New research reveals that people who eat healthy in midlife increase the likelihood that they will reach the age of 70 without major chronic conditions, reports Maya Goldstein for the Harvard School of Public Health. What does it mean to eat healthy?
The Mediterranean diet is one way to go to increase your odds of living free of chronic conditions into your 70’s. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains, nuts and legumes. Avoid eating ultraprocessed foods, drinks with sugar added, salt, and refined grains. And, minimize eating meat, particularly red meat.
Following a diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes, with minimal red meat, sugar and salt, should promote both your physical and your mental health and well-being, according to researchers at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Montreal and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Their research was just published in Nature Medicine. You are more likely to be able to live independently and have a good quality of life.
The researchers looked at the diets of 105,000 health professionals between the ages of 39 and 69 over 30 years. They studied men and women. But, they did not look at people of differing socio-economic status.
People who ate more processed meat, drinks with sugar, diet drinks, and other ultraprocessed foods, reduced their odds of living free of chronic conditions into their 70’s. The researchers further found that a healthy diet comes in a lot of varieties. People can eat more or less of the fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes that they like.
Here’s more from Just Care:
Leave a Reply