20 eating habits for a long, healthy life

For more than a decade, Dan Buettner, a traveler and author of The Rules of Longevity, which I wrote about, has been working with a team of experts to study the planet’s blue zones – regions where people are more likely than anywhere else to live up to 100 years or longer. Such regions include the Greek island of Ikaria, the highlands of Sardinia, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, the island of Okinawa in Japan and the California city of Loma Linda.

But it’s all about living somewhere far away. Residents of a modern metropolis are now busy with other preparatory matters. Remembering that only soil without weeds will give the crop, first of all they try to eradicate bad eating habits.

10 most common bad eating habits

  1. Consuming too much sugar
  2. Experts have found that a modern person consumes almost 17 teaspoons of sugar daily (and 6 teaspoons for women and 9 teaspoons for men are considered the norm in many countries).

     

    Now almost every product on the supermarket shelf contains sugar (in any form). This is especially true for drinks: sweet soda, supposedly “natural” lemonades, juices from packages.

  3. Consuming too much salt
  4. Without salt, the human body cannot carry out the necessary physiological processes. But large amounts of salt (more than 1 teaspoon per day) can be harmful.

    In today’s industry, the salt situation is similar to that of sugar. It is present in sufficient (or excessive) quantities in almost any purchased product. If we take into account the fact that a person receives a significant portion of salt from vegetables and fruits that he consumes daily, and add salt from a bag of chips to this, it becomes clear why the rate of 1 teaspoon can be exceeded by 2 or even 3 times.

    It is known that excessive salt intake can lead to malfunctions of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, arteries, and gastrointestinal tract.

  5. Stress seizing with fast carbohydrates
  6. In 99% of cases, a person who literally lives at work on a deadline does not bite with a portion of broccoli – he seizes the tension with something sweet or “harmful” (a chocolate bar, a slice of pizza or a banal marshmallow, which is hidden in the table for “last resort” every second office worker).

    Such carbohydrates cause a sharp jump in blood sugar, activate receptors in the brain that cause sugar dependence. Also, foods such as pizza or hot dogs, eaten in a hurry, are converted into fat in the body almost at lightning speed.

  7. Replacing meat and fish with canned food
  8. Yes, canned tuna is quick, but not healthy. The point is how much is in the contents of the container itself, and how much is in it itself. Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a chemical compound that is present in the inner lining of cans (except for those packages where there is a corresponding sign on the label). As you know, this synthetic estrogen can cause the appearance and development of a whole range of diseases – from diabetes to problems with conception.

  9. Breakfast cereal abuse
  10. Of course, eaten occasionally eaten, or bread, will not bring harm to health. But contrary to advertising, they will not bring a person closer to the coveted image for whom healthy eating habits are not an empty phrase.

    Firstly, such products on an industrial scale are heavily processed, as a result of which they almost completely lose at least some useful properties. Secondly, breakfast cereals often include sugar, candied berries and other unnecessary ingredients that put a fat end on your dream of a thin waist.

  11. Consuming large amounts of processed meat products
  12. Recently, WHO has included processed meat products (jerky, smoked, canned) in the carcinogenic category. Experts equate the harm from the consumption of such delicacies to smoking and alcoholism.

  13. Excessive obsession with diets
  14. It’s not about diets individually (after a series of appropriate analyzes) selected by a specialist. And about diets that imply global deprivation, which a person “prescribes” to himself in order to achieve some illusory ideals.

    Experts assure that self-selected nutrition systems and the constant presence of the body in a mode of deprivation (for example, a complete rejection of carbohydrates and leaning on proteins) will not lead to anything good. In the best case, you will achieve the desired weight values, but you will not be able to hold them for a long time, and not only will you return the lost kilograms, but also gain extra ones. And at worst, it will undermine your health and get problems with kidneys, heart, skin, hair and nails.

  15. The presence in the diet of purchased sauces
  16. Note that fast food cafes rarely offer just a piece of good marbled beef, just a steak of good salmon, or just a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and celery. The menu will definitely include an additive in the form of a sauce or dressing. Of course, in most cases, this “bonus” will not be homemade.

    With the help of sauces, manufacturers “mask” not very high-quality products. Or they simply pursue the goal of using these sauces and dressings to whet the consumer’s appetite and get him to buy another serving, for example, french fries.

