Plenty of research suggests that eating healthy foods can help extend your life and improve your health. Studies reveal that a healthy diet can help you sidestep ailments that plague people more as they age, including heart disease, hypertension, cancer, and cataracts.
There is no shortage of new and conflicting advice on diet and nutrition. Stick to the basics with more broad-based changes, such as cutting back on meat; eating more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; and striking a healthy balance between calories in and calories out.
Source
Health Facts
Health facts giving you accurate advice for healthy living.
Wellness Tip
Don’t just take the stairs — use them
If you have stairs at your home or office, take them every chance you get. But don’t stop there. For a strong cardio workout, walk up and down the stairs repeatedly. Start with a limited number of repetitions, then increase them as you feel stronger.
Source
Longevity Tip
Mounting evidence consistently demonstrates the relationship between social engagement and higher levels of physical, mental, and cognitive functioning and its association with longer life spans. By contrast, socially isolated individuals face health risks comparable to those of smokers.
Source
Wellness Tip
We’ve seen that loving relationships can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression — a fact that may give the immune system a boost. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that people who exhibit positive emotions are less likely to get sick after exposure to cold or flu viruses. The study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine,compared people who were happy and calm with those who appeared anxious, hostile, or depressed.
Source
Longevity Tip
A recent study . . . discovered having a sense of purpose, direction and goals may add years to our lives. It doesn’t matter when you discover your purpose (i.e., young, middle-aged, or older) but the sooner the better. The study looked at 6,100 Americans aged 20 through 75 over a 14 year period. During that time, about 9% of the subjects died. All the participants who died scored lower than those who survived on measures of “purposefulness.” Even when other variables, such as a having a positive outlook, were controlled for, the data stood up.
Source
Wellness Tip
Each time you wipe off the machine or weights you’re using at the gym, it’s an act of love, paying it forward, toward the next user. Good for you.
Longevity Tip
Don’t Smoke
Smoking is strongly linked to disease and early death.
Overall, men and women who smoke may lose up to 10 years of their lives and be three times more likely to die prematurely than those who never pick up a cigarette.
Fortunately, it’s never too late to quit.
One study reports that individuals who quit smoking by 35 years of age may prolong their lives by up to 8.5 years.
Furthermore, quitting smoking in your ’60s may add up to 3.7 years to your life. In fact, quitting in your ’80s may still even provide benefits.
Wellness Tip
Have Breakfast
Breakfast jump-starts your metabolism and stops you for overeating later. Studies show adults who have a healthy breakfast do better at work, and kids who eat a morning meal score higher on tests.
Source
Longevity Tip
What physical activity is best for healthy longevity?
The one you enjoy most, but also the one you can easily incorporate into your daily schedule and the one you can keep doing up to your hundredth birthday and beyond. . . . What’s important is working all your body parts with rigor — meaning to the point of breathing rapidly or sweating — for five to ten hours a week . . . It’s important to exercise, but not to overexercise, because knees, hips, and joints will eventually get damaged — particularly if you continue to exercise when you feel pain.
Wellness Tip
E
Eat Nuts
Despite being high in fat, nuts are incredibly nutritious and healthy.
They are loaded with magnesium, vitamin E, fiber and various other nutrients.
Studies show that nuts can help you lose weight, and may help fight type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Additionally, about 10-15% of the calories in nuts aren’t even absorbed into the body, and some evidence suggests that they can boost metabolism .
In one study, almonds were shown to increase weight loss by 62% compared to complex carbohydrates .
