Since the beginning of time, we’ve wanted the fountain of youth, to live longer, feel younger longer and to have more time on this earth to share with our family and friends.
We’ve wanted this as a species, as nations and as individuals. These means that it’s pretty inherent in all of us.
So, something this important had to be covered really well. It was far to big a topic to cover in just one article, I mean, it would have been a pretty long article.
To make it easy reading for you, we’ve broken this down into 2 articles this is part 2 of 2. To see part 1 simply click here where you’ve finished reading part 2, they do not need to be read in order: Click Here For Part 1
Disclaimer: The following is for educational purposes only. We are not advocating a change in dietary, health or exercise protocols. Please seek the advice or council of your nutritionally educated health care practitioner prior to engaging in any dietary or exercise changes.
Does Reducing Calories Increase Our Lifespan And Health?
The answer as far as we can tell is yes.
The reason we are saying it this way is that the quotable studies have all been done on rats and rabbits. There have been a few good observational studies on humans but no real double blind placebo type studies.
Which makes sense, because finding people who only wanted to live half as long to participate in the study might be kind of hard.
The animal studies showed that a calorie reduction of anywhere from 10% to 50% increased lifespan from about 3% to as much as 13%. Yes, those eating the least number of calories saw the greatest improvement in lifespan gain.
In the human observational studies researchers found that the people of Okinawa Japan eat around 10% to 15% less calories than those in Western cultures.
They also consume very little animal protein, about the equivalent of half an egg a day, so, yes, that could play a factor as well.
None the less, their consumption of fewer calories is what was being observed in these studies.
The researchers concluded that, the caloric reduction largely contributed to their increased lifespan. Okinawa has the highest level of centenarians per capita of any place in the world.
How lower calorie eating might affect you at your stage in life would be a matter of considerable debate.
However, we do know that there are health and longevity benefits to be gained no matter when in your life you begin. So, take a good look at it, read the studies in the sources section and go for it.
How Does Following Traffic Laws Help You Live Longer?
This should be the no brainer of all time. But there’s actually more to it than meets the eye, so read on.
Of course, if you follow traffic rules you stand a lot better chance of not getting hit by other cars or getting into other accidents… Duh!
But, that’s not what we’re referring too, this is something that‘s initially more subtle but can and usually does have long lasting impacts on your health and the length of your life.
It’s called stress and we all know just how big of an impact that can have on us in so many ways, from physical to mental health it hurts.
We are not just talking about you following the traffic safety laws, we are talking about the other drivers doing it too.
There is an old saying that describes this scenario pretty well and that is: The real definition of stress is ‘suppressing the irresistible urge to choke the crap out of someone who desperately deserves it!’
Even though we are joking of course, this joke is funny because it’s true. If someone tells you a joke and it’s either not true or you don’t believe it ‘could’ be true, then it’s not funny. The only time something is really funny is when it is or at least sounds like it could be true. Only the truth is funny.
So, when you’re driving and some jerk cuts you off makes you hit the brakes or swerve to avoid smashing into him and your blood starts to boil this is stress.
When you need to be somewhere and a guy is just sitting at a green light picking his nose, bottom or both and you scream ‘oh, come on’ or something a bit more colorful, this is stress.
We are in these types of stressful situations most days and we need to stop.
Ok, so we can’t stop driving, so what can we do?
It’s not the situation, it’s how you handle it.
A very short story to give you a rather funny example of this type of thing in action; I was flying back from a business trip to Russia on Aeroflot airlines that has (or at least had) some seriously old aircraft.
We were at about 20,000 feet and climbing to cruising altitude when the gasket in the front passenger loading door blew out. It sounded like a .22 caliber gunshot.
The pilot immediately started descending because the air at that altitude is extremely cold.
They moved passengers away from the door etc.
Well, the lady in front of me just would not stop screaming.
So, I stood up, leaned over the back of her seat and loudly said “ma’am” several times until she looked up and me and said “what?”
I said, “settle down”.
She replied with, “but we’re all going to die”.
To which I replied, “I know, but settle down”.
She immediately shut up.
It’s not the situation, it’s how you handle it.
Her constant screaming was preventing me from thinking and thinking is exactly what might have been able to save the day depending on what happened next.
As another example. The most important training NASA says they give their astronauts is panic training, I.E. how not to panic in life or death situations. Seriously, they consider this to be the most important training they receive.
Stressful things will happen in life, don’t become stressed out by them and they won’t have such a negative impact on your life.
Does Checking Your Blood Pressure Regularly Help Your Health?
Absolutely. Here’s how.
When you go check your blood pressure regularly, you’re heading off potential problems at the pass (before they become big problems).
You get an insight into how your body is doing, how it’s reacting to your present environment.
Then by tracking it you can start to see a pattern develop that might set off warning bells.
You should track your body’s health just like you’d monitor the amount of money in your bank account.
How Bad Is Smoking For Your Health And Life Expectancy?
With all the evidence that’s out now, if you still smoke, please, just stop.
Yes, we know, ‘that might be easy for us to say’, but this junk is really addictive.
We understand, many of us here used to smoke at some point in our lives too and we had to give it up.
There are tons of studies, some say that every pack of cigarettes takes 1 week off your life, others say it really could be as much as a month if you’re genetically predisposed to certain conditions.
The challenge is, you likely don’t know if you are, or aren’t.
Smoking causes and or contributes to every one of our top 5 causes of death. If that isn’t enough, it also causes, directly contributes or indirectly contributes to at least 50 more health challenges or ailments.
