"How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older" by Michael Greger
Dec 12, 2023
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Physician and New York Times bestselling author Michael Greger discusses simple hacks to stay healthy as you age. Topics include the importance of healthy lifestyle behaviors, exploring blue zones and their dietary guidelines, the impact of dietary choices on health and lifespan, and age-defying tips and benefits of specific foods.
Adopting a healthy lifestyle, including consuming fruits and vegetables, engaging in physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking, can extend lifespan even in older individuals.
Following a plant-based diet, avoiding processed foods, and incorporating specific foods like strawberries, ginger, turmeric, flaxseeds, and cranberries can reduce the risk of age-related diseases and slow down the aging process.
Deep dives
Lifestyle Behaviors for Longer Lifespan
A Harvard analysis revealed that a few basic lifestyle behaviors, such as consuming at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, engaging in regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking, can potentially extend lifespan by 12 to 14 years for the average 50-year-old. These behaviors continue to have significant benefits even for individuals in their 70s, suggesting that it is never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
Blue Zones and Longevity
The blue zones, areas with exceptional longevity rates, offer valuable insights into the diets and lifestyles of the healthiest and longest-lived individuals worldwide. Through analyzing dietary surveys, blue zones researchers have developed a set of 10 food guidelines that emphasize a plant-based diet and the avoidance of highly processed foods. Following these guidelines, which promote the consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains, can contribute to healthier aging and decrease the risk of age-related diseases.
The Impact of Diet on Aging
Studies have shown that adopting a plant-based diet centered around whole, healthy plant foods can not only reduce the risk of age-related diseases like cancer and dementia but also slow down the biological aging process. Substituting even a small percentage of animal protein with plant protein in daily caloric intake has been associated with decreased mortality and reduced functional impairments. Additionally, minimizing salt intake and focusing on foods like strawberries, ginger, turmeric, flaxseeds, and cranberries can provide specific health benefits for age-related ailments.