Bad Habits Can Age You 12 Years

                   

May 11, 2010 | 93,134 views

Smoking, drinking too much, lack of exercise and poor diet can age you by 12 years.

 

The findings come from a study that tracked close to 5,000 British adults for 20 years. Over the course of the study, 29 percent of the people with all four unhealthy behaviors died. Only 8 percent died among the people with none of the four habits.

USA Today notes that:

“The findings don't mean that everyone who maintains a healthy lifestyle will live longer than those who don't, but it will increase the odds.”The fact that an unhealthy lifestyle can age you prematurely is not exactly earth-shattering news … especially for you regular readers. But there are two tidbits revealed by this study that just might make your jaw drop to the floor.

Eating poorly, not exercising, drinking too much and smoking does not just age you a little bit -- it ages you by more than a decade. For many, the motivation to live a cleaner life often doesn’t occur until a health issue sets in, but the fact that you may be able to pass as being in your late 40s when you’re actually in your early 60s may help give you that added incentive you’re looking for.

It should be mentioned, too, that those in this unhealthy group were also more likely to die during the study. The most common causes of death? Cancer and heart disease, which are both often related to lifestyle habits.

Small Healthy Steps Lead to Major Benefits

Secondly, and this is really amazing, the people who counted as “healthy” in this study (and were the ones who reaped the benefits of seeming 12 years younger and lowering their death risk) were really just scraping by according to most “health” standards.
Here’s what I mean … to be in the “healthy” category, participants had to:

• Exercise at least two to four hours a week
• Eat vegetables and fruits three times a day or more (the lead researcher mentioned that consuming one carrot, one apple and a glass of juice would suffice but this is obviously far less than optimal!)
• Not smoke, or have quit smoking
• Have fewer than two drinks a day for women, and fewer than three a day for men

These are far from extreme healthy measures. In fact, they are steps that virtually everyone should be able to achieve, especially the first two!
What I want everyone reading this to realize is that by making even small positive changes to your exercise routine and diet, you may be able to drastically alter your health.
This should be especially motivating for those of you who are just starting out and perhaps feel overwhelmed by making healthier choices. Every step you take is a positive one, even if it seems small.

In fact, I encourage you to start out slowly. This is why my Nutrition Plan is divided into three stages, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, and walks you through to a healthier lifestyle one small step at a time.

Many are not aware that I have compiled a very comprehensive guide on how you can change your diet. If you haven’t reviewed my Nutrition Plan, I would strongly encourage you to schedule some time to study it and reflect on how you can adjust your food choices based on the recommendations I provide.
Now, bear with me here for another minute … imagine if you are eating healthy on a daily basis. And when I say eating healthy, I mean choosing foods that:

• Correspond to your nutritional type
• Are unprocessed whole foods
• Are often raw or only lightly cooked
• Come from high-quality, local sources
• Are organic or grass-fed, and free from additives and genetically modified ingredients

Add to that a regular exercise program, one that challenges your body on a nearly daily basis, or at least far more than just two hours a week, along with eliminating or reducing alcohol to a very occasional basis...
Just imagine the health benefits you will reap!

If You Want to Stay Young, Here’s What You Need to Do

Americans spend dizzying amounts of money on creams, gadgets, surgeries and other do-dads to look and feel younger.

But the reality is that more than any pill or medical “treatment,” your lifestyle is what will determine your level of health now and in the years to come.

It was the ancient Roman poet Martial, wise beyond his time, who first said:

“Life’s not just being alive, but being well.”

This is still true today, many centuries later. Your health is a gift that cannot be bought, and once it’s lost it may be impossible to get back.
So I urge you to start taking steps today – again, even small ones – to make your lifestyle a little bit healthier. Whether you realize it yet or not, you have at your disposal numerous methods to influence your physical and mental well-being, and ultimately take control of your health.
I can tell you from personal experience that a healthy lifestyle works! Just look at Jack LaLanne at age 93! Now there is a glowing testimony to how exercise and optimal nutrition can help preserve you.
The choices you make on a daily basis truly influence just about every disease known to man, and probably more than handful of those yet to be discovered! They can also make your energy levels rise or plummet, make your mood sunny or dark, and either nourish your body or slowly destroy it.
Your lifestyle habits can even influence the expression of your genes, and help your genes express themselves in a positive, disease-fighting way, or vice versa.
The choice is yours!