Most of us know that increasing our intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and reducing our consumption of red meat and processed foods will likely improve our overall health and possibly lower our risk of developing chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It was once believed that our genetics played a significant role in determining our lifespan. Even though having “good” genes is essential, your genetic makeup may only account for 20% of how long you live.
Your lifestyle, including your diet, surroundings, activity level, social connections, and more, determine the rest. Longer lifespans are undoubtedly a result of modern medicine, but aging well means making the most of every year of your life, not just making it to a special birthday!
Longevity depends more on an individual’s overall eating pattern than on any particular food or food group. One of the healthiest and longest-lasting diets is still the Mediterranean one. A high intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, pulses, healthy fats from nuts, olive oil, and avocado, as well as herbs and spices, define this eating pattern. It occasionally includes seafood. The Mediterranean diet also limits the consumption of meat and sweets and allows for moderate dairy, egg, and wine consumption.
To make your meals more Mediterranean, swap butter for nut butter or avocado on toast and extra virgin olive oil for sautéing vegetables. Keep meals straightforward and snack on fresh fruit with nuts, olives, or roasted chickpeas. Fish served over greens dressed in extra virgin olive oil, roasted potatoes, or quinoa on the side, and a glass of pinot noir can make up a well-balanced Mediterranean diet dinner.
Nuts are a powerhouse of nutrition. They offer essential minerals like potassium and magnesium, healthy fat, plant protein, fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins. It makes sense that they are related to life extension.
Two tablespoons of nut butter also count as a serving; an ounce of nuts is roughly equal to a quarter cup. Use nut butter as a dip for fresh fruit or celery, or blend it into your smoothie or oatmeal. Nuts can be eaten independently or added to salads, stir-fries, and cooked vegetables. Crushed nuts are a fantastic substitute for bread crumbs when coating fish or adding a garnish to dishes like lentil soup or mashed cauliflower. Another excellent way to increase your intake is to bake with nut flours or use them in pancakes.
Turmeric is a fantastic choice for anti-aging treatments. This is due to the presence of curcumin, a potent bioactive compound, in this spice. Curcumin is believed to help maintain brain, heart, and lung function and guard against cancer and age-related diseases because of its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Mice and insects both have longer lifespans when curcumin is present. However, these results have only sometimes been verified; human studies are only occasionally available. But turmeric has been consumed for a long time in India, where it is generally considered safe.
Mondays without meat have long been a tradition. 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. Replace meat in meals with pulses—a general term for beans, lentils, peas, and chickpeas—to reap the benefits.
Instead of including chicken in a salad, 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 serve dishes with pulses, such as Ethiopian lentil stew and Indian chickpea curry.
What’s in your mug is just as significant as what’s on your plate. Green tea is well known for having the potential to lower cancer risk, but it also has other advantages. Green tea has a particular polyphenol shown to have many heart health advantages. This polyphenol probably plays a role in the positive benefit of lower mortality risk. Green tea can steam vegetables or whole-grain rice and make smoothies, oatmeal, and overnight oats.
Additionally, it can be used in sauces, marinades, soups, and stews. Green tea in the powdered form, known as matcha, can also be used to make drinks and recipes. Just make sure to stop consuming caffeine at least six hours before bedtime to avoid affecting the quantity or quality of your sleep.
Fill most of your plate with plant-based foods for a long, healthy life, and adopt a healthy eating regimen like the Mediterranean Diet. If you like them, try eating more of these superfoods, but keep in mind that your overall diet and way of life will significantly impact how long you live than any particular food.