    The fact is that the most common ketchup contains not only tomatoes, water, salt and pepper, and the Caesar salad dressing boasts a list of ingredients for 8-9 lines. There you will find sugar (in huge quantities), sodium benzoate, propylene glycol alginate, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Agree, there is little useful here, but these sauces act like a drug, forcing us to always leave space in the refrigerator for them.

  17. Passion for alcoholic beverages
  18. What could be nicer than a couple of glasses of wine or something stronger on a Friday night, because alcohol is great for helping you to relax. But experts disagree.

    First, narcologists assure that there is no dose of alcohol that could be considered safe for health. The everyday rule “a little bit of red at night does not hurt” has nothing to do with healthy eating habits.

    Secondly, nutritionists call alcohol one of the main causes of obesity. The wine is, in principle, quite high in calories (100 ml of dry wine contains at least 70 kcal), and also stimulates the appetite, forcing us to order dessert after eating a cheese plate.

  19. Abuse of synthetic vitamin complexes and dietary supplements
  20. Synthetic vitamin complexes by themselves are not scary. A high-quality dietary supplement from a reputable pharmaceutical manufacturer is identical in its properties to a natural one. In addition, there are cases when it is impossible to cope with the problem without vitamin complexes – for example, when it is impossible to replenish the lack of a specific nutrient in natural ways.

    The fact is that people are windy about dietary supplements. It seems that if the packaging says “is not a drug”, then the product can be selected for yourself and consumed in almost unlimited quantities.

    Everything is not as simple as it seems. Firstly, any dietary supplement should be prescribed exclusively by a doctor after consulting and studying the test results. Chapped lips are in most cases just the tip of the iceberg. It may not be a banal lack of vitamin E, but, for example, developing anemia. Secondly, when buying several vitamin complexes, you may not know how the ingredients that make up their composition are combined with each other. In the best case, the effect may not be, and in the worst case, you can get another problem.

    How to get rid of bad habits

    When they say that from bad to good eating habits – a whole life, they are disingenuous. Although, of course, getting rid of bad eating habits is no easier than giving up cigarettes or alcohol on Fridays. Love for alcohol, smoked sausage, salty chips, sweet milkshakes is not just a habit at the household level. It’s hormonal cravings.

    The human body is designed in such a way that during periods of stress, or depression, it will require foods that can increase dopamine levels. Surely, the hormone of joy and satisfaction in a fresh grilled zucchini will not be enough, and your hand will reach for the chocolate bar.

    Also, foods that contain excessive amounts of sugar form an addiction to it. No wonder, according to experts, the dependence on sugar is many times stronger than on strong drugs.

    To give up bad eating habits, you need:

  • Eliminate or minimize hormonal disturbances in the body (practically everything depends on the “behavior” of estrogen and progesterone in the female body – from a banal mood to taste preferences);
  • Take strict control of the use of hormonal drugs (experts say that even modern contraceptive hormonal drugs can cause an increase in appetite and deterioration in the quality of the skin);
  • Minimize the number of stressful situations in life (remember that stress causes the body to produce cortisol, which contributes to the accumulation of fat and destroys muscles);
  • Give up the habit of eating in a hurry (set aside enough time for eating to chew food thoroughly – so satiety will come faster);
  • Do not season food with sugar or salt during cooking (do this when the product is ready – this way you will be guaranteed to use less seasoning);
  • Avoid foods with artificial sweeteners (sweeteners will not help keep your weight healthy, and they can provoke even stronger cravings for sweets);
  • Gradually give up the habit of drinking on weekends (at least for the sake of experiment, put a taboo on dry wine for a couple of weeks, and make sure that the complexion will improve, the swelling will decrease, and the daily calorie content of the diet will gradually decrease).

The benefits of proper nutrition

To hide, food is the fuel of the body. And health depends entirely on what quality it is, in what combinations it is consumed. Correct eating habits have become a real trend lately. The healthy lifestyle movement is so rapidly gaining popularity that only a deaf person has not heard about PP (proper nutrition).

Vegetarianism, veganism, raw food diet, paleolithic diet … Nutritionists do not recommend becoming adherents of any particular nutritional system. They assure that the body will only benefit from a balanced diet.

Only by learning to eat balanced, we can help the body work without interruption and minimize the risks of cardiovascular disease (the number 1 cause of death in the world), diabetes, obesity, immune and cancer diseases.

