The March 2008 issue of Consumer Reports features an article describing nine ways to a longer life. I love the intro:
Following health news can be like watching a Ping-Pong match. Caffeine is bad for you; caffeine is good. Drink alcohol; don’t. Here’s our antidote: nine finding backed by such strong evidence that by following them you could lengthen your life — or at least avoid shortening it.
I agree. Diet recommendations are baffling. “Eat fat; don’t. Avoid carbs; consume them.” I don’t have the time to do extensive research into this subject. Fortunately, CR has done it for me. Here are their nine recommendations:
- Eat whole grains. Whole grains reduce the risk of heart disease. I do a fine job at this. When I eat at home, most of my grains are high-quality.
- Consider vitamin D. Vitamin D boosts immunity and protects against diseases. It’s especially important for people over 60.
- Limit time in the sun. Skin cancer is a real threat. This one scares me. When I was a boy, I constantly exposed myself to the summer sun. I received severe sunburns many times. Now every little skin blemish makes me nervous.
- Eat colorful produce. I’ve heard this one for a long time. Produce with varying colors provides a wide range of micronutrients.
- Exercise. Most studies recommend about 30 minutes a day, most days of the week. How many of you get that? I don’t. But I’m working to build a lifestyle that incorporates regular exercise, which has been shown to reduce the risk of all sorts of illnesses.
- Get enough sleep. Sleep boosts memory and reduces the risk of obesity. Sometimes I wonder which is the chicken and which is the egg: my fat or my apnea…
- Don’t smoke. I’ve never heard of story that reported cigarette smoke (first-hand or second) was good for you.
- Eat fat (but the right kind). There’s no reason to avoid fat — it’s a vital macronutrient. But avoid trans-fats and saturated fats. Eat nuts, seeds, and fish. Olives are good, too.
- Chill out. Stress is bad for the body and soul. Meditate. Breath deeply. Exercise mindfulness.
These are great tips. So far, we’ve only developed one Get Fit Slowly mantra: Burn more calories than you consume. There are sure to be others. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were derived from this list.
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Interestingly, last night I met a former vegan who had had to add back a bit of saturated fat to her diet in order to conceive a child. I do think being vegan is often entirely healthy, but I found that factoid interesting anyway.
Sally: that reminds me — I have not been skinny by standards ever, but I didn’t have periods in high school once I got near my WW goal weight. Sometimes our bodies do not conform to the “standards”, and we need to respect that.
JD: good list. Simple and manageable. How to do it all regularly, though?
The exercise thing – it’s a whole heap easier when it involves your social life. Here’s how I do it:
- visiting the rockclimbing gym together became a date-night activity for my husband and I. Cheaper than a movie, involves lots of trust and laughs, and as much exercise as you want. Now we’ve bought a three month membership, it doesn’t cost anything more to go a couple times a week.
- we also take part in a regular mixed netball competition – it’s just social, and a great way to meet people, and catch up with friends.
- with another set of friends, I started doing a dance class – it’s not expensive, and your local college or community centre probably has a couple to choose from.
- my husband doesn’t dance – but he usually goes mountain-biking with his friends on the weekend. once you have a bike, this is pretty much free.
I always find it a bit funny that they ALWAYS include smoking on these kinds of lists despite the fact that everyone over the age of seven knows what a stupid and unhealthy choice it is – they just choose to keep doing it anyway. While true, it’s not new or useful information.
They might as well include the earth-shattering revelation that getting stumbling drunk and trying to skip across the interstate isn’t going to help your life expectancy much – it’s just as true, and the inclusion would be just as pointless.
Excellent list.
I was going to post something like this on my blog but since no one (literally) is actually reading it I decided what the hell. In 2007 the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.:
1. Heart disease 27%
2. Cancer 23%
3. Stroke 6%
4. Chronic lower respitory disease 5%
5. Accidents 4.5% (2% motor vehicles)
6. Diabetes 3%
7. Alzheimer’s disease 3%
8. Influenza and pneumonia 2%
9. Kidney diease 2%
10. Septicemia 1%
Being overweight heavily increases your chances of 1 and 6 (and some studies suggest 2, 3 and 9). So losing weight (for good) would statistically increase your longevity. So your regular exercise is spot on.
I think two things that will help next are antioxidants (your “Eat colorful produce”) and good fats.
However, all studies conducted use large amounts of antioxidants and omega-3-6-9. I think it is impossible for most to get “enough” through normal diet. Your diet would have to consist of almost 100% fish and walnuts before you got enough omega 3 to see the benefits like researcher Dr Seth Roberts (google Seth Roberts Blog) have seen. A lot of people hate popping capsules but I think it’s key. Omega-* has been shown to significantly reduce 1, 3, and 7 above. And antioxidants (like green tea extract for example) will help with #2 and perhaps #8. Green tea extract (in capsules) has been shown to be more bio-available than in tea (researchers think the heat breaks down some of the EGCG goodness).
-Josh (fitfilter.com)
I think it’s a little ironic that the list has “Consider vitamin D” and “Limit time in the sun” next to each other. After all, sun exposure is a primary source of vitamin D. From what I’ve seen, there is a growing belief that people are going too far to avoid sun exposure and, in so doing, cutting their vitamin D intake. The reduction in skin cancer deaths may be offset by the increase in deaths that could be avoided with more vitamin D.
It seems to me that moderation is a key. Don’t be terrified of getting out in the sun. In fact, be sure to get out in it regularly (besides the vitamin D, it’s great for your state of mind). But be smart about it. Don’t get burned.
J.D.,
Kazari is revealing one of the great secrets of a healthy lifestyle. Living in a healthy way must be as automatic and unthinking as overeating and not exercising are for you right now. Therefore, it must become part of the things you do in your life automatically: commuting to work, blogging, shopping for groceries, doing the laundry, eating out with friends, and so forth.
The shift from sedentary to active is enormous and extraordinarily difficult to maintain. But you drive to work every day without thinking twice. You go out to the movies with Kris as a matter of course. You shop for groceries. You read your feeds and feed your blogs. You don’t think twice about these activities. Karazri doesn’t think twice about whether she’s going to socialize with her husband — it’s just a question of what they’re going to do. With her plan (and it is a plan, my friend) she therefore doesn’t have to think twice about exercising. It’s simply part of the time that she and her husband spend together automatically.
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