11 Ways to Live Longer.
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Eat healthy. I love cheeseburgers and fries as much as the next man, but if longevity is you goal, you need to make sure you eat healthy. Load up your diet with fresh fruits and vegetables. Broccoli may not be as much fun as a super-size order of French fries, but it’s rich in antioxidants that can help fight off free radicals. And you know that old homily about “an apple a day.” Well, it’s a good idea still. Ditto, legumes (beans to you), celery, carrots, grapes, lima beans and just about any fresh fruit or vegetable.
1. Beat High Blood Pressure.
Eat meat. In a recent Australian study, people with high blood pressure who replaced 8 percent of their daily calories from bread, cereal, potatoes, or pasta with lean red meat experienced a four-point drop in their systolic blood pressure in just 8 weeks.
Arginine, an amino acid in red meat, may help dilate blood vessels, lowering blood pressure. Plus, limiting starches lowers blood sugar and makes your body more efficient at burning fat.
Exercise regularly. This doesn’t mean you have to spend hours pumping iron, jogging or other forms of cruel and unusual punishment. Instead just walk for 30 minutes every day. Walking is just a great exercise for losing weight, unclogging arteries and keeping joints flexible. In fact, I read one very popular diet book recently that had been featured on a network TV program. It had some good, healthy recipes but the kicker was that you were told to walk 30 minutes a day, seven days a week. Based on my experience, I’m not sure the diet actually would work without that 30-minute walk..
2. Save Your Skin.
Melanoma feeds on modesty — if you don’t strip for a yearly skin screening, the cancer can spread undetected.
Made an appointment? Now make one with your honey. A Northwestern University study shows that when people learn how to do skin self-exams with a partner, they’re more likely to check themselves (and each other) in the future.
3. Have a Healthy Heart.
Be optimistic about aging. You won’t find this in a lot of the literature on longevity, but experts are beginning to realize that a person’s attitude about aging is almost as important as their attitude about food. In fact, researchers at Yale University and Miami University of Ohio have found that people who view aging positively lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those who saw it negatively. In other words, don’t focus on how badly your joints are creaking or how you just can’t do the things you were able to do when you were 10 or 20 years younger. Concentrate instead on the good things you’ve gained with age such as wisdom and, hopefully, a more mature perspective. You might also try to find older role models who have inspiring pursuits – to remind you of the good things you can do with that extra 7.5 years of life. Finally, you can be optimistic about your life span. The medical technology breakthroughs we have seen to date are nothing vs. the ones that will come in the next 10 years. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, the longer you live, you longer you will live… [read more]
Eat more dairy. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, consuming three or more servings of dairy per day can slash your risk of heart disease by 31 percent.
“We don’t know exactly how dairy lowers heart-disease risk, but other studies show that the calcium and magnesium in it can lower blood pressure,” says study author Donna Spiegelman, Sc.D., a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard school of public health.
Want even more protection? Seek products fortified with vitamin D. British researchers found that daily D supplements lower blood levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of arterial inflammation, by 23 percent.
4. Lose Weight Over the Phone.
Pick up the phone and ask for help dropping the pounds.
Researchers at the University of Kansas recently had 96 overweight people follow weight-loss counseling programs and discovered that the programs conducted by telephone were just as effective as face-to-face clinical counseling. On average, members of both groups lost 28 pounds in 26 weeks.
Physical inactivity is killing thousands of Americans by putting them at risk for heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and colon cancer.
“Telephone-based programs have the benefits of convenience, lower transportation costs, and accountability with anonymity,” says study author Joseph E. Donnelly, Ph.D.
The Weight Control Information Network of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases said lack of exercise costs the American nation about $24.3 billion in preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services, and has increased the number of overweight and obese adults who are candidates for the above diseases.
5. Drink Coffee for Your Colon.
Drink decaf coffee. A recent study at the Harvard medical school surveyed the tea and coffee consumption of men and women for 18 years — and showed that drinking two or more cups of decaf coffee per day can slash colon-cancer risk by 52 percent.
Decaf coffee may have a positive effect on bowel motility — meaning it keeps things moving — an effect that the caffeine in regular coffee may cancel out.
Obesity currently affects over 64 million American adults who are also in danger of suffering from uterine, kidney, colorectal and gallbladder cancer. The problem doesn’t happen overnight. It is the result of an energy imbalance, meaning too many calories are consumed and there is little or no physical activity.
