6 Health Hacks for Longevity
Age is more than just a number, but more about how you feel. If given the choice, I think all of us would prefer feeling vibrant later in life, with our independence and mobility intact. We generally want to live a long healthy happy life.
Longevity is the result of everyday choices we make and accumulate over the human lifespan. In this article, you will learn some easy changes that can make a significant impact to your overall health.
Nowadays, it’s real easy to fall into bad habits and routine. Oftentimes we get so busy with work, our families, and life in general that we often feel too overwhelmed to start! To top if off, the world of health and wellness can be a tricky field to navigate, with numerous types of diets, trends, and supplements. All so very different, and all claiming their way is the best. You may want to start eating better but don’t know where to start.
We’re hear to show you six science based health hacks for longevity.
Here are our six health hacks to help you feel your best.
1. Switch to Organic Coffee
It has been long known coffee is beneficial to the liver. It has been known to help protect the hepatic cells, reducing probability of liver cancer and stopping hepatitis B and C from replicating. More is better, where clinical tested individuals who average 2-3 cups a day to have been shown to have lower instances of liver disease.
Cleveland Clinic reports that regular coffee drinkers have also lower risks of getting nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Coffee is rich in anti-oxidants. Doctors even recommend up to three cups a day!
Research has shown that regular coffee consumption improves outcomes with:
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and it’s worsen state of cirrhosis
- Cancers of the ailmentary system, kidney and pancreatic cancers
- Prostate, breast and ovarian cancer
The one no-good thing though about coffee is all the pesticides that regularly come with it. Conventional growing of coffee beans means excess pesticide residue, including anti-mold and fungal sprays. Which doesn’t even always work, as some major coffee brands are quite moldy before they hit the store shelves. A cup of tea might as well be a cup of pesticides while you’re at it. While it doesn’t cancel out coffee’s benefits, it bring on other issues to the body. Like it or not, our bodies have not evolved with our industry; pesticides accumulating in the body over time is something of concern. Investing in better quality coffee or teas will put less stress on the liver, and accumulate less damage over time.
Spending just a few dollars more for organic coffee and tea is a health hack that will do your liver a heap of help.
2. Cut out High Fructose Corn Syrup
This form of sweetener became a popular cheap alternative to cane sugar for foods manufactures starting in the 1990’s. It was later found to be even a main contributor to the obestiy epidemic; in the United States and other Westernized countries that adopt American major food brands. Combined with the low-fat craze, the Standard American Diet (SAD) became one full of inflammatory sugar, oils and grains. Whether the low-fat trend help bring upon these cheaper corn syrup alternative may be true or not, but there combination together changed the landscape of American health demographics.
High fructose corn syrup wreck havoc on the body in two key areas. The liver and the cardiovascular system. First reason why it’s so bad, is because high fructose corn syrup must be entirely processed by the liver. Second, high fructose corn syrup is quite inflammatory because it is so heavily processed. Researchers at UC Davis Health have discovered the combination of fructose reacting with glucose also wreaks havoc in the heart, increasing markers for cardiovascular disease.
The Western world consumes on average 122 lbs of processed sugar every year, more than our ancestors at the turn of the nineteenth century would consume in a lifetime.
If you have a belly, you most likely suffer from some sort of fatty liver issue. To improve the liver, you will need to cut out high fructose corn syrup entirely.
Better Sweetener Alternatives:
- Stevia
- Monkfruit
- Erythritol
- Coconut Sugar
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Molasses
What About Agave?
Agave Syrup also has a similar effect on the body. While more “natural” with less processing, it’s mainly fructose and is a higher glycemic sweetener than table sugar. Agave easily adds to weight gain around in the belly area and increases your risk of diabetes and fatty liver disease. Because of these reasons, we do not recommend substituting with agave nectar.
Instead of using the in your coffee or baking recipes, save agave for your margaritas!
3. Supplement
Food these days don’t have the same nutrients as our grandparent’s generation. You can thank soil depletion and mono-crop agriculture for some of that decline.
Certain nutrients are worth supplementing and are required in the modern diet. You can certainly hack your health with supplementation. The quality of your supplements comes into play also, as naturally derived ingredients have a more synergistic approach to their compounds. You want key players working in harmony. Exercise caution if you are on medications, check in first with your primary caregiver.
Top Recommended Supplements
- Probiotics
- Vitamin D3
- B Complex (food based is ideal)
- Magnesium
- Cod-Liver Oil
- Reversatol and MNM (read more about MNM and anti-aging here)
4. Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting is a game-changer. Not only will it help you balance out your hormones and weight, but it’s also an incredible health hack to curb hunger. Experience life with sustained energy, no longer being at the mercy of blood sugar levels rise and falls. Intermittent fasting teaches your body to switch into fat-burning modes instead of staying dependent on glucose.
