According to a recent CNN news report, changing your diet could add up to 13 years to your lifespan, according to a recent study.
The study basically created a model about what might happen to a person’s longevity if they replaced the ‘typical western diet’ with an ‘optimized diet.’
What do these terms mean, though, and how much of a difference does it make?
Let’s dig into it.
What Is The Typical Western Diet?
According to the news report, the typical western diet focuses mostly on red meat and processed foods.
In other words—think hamburgers, fast food, sweets, soda, etc.
What Is An Optimized Diet?
According to the report, an optimized diet basically focuses on eating less red and processed meat, and eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.
In a lot of ways, the Mediterranean diet fits right into these guidelines as being the type of diet that could help you to get to a more ‘optimized’ health state.
But let’s talk about how big of a difference it makes for your longevity.
How many years can a quality diet actually add to your life?
How Many Years Can An Optimized Diet Add To Your Life?
Here are some statistics from the CNN news report, which were taken from the study, that really help to paint a picture of how useful an optimized, healthy diet can be to health and longevity.
- If a woman begins eating optimally at the age of 20, she could increase her lifespan by just over 10 years
- A man who begins eating a healthier diet from the age of 20 could add 13 years to his lifespan
But focusing on eating well could also help you to lengthen your lifespan if you start later on as well.
For example:
- Starting at age 60, a woman could still increase her lifespan by 8 years if she started eating an optimized diet
- Men, starting a healthier diet at the age of 60, could add up to 9 years to their lifespan
- Even 80-year-olds could expect to add up to 3.5 years of life to their lifespan by switching over to a more plant-based, optimized diet
What Does This Mean For You?
At the end of the day, we all have a choice to make.
We can choose to prioritize our health and wellness by being intentional about our food choices…
Or we can choose to keep eating junk food and filling our bodies with things that are actually going to cause it to deteriorate at a faster rate.
Health, wellness, and longevity are worth it.
So today, make some diet choices that’ll help to contribute to a better, longer, healthier future for yourself.
You deserve it. And it just may revolutionize your life in more ways than you could ever realize.