OK. So you want to be fit and live long, right? Of course, we all want this, but how do we do it? Maybe your family has had a lot of health issue or has a tendency to die relatively young—you’re screwed right? Or maybe someone has told you how rats and mice will live much longer than “normal” if they are fed less. So this, of course, means that if you eat less —the so-called “anti aging diet” –you will live longer. Or does it?
It isn’t that simple. The studies from early in the 20th century that seemed to indicate that rats live longer if fed less may have been flawed. The “control” rats that were used to establish how long a “normal” rat should live ate as much as they wanted 24/7. But rats that can eat as much want will eat a lot more than they really need—or that they would usually eat in the wild—and all the eating is bad for them. They die sooner than rats out in nature.
It turns out that overfed rats—and fat humans—tend to have higher levels of glucose in their system. And high sugar levels promote the formation of modified proteins in the body that aren’t good for longevity. High sugar levels in turn result in elevated levels of a hormone called insulin. High insulin levels also seem to be bad for longevity. So to make a long story short, overeating might be related to an early death more than restricting how much you eat is related to a later death.
Don’t get me wrong, restricting your intake of food is probably good for you. But just eating less is not going to magically make you live to 150. The longest that any of us can reasonably expect to live is probably 120, and none of us would want to live that long if the last 30 years were spent incapacitated in a nursing home with minimal quality of life. So there are other considerations and actions that you need to do to live a long and healthy life.
Believe it or not, regular church attendance has been shown to be related to living longer, and it is even more important than regular exercise or not smoking. It probably isn’t merely “going to church” that makes you live longer. It is more likely related to the underlying beliefs that accompany church attendance.
There are other factors that also influence how well an anti aging diet works. Exercise, vitamins, supplements, and healthy relationships are just a few of these. You can learn more by going to anti-aging-diet.net.