Intermittent Fasting is a powerful health hack for longevity, because it helps re-balance the body’s hormones, including boosting human-growth-hormone factor. This alone is a huge health hack for longevity!
To start off, try stopping snacking. Begin with only eat three meals a day. Then, switch out the “three meals a day” to two meals. Then you can try shortening your feeding window to 10 hours, and go 12 hours without calories. There is no deprivation of calories, just changing the schedule and way you eat.
The health hacks of intermittent fasting, such as fat-burning or autophagy, kick in around 16 hours into a fast. Even doing fasting on an alternate day schedule a few times a week will be a great way to benefit!
Intermittent Fasting has become popular lately because IT WORKS! Readers like you understand that our bodies have not evolved with our technology, and just because we have an abundance of food around us doesn’t mean we constantly need to be snacking. Going longer stretches without eating, while still getting enough calories, will help your body burn excess fat.
You can learn all about this on my intermittent fasting guide, including ways to optimize your results.
5. Focus on Anti- Inflammatory
Controlling inflammation is an important health hack to increase longevity. Left unchecked, the body rapidly breaks down. Inflammation is the root cause of many chronic and terminal illnesses. Cellular distress and hormonal imbalances create an environment for cancer, uncontrolled insulin leads to diabetes. All of this is rooted in inflammation.
A diet rich in antioxidants, with an emphasis on low-inflammatory foods, is your best bet to keeping these culprits at bay. This would be a diet limited in refined sugar and grains and avoiding foods that are known carcinogens.
Three Key Power Players
- Turmeric– has been scientifically proven as a powerful anti-oxidant. The curcumin in this spice has an anti-inflammatory effects useful for cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease, even cancer.
- Ginger– contains a unique compound called gingerol. Research has shown that gingerol inhibit cancer growth and also improve cardiovascular function.
- Garlic– contains compounds that have numerous benefits to heart function. Research has shown that garlic improves markers related to high blood pressure, hypertension, both LDL and HDL levels. It has also been discovered to improve blood vessel elasticity.
Low Fat or Low Carb Diet? There is no universal diet for all of us. A high-starch, low-fat diet may be ideal for some while causing heart disease in others. Some groups will do better on a high-protein Paleo meal plan. A thorough explanation and assessment on the ideal diet for you can be found with the book The Metabolic Type Diet by William L. Wolcott.
6. Stop Smoking
It has been said before but doesn’t change the importance. Stop smoking! Refraining from smoking is one of the easiest and more important health hack for longevity. Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death. Though trends are showing obesity slowly creeping up the ranks with smoking, I still find abstaining from smoking is still easier than all the factors that go into the obesity epidemic. While you can’t avoid food, you can avoid smoking!
One of the last few tweets the late and great actor Leonard Nimoy wrote was: “Don’t Smoke. I did. Wish I never had.” on January 10, 2015 before dying from lung complications.
What About Vaping?
Vaping is a newer trend, and the research is not looking good. Advertised as a safer alternative to smoking, the research is telling us “not really.” In fact, vaping has been shown to damage the DNA structure and reducing cellular repair in multiple organs including lungs, brain and heart. Vaping is surprisingly not limited to the lungs, but vaping has been known to increase risk of bladder cancer.
It’s worth noting too, the increase of minors and young adults using vape or “e-cigarettes.” The various kinds of vape flavors available often tend to cater to a younger demographic. The human brain doesn’t completely form until age 25, where brain cells go through a grand inventory evaluation of synaptic pathways. Links that have been used stay and imprint onto the brain, where unused neural pathways will be broken down and recycled back into the body. This makes adolescence and young adulthood such an impressionable period. Smoking and vaping not only damages the brain, but instills the habit into the synaptic pathways, leading to a life of addictive tendencies.
Vaping is especially troublesome for those with asthma. The carrier oil used to disperse the substance through the vape has been shown to be sticky, clogging up the delicate areola part of the lungs. The areolas are where oxygen conversion occurs, effecting oxygen levels throughout the whole body. This is why you feel overall more sluggish, and winded after walking up some stairs.
Vaping is not a healthier alternative to smoking, so face the truth, face your fear and learn to finally I’ve up smoking. Stop the hacking up your lungs by giving up the habit entirely!
Health Hacks for Longevity
Longevity comes with a commitment to oneself. Questioning our habits is one of the best way to start, because you begin a journey of finding what works best for you. Once you start to re-evaluate your relationship with food and society, you may find these health hacks to be only the beginning.
The last health hack I would throw in is subscribing to the Carrot Campaign, so you are notified when we have new information available for you.
Try these health hacks for a month, and let us know what differences you notice!
For the Love of Food
