Living to Age 100 plus and Healthy

I have come across a lot of interesting comments in my past 15 years of involvement in the health and fitness industry. The most interesting one that I have heard in the past 3 years is a lack of interest in living longer. This lack of desire for longevity may be the first sign of a depressed person. 

This topic of longevity comes most often in conversation when I discuss food and my desire to live to be 120 years old and still self-sufficient with my (ADL's) activities of daily living.

The most interesting part of this is that people today seem to find food to be a main source of pleasure rather than seeking other forms of pleasure. Although this is a temporary form of pleasure when practiced incorrectly it can lead to many bad forms of eating which in turn has many negative and detrimental effects to ones health. 

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D., specifically wrote a book which he titled 'Eat to Live' which is the way nature originally intended it. The book was written to teach people how to eat not just for weight loss but for good health. Good health should be the priority, weight loss will happen naturally if a proper nutrition intake is eaten. Food was intended to be a source of replenishing nutrients, maintaining health and a way of consuming ingredients which would help the body repair itself as well as acquiring fuel to sustain life and physical activity. These days the trend has become a way to happiness, relieve depression and many other mood altering effects. 

A recent report by the Wall Street Journal published the finding of an almost 6 year study which involved 73,308 members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and reported in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Internal Medicine. This is little in comparison to a 30 years of research that was reported in a book titled 'The China Study' by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D which involved 2,500 counties across China and Taiwan demonstrating the conclusive connection between nutrition (an animal based diet versus and plant based diet) heart disease, diabetes and cancer. 

Although both of these studies have similar and conflicting findings, here is what the study reported: 

(Only read this if you want to live to be over 100 years old and healthy)

• Vegetarians experienced 12% less deaths over the period of almost 6 years
• Vegetarians were 19% less likely to die of Heart Disease
• Fewer deaths form Kidney failure and diabetes in the Vegetarian Group
• Caloric intake did not make a difference and both consumed about the same amount of calories
• Men benefited the most from a Vegetarian Diet
• Cancer rate was roughly equal amongst both groups
• Nutrient profile of Vegetarians provided more Fiber and less saturated fat
• Vegetarians had leaner body structure

Even though this study claims that there were no significant reductions in preventing cancer, both studies demonstrated that those who follow a vegetarian or mostly plant-based diet are less likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes and will also reduce the mortality rate from these two diseases as well as Kidney failure. These reasons alone in addition to the 12% reduction in death are good enough to follow a primarily if not complete plant-based diet. The Choice is Yours! I want to live to be 120 years and still be as self-sufficient as possible. This gives me another 80 years of helping transform lives toward good health :D