If you change your diet now, you will have a chance to live for another 10 years.

This kind of diet will not hurt the bones and muscles, and is suitable for all ages. It is necessary to prolong life.

If a person lives to be 100 years old, people often think that there must be something special about him.

However, there are at least five "longevity shrines" on Earth, which are home to the world's oldest people, many of whom live into their 90s and are free from any chronic diseases.

The five sites are Nicoia (in Costa Rica) surrounded by tropical rain forests, oceans and beaches, two beautiful islands in the Mediterranean (Sardinia in Italy and Ikaria in Greece), Okinawa Prefecture in Japan and Loma Linda, a small city called "Beautiful Mountains" in California, USA.

The secret of longevity.

One of the secrets is dieting, where residents eat 10% less calories than the average adult.

Some studies have suggested that dieting can reduce the content of free radicals (oxidizing ability and destroying biological macromolecules in cells) in the human body, reduce the risk of DNA mutation and promote DNA repair.

Residents of four of these areas (Okinawa, Sardinia, Ikaria and Loma Linda) have higher levels of fresh fruits and vegetables and lower levels of meat, where people eat more whole-grain bread, beans or nuts.

People in Okinawa often eat two kinds of food-sweet potato and balsam pear. Sweet potatoes are rich in fiber, vitamin A, C, E and potassium, which can help regulate blood pressure and reduce inflammation.

Balsam pear contains compounds that stabilize blood sugar and reduce the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Nicoya residents rarely eat processed foods, but also eat a lot of fruits rich in antioxidants.

The water they drink is also rich in magnesium and calcium, so they are less prone to heart disease and strong bones.

Change one's diet.

Compared with these long-lived people, more "normal people" around the world eat an unbalanced diet with excessive energy intake.

Such a diet is prone to obesity and multiple inflammation, and may even increase the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease-the three leading causes of natural death worldwide.

It is estimated that dietary risk factors cause 11 million deaths worldwide each year.

Many studies have confirmed that some diets are unhealthy. for example, eating too much red meat can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, while eating super-processed foods can lead to obesity, metabolic disorders and chronic diseases.

The researchers collected and screened studies on food and human health published as of April 2021, most of which directly showed the correlation between food intake and longevity.

They found that white meat and a small amount of oil had no significant effect on lifespan.

Excluding the above two, our daily foods include the following categories: whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fish, eggs, milk / dairy products, refined grains, red meat, processed meat and sugary beverages.

Using these data, the researchers built a model and used typical Western diets (American and European diets) as benchmarks to show the effects of optimal diet (optimized diet) and feasible diet (feasibility approach diet) on longevity.

The intake of all kinds of food in the feasible diet is between the optimal diet and the typical western diet, which is relatively easier for people to implement.

Prolong life.

Dietary changes also correspond to eating more beans, whole grains, nuts, and less red and processed meat, which also have the most significant changes in life expectancy compared to other dietary ingredients.

Eating more beans increased the life expectancy of 20-year-old men and women by 2.5 years and 2.2 years respectively, followed by whole grains, 2.3 years and 2 years, respectively, while less red meat and processed meat increased life expectancy by 1.9 years and 1.6 years, respectively.

Change the living environment.

These diets are very healthy, but it's not easy to stick to them.

When we inherit and adhere to the diet of those who live the longest, we may need to change our living environment.

In fact, 90% of people live in a circle with a radius of less than 8 kilometers around their home. If some of these places can be changed, people can inadvertently eat less and exercise more.

In the 2016 study, Dan Butner and others also described an experiment they began in 2008 to transform Albertley, a small city of 9000 people in Minnesota.

After being approved, they made many small changes in the environment in which people live, such as setting up standing desks in the workplace, removing vending machines from schools and banning students from eating in corridors and classrooms. make it easier for people to buy fruits and vegetables instead of fast food, making the streets more suitable for running and cycling.

After a year and a half, the change has taken place. Life expectancy here has increased by 3.2 years, the average person has lost 0.3 kg of weight, and medical costs have fallen by 40%.

However, in today's era of high stress in life and work, easy to eat and sleep irregularly, the pursuit of a healthy and long-lived lifestyle can also be regarded as a big challenge.