How to form healthy eating habits

You need to understand that here, as in any other business related to intelligent and high-precision matters (and our body is just that), there is no need to rush. If some processes occur too abruptly, believe me, the body will find a way not only to make up for the loss, but also to put aside something in reserve.

It’s the same with habits. It will take some time for a weekly diet, when you start eating healthy and balanced, to turn into a month, and then into a lifestyle.

To help your body play by the new rules, take advantage of these tips:

  • Remove from the diet foods with trans fats (they are found in foods that have undergone serious processing);
  • Eat whole foods (they do not contain such harmful ingredients as sugar, processed oils, processed carbohydrates, and the body spends more calories on their processing);
  • Watch out for a sufficient amount of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet (oily fish and flax seeds to help);
  • Conduct a revision in the kitchen (for example, give up large plates in favor of small ones – this way you will eat much less);
  • Periodically arrange sugar detox, when for several days sugar in one form or another will be completely removed from the diet (such “diets” will help you to weaken your cravings for sweets);
  • Cook at home (so you will know exactly the composition of the dish and sauces that you serve);
  • Make sure that clean drinking water is available (we often confuse hunger with thirst).

20 healthy eating habits

Back to Dan Buttner and his Longevity Rules. Experts have found that centenarians in different parts of the world have similar rules and eating habits. They don’t count calories, don’t take vitamins, and don’t weigh grams of protein. After analyzing the results of more than 150 studies conducted in blue zones over the past century, Buettner and his colleagues were able to find 15 centuries-old rules that unite the oldest people living on the planet. You can read about the differences in the diet of each of the “blue zones” in my previous post here.

  1. 95% of the diet should be plant foods

In each of the Blue Zones, whole grains and legumes dominate the dining table throughout the year. Centenarians eat seasonal vegetables in all their impressive variety, and for the winter they salt or dry the excess. The best of the best foods for longevity are leafy green vegetables. Studies have shown that the mortality rate among middle-aged people who ate at least a cup of cooked greens daily was half that of those who did not eat greens.

  1. Eat meat no more than twice a week

Families in most Blue Zones eat a little meat — usually only added to simply add new flavor to stand-alone meals. Strive to limit meat in your diet: no more than 60 grams and no more than 5 times a month. Choose chicken, lamb or turkey from local farms. The meat in the Blue Zones comes from animals that are free to graze or feed on local food, which is likely to result in higher omega-3 fatty acids.

  1. Eat up to 90 grams of fish daily

The Adventist Health Study — the majority of Loma Linda’s residents — in which 2002 Americans have participated since 96, found that people who ate a small amount of fish once a day in their plant-based diet lived longer. In the Blue Zones, fish is a common part of the daily diet. The best options are sardines, anchovies, and cod – they don’t accumulate a lot of mercury and other chemicals. Here you will find a few more recommendations on what and how much fish to include in your diet.

  1. Cut down on dairy

The human digestive system is not prepared for the assimilation of cow’s milk. People in blue zones get the calcium they need from plants. For example, a cup of cooked cabbage provides as much calcium as a glass of milk. Read about other plant sources of calcium here. However, products based on goat and sheep milk such as yogurt and cheese are common in the traditional diet of the people of Icaria and Sardinia.

  1. Limit your egg consumption

In the Blue Zones, people tend to eat only one egg per week: for example, the people of Nikoi fry eggs and put them in corn tortillas, while on the island of Okinawa, boiled eggs are added to soup. Try replacing your egg / omelette breakfast with fruit or other plant-based foods (see my mobile app for a few delicious plant-based breakfast ideas).

  1. Eat half a cup of legumes daily

Black beans in the Nicoya Peninsula, soybeans in Okinawa, lentils, chickpeas and white beans in the Mediterranean – legumes are the cornerstone of the Blue Zone diet. On average, beans are 21% protein, 77% complex carbohydrates, and only a small amount of fat. They’re also a great source of fiber (read here about why we need fiber and which foods are the best sources of fiber). Beans contain more nutrients than many other foods on earth. Half a cup of legumes a day — the amount consumed by Blue Zones on average — provides most of the vitamins and minerals humans need.

