What Would You Give To Add 13 Healthy Years to Your Life?

Or a more appropriate question might be … what would you give up? Because a couple of very simple changes to your diet could leave you with up to 13 healthy years of your life.

These are extra years you could enjoy with your family, friends, kids and grandkids.  

To reach this conclusion, this study out of Oslo, Norway did a very simple thing. They ran a computer simulation that looked at known health risks based on age and what foods were eaten. They found that some foods provided a large boost in Life Expectancy (LE), while other foods decreased it.

So What Do I Eat Then? 

Basically a Mediterranean style diet was the answer.

The largest increase in LE was found from eating more legumes like chickpeas, lentils and beans.

For example, if a 20-year-old boosted their daily intake from the typical zero legumes to having a one large bowl of lentil soup, they could expect to live nearly two-and-half-years longer, the researchers said.

The other big LE booster came from consuming whole grain products like oats, whole grain rice, and nuts. Consuming more of these added 2 extra years of life, according to their modeling. 

If you want to subtract years from your life, the researchers said red and processed meats would have that effect. 

Oddly, the very same dietary improvements had a greater effect on men’s estimated life expectancy than women’s. It’s not exactly clear why that would be. 

Bottom Line

Over and over the research confirms that eating a Mediterranean style diet, consisting of fruit, veg, beans, and grains, and leaning on fish and chicken as your meat sources creates the optimal conditions in your body for a long healthy life.