These are all preventable, just quit.
How Are Bad Fats Bad For Your Health?
There is so much that we could cover here that we could literally write a book about it.
Fats control your hormones, they oxidize and become unbelievably bad oxidants, many would argue that they are the worst kind of oxidants because such a small amount can do so much damage.
Your hormones are generally known as lipotrenes, which means they are made of fat and protein combined.
The body can enter states where it simply must make hormones and all you’ve fed it are bad fats. So, you don’t leave it much choice, it then makes the hormones using bad fats and now you could be affecting dozens or areas of the body depending on which hormones are being made.
Bad fats also facilitate cell death in virtually every type of cell in the body. We are just very lucky that our blood brain barriers are so particular, or we could literally have brain hemorrhages from some of the meals we eat, yes, they are that bad.
As is, many suffer headaches and migraines or severe joint pain flare ups without being able to figure out why they are happening. The culprit could very well be bad fats.
Many people have sat down to a meal, relaxed and then when they got up felt pain.
Many times, this can be caused by bad fats in the meal or snack you just ate. Yes, they affect you that fast.
A typical scenario that plays out all over the country is…
The oxidative stress caused by bad fats target your joints and you think that you’ve got arthritis, so you see a doctor, they give you a pill, the pill rots out your liver and they give you another pill.
Within a few years you’re on eight to ten pills and feel like death.
When in reality all you had to do was stop eating bad fats and you’d have felt great.
Now, we are not saying that you should not see a doctor when you have a problem. What we are saying is that, much of the problems people think they face can be solved by diet, exercise and stress reduction.
How Do Good Fats Help Improve Your Health?
Just as bad fats are destructive to your health, good fats help build your body, and protect your health.
Here in the Western world, we consume far too many omega 6 fatty acids, these wreak havoc on our system when they get too far out of balance with our needs for omega 3 fatty acids which we tend to not get nearly enough of.
We would challenge you to get a 2 to 1 ratio of omega 3’s over omega 6’s and just watch how you feel. Most people actually feel an improvement in just a matter of a few days or in many cases that same day.
Omega 3 fatty acids are the building blocks of a properly functioning hormonal system. Without them your system does not have the tools that it needs to get the job done, it’s as simple as that.
Then, when you don’t get enough good fats AND you get too many bad fats you really hose up the system. This is where so many people have all their problems.
Will Consuming Less Sugar, Oil & Salt Help You Stay Healthy?
Oh, you’d better believe it will.
You may have noticed that the first letter of each – Sugar, Oil & Salt spell S.O.S.
When we speak of these items we’re speaking of the refined versions of them, not as they are found in their natural state, in which they are actually good for you.
Let’s go over each individually. There is so much data on them they we could write a book about each. However, here we will just go over the main points that you really need to know.
Sugar
Refined sugar is poison. There are no two ways about it.
Taken from The Journals of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, here are two quotes from a single study:
“Available evidence in humans shows that sugar and sweetness can induce reward and craving that are comparable in magnitude to those induced by addictive drugs.”
“Overall, this research has revealed that sugar and sweet reward can not only substitute to addictive drugs, like cocaine, but can even be more rewarding and attractive. At the neurobiological level, the neural substrates of sugar and sweet reward appear to be more robust than those of cocaine (i.e., more resistant to functional failures), possibly reflecting past selective evolutionary pressures for seeking and taking foods high in sugar and calories.”
There are other studies from around the globe that detail the same or similar findings. But the main point is that sugar in its refined form is incredibly addictive.
This wouldn’t be bad at all if it was good for you, the problem is, it’s not.
Multiple studies show that sugar causes everything from neurological and psychological problems to diabetes and obesity. There is also evidence that it directly contributes to heart disease and heart attacks.
So, if just one thing contributes to every one of our top 3 killers, don’t you think it would be time to eliminate that from your diet?
Oil
We challenge you to go anywhere in nature and find a spigot sticking out of an olive tree or a palm tree where you push it, and oil comes out.
Not going to happen.
In nature oils are bound within their whole foods like olives etc. You can’t find extracted oil anywhere, not possible.
And we spoke about all the harmful affects of bad fats above, so just read that and you know why oil is bad for humans.
Salt
Seaweed (which contains sodium) is great for you. Please go eat a whole sheet of nori. But sodium chloride is not good for you.
Study after study show that salt is linked to heart failure. But do you know why?
You have a cellular water pump called the sodium potassium pump. The two help balance the amount of fluids that are both inside and outside the cells of your body.
They work in opposition to one and other and that is how they keep their balance when THEY are in balance of course.
When they are out of balance, all heck breaks lose, and you actually become bloated with water and dehydrated at the same time.
How could that be?
Well, let’s say you’re really hungry. Staving to death in fact. There is a whole room full of food in your house, right next to you, but the doors locked, and you can’t even kick the door in.
You’re starving to death in a house full of food.
You’re dehydrated, but the water is being pushed to the wrong rooms (or areas) and you’re still going to parish. Pretty ironic, but none the less true.
This is why you should get all of your sodium from natural foods and avoid all salt intake.
There is a part 1 to this article, you really should have a look at it right here: click here for part 1
Sources
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2815731/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4490104/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5403510/
4. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-90-481-8556-6_3
5. https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/45/4/443/1680839?login=true
6. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07315724.2009.10718117
7. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15402010bsm0201_6
8. https://www.bmj.com/content/326/7398/1048.short
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6140086/
12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763407000589