea per day had a 23 percent decreased chance of dying from any cause among over 40,000 Japanese adults tracked for up to 11 years.

Green tea may be used to steam vegetables or whole grain rice, as well as to make smoothies, oatmeal, and overnight oats. Additionally, it may be used in sauces, marinades, soups, and stews. Green tea in the powdered form known as matcha may also be used to make drinks and dishes. Just make sure to stop consuming coffee at least six hours before night to avoid affecting the quantity or quality of your sleep.

It's the usual suspects when it comes to what to avoid doing. Avoid overeating and excessive sugar, processed food, meat, and alcohol intake. The good news is that the anti-aging foods listed above may quickly replace the anti-aging meals. Instead of manufactured cookies, choose an apple with almond butter, and choose for green tea instead of soda. In other words, if you concentrate on what to eat, you'll inevitably limit your consumption of items to avoid. That's significant because continuity is essential for longevity. Long-term nutrition promotes a long, healthy life!