6. Kick the Sticks.
Go spit. A 2005 study in the British Medical Journal found that smokers who saw their results from a saliva-based nicotine test were 17 percent more likely to quit. The test, which involves spitting in a cup and measuring the amount of tobacco-derived toxins in the saliva, was used in conjunction with antismoking counseling.
“Genetics and the environment may increase the risk of personal weight gain. However, the choices a person makes in eating and physical activity also contributes to overweight and obesity. Behavior can increase a person’s risk for gaining weight,” said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Researchers believe that being able to see progress in the quest to quit — in much the same way one can see the results of a cholesterol-lowering regimen — helped motivate the participants.
7. Protect Your Prostate.
Carve a pumpkin, cut your prostate-cancer risk. Eating a large slice of pumpkin pie (or 13 baby carrots) daily will give you about 8,000 micrograms of beta-carotene, an amount research from Roswell Park Cancer Institute shows may halve a man’s risk of the disease. Top with whipped cream to boost your absorption of the nutrient.
Just how inactive are Americans? Experts said only 26 percent of adults engage in vigorous physical activity lasting 10 minutes or more. Fifty-nine percent of adults do nothing at all.
8. Defeat Depression.
Ask your therapist how many patients he treats. If it’s more than 25, beware. Research has shown that a therapist’s effectiveness decreases as his caseload surpasses this number.
“About 25 percent of young people (age 12 to 21) participate in light-to-moderate activity (e.g., walking, bicycling) nearly every day. About 50 percent regularly engage in vigorous physical activity. Approximately 25 percent report no vigorous physical activity, and 14 percent report no recent vigorous or light-to-moderate physical activity,” said the Weight Control Information Network.
A Finnish study found that men who exercise and are exposed to sunlight experience a greater reduction in depressive symptoms than those who work indoors. A CDC survey also found that people who exercise regularly feel less depressed.
9. Avoid a Car Accident.
Cellphones make distracted drivers out of all of us, quadrupling a man’s accident risk — even hands-free.
“Despite all the benefits of being physically active, most Americans are sedentary. Technology has created many time and labor saving products. Some examples include cars, elevators, computers, dishwashers, and televisions. Cars are used to run short distance errands instead of people walking or riding a bicycle. As a result, these recent lifestyle changes have reduced the overall amount of energy expended in our daily lives. According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, in 2000 more than 26 percent of adults reported no leisure time physical activity,” the CDC added.
One answer: Take a page from airline pilots. In a new study in Risk Analysis, researchers found that when pilots talked on a cellphone in a driving simulator, they caused 46 percent fewer virtual accidents than nonpilots did.
“They knew to disengage from the cellphone conversation at precise moments,” says Jake Rose, Ph.D., the coauthor.
Decrease your own distractibility by hitting “hold” at the must-focus moments identified in the study: when merging, during stop-and-go traffic, and at intersections involving multiple turn lanes.
To add years to your life, start losing weight now. It will make you look better and feel better. But don’t expect miracles. Losing weight takes time, effort, and discipline. As long as you stick to your goal – which is to become a better and healthy person, you will succeed. To get you started, here are some tips from the US Surgeon General:
• Aim for a healthy weight. People who need to lose weight should do so gradually, at a rate of one-half to two pounds per week.
• Be active. The safest and most effective way to lose weight is to reduce calories and increase physical activity.
• Eat well. Select sensible portion sizes and follow the “Dietary Guidelines for Americans.”… [read more]
10. Ditch Diabetes.
Eat to beat high blood sugar. When you consider that “glucose-intolerant” is another term for “diabetic,” it’s easy to see what you shouldn’t eat. Namely, glucose-rich foods, such as bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes.
One caution: If you’re currently taking medication for high blood pressure or high blood sugar, consult your physician first, as this diet will cause both to drop.
11. Save Yourself from a Stroke.
“Each daily serving of fruits and vegetables decreases stroke risk by 6 percent, so three servings decreases it by 18 percent,” says James Bobenhouse, M.D., stroke-program director at BryanLGH Medical Center, in Lincoln.
No time to cook? Down a Tropicana Fruit Smoothie — one 11-ounce bottle equals 2 1/2 servings of fruit.
Source: 11ways.blogspot.com
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