Hugging and being kind is good for you.
“Life is beautiful, and longer every day. Part three”. was originally pubished on Sep 20 2019, but now has a video version. You can watch the available videos in the Vlog section, or directly in my Youtube Channel https://youtu.be/yie0ApMQ86Y
I am still reading through TIME Secrets of Living Longer (English Edition) published in 2019 by Time Magazine, where different writers have gone through the research for us to make a 100 page recommendation for making those extra years we have now more healthy.
In the last two blogs we have learned that we do live longer now, and that there is a lot we can do for those years to be healthier and also the importance of rethinking the structure of our society as the western world’s population is getting older.
I must admit, that even though science has advanced since I took all of my human nutrition subjects in university in the 90’s the recommendations for a healthy diet has not changed that much. It still is the Mediterranean diet that is the number one in helping you living a longer and healthier life.
There is no short cut, and there is no single food that will make you live a healthy life, longer. It is a combination of foods to ensure that you cover the right amount of nutrients on the number of calories that is appropriate for your age and your activity level. To do that you should stay away from what we know as empty calories, which are the calories that provide energy without giving you any nutrients, so refined foods, white flour, white sugar, and processed food, also you should not eat too much red meat.
The best thing for you is to cook everything at home, so do not have too many precooked meals. Also there is an age related recommendation of protein intake, which should increase from the age of 65. And you should eat fats. Make sure they are the good ones, like Olive oil, nuts, fish Oil, rapseed oil, avocado oil, coconut oil etc.
It may surprise you to know that the days where fat was the root of every thing evil is over; it is better to have a full fat diet and slash the sugar!
Enjoy your fruit and veggies! You don’t have to become a vegetarian to enjoy the health benefits of fruit and vegetables. The numbers that they give in Time magazine speak for themselves: you can reduce your risk of death by 42% at any age having 7 servings a day. The risk of dying from cancer is reduced by 25% and heart disease 31%
There seems to be an indication of a relationship between calorie restriction and longevity, however we do not know for a fact yet how exactly is the best way to restrict calories and what the side effects can be to an elderly and weaker population to leave longer between meals or have a days with no food and therefore, according to research done by Times magazine, there is no official scientifically proven recommendation for time spent with not eating. Even though the title to this part of their report is somewhat misleading.
Also it seems to be beneficial for women to have one alcoholic drink a day and men two, Tea and coffee are also good for you.
Keeping your gut healthy is also very important we now know that an imbalance in your gut bacteria doesn’t only affect your digestion it also affects your mood.
So as we learned that health advice is still, don’t smoke, exercise, eat a Mediterranean diet, cooked at home, and keep your gut bacteria healthy.
What also influences our health is our relationship to others and being touched improves our health, having a massage can, apart from getting rid of aches and pains help in lowering your blood pressure. Even more so if it is the touch of a loved one. So my dear readers hug each other, it is very healthy and so is being kind to one another and that is, as we all know free of charge.
I hope you are as happy and healthy as you want to be.
Best wishes
Ivalo
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Amazon link to the magazine, if you want to read the complete text.