A recent report demonstrates further that what the so called experts are telling us is healthy eating may be incorrect. Saturated and unsaturated fat are not the harbingers of death they once were thought to be and a high-carb diet is more likely a causal factor in heart related health problems than once believed. The European Society of Cardiology study presentation showed that high carbohydrate intake was directly related to a substantially higher risk of death compared to a low carbohydrate consumption. The study recommended raising fat intake to 35 percent of consumed calories and lowering carbohydrate intake.
“Looking at the link between macronutrients and heart disease, researchers found high carbohydrate consumption- defined as diets where more than 60 percent of calories come from carbs—increased the risk of overall death (though not the risk of heart disease or death from heart-related causes specifically).
Meanwhile, eating saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty-acid was associated with lower death risk.
“Each type of fat was associated with significantly reduced mortality risk: 14 percent lower for saturated fat, 19 percent for monounsaturated fat, and 20 percent for polyunsaturated fat,” according to the study. Higher saturated fat intake was also linked to a 21 percent decrease in stroke risk.
When you first look at this information it seems that these are huge numbers, 20 percent is a lot and if I was a gambler I would certainly like to increase the odds of winning by 20 percent, but aggregated across a population these numbers reduce down to the 1% range. Now while that seems small and much less important than the study subject numbers it still is an important consideration and would mean thousands of lives would be saved from devastating negative health impacts by switching to a lower carb higher fat diet.
Confused even more by this and what does this mean for the individual? How do we make informed decisions about our health?
Clearly the Food Guide Pyramid is not a good guide on how to live a long healthy life. Even though the Pyramid is developed by the USDA and supported by the Department of Health and Human Services it is not the best source of healthy eating information. Where do we look and how do we make sense out of this complex and very important topic. If we decide that it is our best interest to eat healthy what the heck does that mean? I decided to take a look at the World’s Blue Zones to see if I could find some common food consumption lifestyle habits that could be a better guide. A Blue Zone according to Wikipedia is an anthropological concept that describes the characteristic lifestyles and the environments of the world’s longest-lived people.
Zones
The five regions identified and discussed by Buettner in the book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest:[4]
An old Sardinian man.
• Sardinia, Italy (particularly Ogliastra, Barbagia di Ollolai and Barbagia of Seulo): one team of demographers found a hot spot of longevity in mountain villages where an amazing proportion of men reach the age of 100 years.[4] In particular, a village called Seulo, located in the Barbagia of Seulo, holds the record of 20 centenarians from 1996 to 2016, that confirms it is ” the place where people live the longest in the world “[5]
• The islands of Okinawa, Japan: another team examined a group that is among the longest-lived on Earth.[4]
• Loma Linda, California: researchers studied a group of Seventh-day Adventists who rank among North America’s longevity all-stars.[4][6]
• Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica: the peninsula was the subject of research on a Quest Network expedition which began on January 29, 2007.[4][7][8]
• Icaria, Greece: an April 2009 study on the island of Icaria uncovered the location with the highest percentage of 90-year-olds on the planet – nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s. Furthermore, Icarians “have about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia.”[4][9]
Residents of these places produce a high rate of centenarians, suffer a fraction of the diseases that commonly kill people in other parts of the developed world, and enjoy more healthy years of life.[10]
Before we talk further about food lets identify a common lifestyle component for each of these communities and that is moderate exercise, none of these 5 listed groups live a sedentary life. My take on this is once you stop moving you die I doubt that your diet can overcome lack of movement. So some form of moderate exercise should be done every day. So strap on those walking shoes.
I don’t have all the answers nor do I propose that I am always correct. What I am suggesting is that life is a journey and I believe we should strive to do the best we can along the way in all aspects of our life including health. So let’s try and be as healthy as we can be for the trip. Life can be hard so but life after 60 could be the best time of our life if we are able to maintain our health and vitality. Perfect health is a myth so we all will struggle with some aspects of poor health but the more we know about how to live a health life enables us to make choices about how we battle the aging process and everything that entails.
As for healthy eating choices I don’t think you can go wrong with eating more vegetables a lot more vegetables as in they should take up the majority of your plate at every meal. Eat organic if possible and if your inclined grass fed beef, pasture raised chicken are good sources of protein. If you chose to be vegan or vegetarian then that’s fine as long as you obtain the proper macronutrients which takes some planning. What is healthy for you individually really depends. Studies have shown that what may be good for you may not be so good for someone else. So experiment and eat what works and provides you the energy to feel good. But, for everyone the reduction or elimination of processed high carbohydrates is a must. The insulin spikes and resulting cortisol response is damaging to everyone and especially in the long term. So make the lifestyle change and avoid processed high carbohydrate foods such as breads, cereals, muffins and bagels. In fact try to eliminate sugar and flour from your diet all together.