Health Update: Dietary Changes Can Extend Life Span by up to 10 Years
Hey everyone:
There is increasing research on how food can either ruin our health or improve it. Here are some of the highlights from these two articles:
- Certain dietary changes can extend one’s life expectancy, a new study confirms.
- Food is fundamental for health, and globally dietary risk factors are estimated to cause 11 million deaths and 255 million disability-adjusted life years annually.
- The largest gains would be made by eating more legumes, whole grains and nuts, and less red and processed meat.
- Understanding the relative health potential of different food groups could enable people to make feasible and significant health gains.
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003889
Bottom Line:
Improvements in food choices can lead to significant increases in health span and lifespan through multiple mechanisms including increased nutrient density, lowered inflammatory potential, balanced essential fatty acids, reduced pesticide exposure, reduced chemical and additive exposures, fewer processed carbs, lower caloric load, and more.
What is the goal?
Less suffering, better health, less expense, longer illness free life, lessening of any health condition, and helping to save the planet.
How do you start?
Start investing a little bit of your time to read plant-based cookbooks, one of my new favorites is “The What to Eat When Cookbook” filled with really great ways to start your health upgrades. And it is important to note the following two quotes from the above study links:
“The ultimate goal is the progress, not perfection.” (Dr. Marialaura Bonaccio)
“Someone who has spent most of their life consuming a typical American diet may need to take more of a baby-steps approach. For individuals who were trying to make changes to begin with, transitioning to more optimal changes is often easier.” (Cleveland Clinic dietician Kristin Kirkpatrick)
