Are you a fan of longevity and lifetime wellness? I sure am. I LOVE the countless stories of people all around the world who are living long, healthy and happy lives to 100 years and beyond. These individuals INSPIRE me to choose wisely and maximize my one and only life.
Although there are many things in life that we can’t control, there are plenty of things that we 100% know speed up disease and aging. To me, “aging” is just another disease. Sure, it’s inevitable for all of us, but that doesn’t mean that we need to speed it up any faster than it needs to be.
Science is clearly showing that most people are expediting their own physical demise because they don’t want to face the truth – what they do to their bodies over a lifetime DOES matter. But who really wants to take personal responsibility when it’s easier to just throw your hands up in the air and say, “What can I really control?” What this comes down to is an individual who acts emotionally and justifies things by asking, “Why try and do the right things because that would require effort, discipline, and choices that differ from immediate gratification?” It’s far easier to eat ice cream while watching TV than it is to work out and eat healthy foods.
You may be like most people and automatically think in terms of age numbers and equate a number with a state of health. For instance, if I ask many of my clients to describe what being 80 years old is like, they jump to assumptions and believe that the number 80 automatically equates to being in a nursing home, drooling on themselves, lonely, pooping their pants, and losing their memory.
But that isn’t really set in stone. What science is clearly showing is that lifestyle choices absolutely do matter. There is a small but quickly growing segment of the world’s population that is living to 100 and beyond. The life they are living at 80 or 90 is far different than the norm of what many people think and believe.
This group of people all share many common denominators of success.
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physically active
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eat healthy diet
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socially connected
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enjoying friends and family
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doing fun things
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limited alcohol use
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no drugs
But they absolutely took care of themselves and lived healthy lifestyles. We aren’t seeing large groups of healthy who are super fit and active at 100 who say, “Heck, it was all just blind luck. I smoked 2 packs a day, was an alcoholic, and ate chips and ice cream for dinner every day.” That’s not the reality of the situation.
We are also learning “what doesn’t work” when it comes to longevity and we know what is speeding up the aging process and disease.
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processed foods
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preservatives
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gluten
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alcohol
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tobacco
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trans-fats, toxins
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stress
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impaired sleep
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sugar
If you combine terrible inputs with no exercise and a sedentary lifestyle, you are digging your own grave prematurely.
You have been hijacked by the food industry that has no regard for your health. Once the food industry works you over and destroys your health, they will pass you off onto big pharma and the money dominated health industry which amazingly will completely ignore the importance of quality foods and a truly healthy lifestyle. The food industry ignores our health and our health industry ignores our food. We know what works but if we all did what works, then the food industry and health industry couldn’t sell us expensive pills and do expensive rounds of chemo on us.
If one was willing to look around, there are countless and growing examples of super fit, healthy, happy people well into their 80’s, 90’s and 100’s doing things that would blow people’s minds.
Longevity planning is a lot like retirement planning. It’s easy to ignore until it is too late. Practicing prudent financial planning never guarantees 100% success that leads to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. But NOT practicing prudent financial planning most certainly guarantees financial failure and often prematurely. We know what almost certainly guarantees failure in many areas of life, longevity included. Living by principles helps keep us focused and on the right path. Below are my very basic principles for Healthy Living.
Inverting the issue is important because if we invert the issue, there is almost a certain way we can guarantee a shorter, unhealthier, and a physically problematic life full of diseases and premature aging. All we have to do is eat like sh!t, be sedentary, and subject our bodies to chemicals and toxins that damage our body’s ability to repair itself accurately.
You don’t have to be a Star Trek fan to “live long and prosper.”