  1. Switch to whole grain or sourdough bread

In three of the five Blue Zones, bread is the staple food. But this is not at all the bread that many of us buy every day. Bread in Ikaria and Sardinia, for example, is made from a variety of 100% whole grains, including wheat, rye and barley. Each provides a wide variety of nutrients and high amounts of fiber. In addition, traditional long-lived bread contains bacteria that “digest” starch and gluten, helping the dough rise. During this process, acid is formed, which gives the sourdough its flavor. As a result, this bread actually reduces the glycemic load and contains less gluten.

  1. Cut back on sugar

Residents of the Blue Zones consume no more than a fifth of the amount of added sugar that we eat on average. Long-livers, as a rule, add honey to tea, and desserts are eaten only on holidays. Try not to add sugar to food and drinks. Eat cookies, candy, and baked goods only a few times a week. And avoid processed foods with sweeteners.

  1. Snack two handfuls of nuts daily

This is the average daily consumption of Blue Zones residents. Data from a 30-year Harvard study showed that among people who eat nuts, the death rate is 20% lower than among those who do not eat nuts. Other studies show that nuts can help lower bad cholesterol levels by 20%.

  1. Eat Whole Foods

Residents of the “blue zones” consume products in their entirety: not industrially processed and not “enriched” with additional enhancers of taste, color and smell. They don’t take any additives, but get everything their body needs from locally grown whole foods, which are often self-grown. Takeaway: Avoid foods with long lists of ingredients and buy food from local farmers’ markets as often as possible.

  1. Increase your water intake

California Adventists recommend drinking 7 glasses of water a day, citing research that shows good hydration levels reduce the likelihood of blood clots. Plus, by keeping your thirst at bay with plain water, you avoid sugar-laden or artificially sweetened drinks.

  1. Choose red table wine as alcohol

People in most blue zones drink one to three glasses a day. Wine promotes the absorption of plant antioxidants. Plus, some alcohol at the end of the day reduces stress, which is beneficial for overall health.

  1. Drink green and herbal teas

Okinawans drink green tea all day to help reduce the risk of heart disease and some forms of cancer. And the inhabitants of Ikaria brew teas from rosemary, wild sage and dandelion – all of these herbs have anti-inflammatory properties.

  1. Indulge in coffee

People who live on the Nicoya peninsula and the islands of Sardinia and Ikaria drink a lot of coffee. The results of the study link coffee consumption with a lower risk of dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

  1. Perfect protein

Worried about your plant-based diet lacking protein? The myth that plants cannot provide us with enough protein is quite common. You may be interested to read about this in an interview with one of the most enduring athletes, the conqueror of the distance. Ironman vegan Rich Roll. The trick is to combine legumes, grains, nuts, and vegetables in your diet to provide all nine essential amino acids that your body can’t make on its own. You can read more about how much protein we need and which plant foods contain it here.

  1. Eat local food depending on the season

As you know, long-term transportation of products involves the use of chemical “reagents” to deliver them in a marketable form. The key word here is “view”. Yes, it is possible that mangoes from distant lands and on the shelf of a Moscow supermarket will look beautiful, but whether there are at least some vitamins and nutrients left in it is a rhetorical question. The same goes for fish. Only products delivered by air can be referred to as “chilled”. And chilled products are a priori high prices.

  1. Live an active but moderate lifestyle

Best the enemy of the good. This also applies to physical activity. If you’re not training for a marathon, you don’t need to live on a treadmill. Listen to your feelings. Walk more, swim for fun, and engage in activities that increase the flexibility of the spine (such as yoga). And also stick to your daily routine. The body is an intelligent being, and it loves and honors the order and constancy of habits.

  1. Reduce calorie intake gradually

The goal of reducing calorie intake is to maintain normal cholesterol and blood pressure (that is, prevent the development of cardiovascular disease). Reducing the calorie content of the diet is quite simple if you pay attention to such nuances as the size of the dishes (in a small plate, the portion looks larger), thoroughly chewing food, the habit of making breakfast more dense than dinner.

  1. Set specific goals for yourself

The success of fulfilling a desire half depends on how clearly and specifically you formulate it. And it doesn’t matter what kind of dream you have – material, or, with regards to health. Residents of the “blue zones” perceive life planning as a kind of “vaccination” against many diseases. They are confident that a strong desire to “see the grandson get married” will give a serious impetus to a healthy and high-quality life.

  1. Surround yourself with like-minded people

The correct social environment is a kind of guarantee that one day you will not go astray. Also, a supportive environment reduces the risk of stressful situations in life. And the absence of stressful situations significantly improves the quality of life.

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