Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of disability and death in the United States.
If you want to live a long and healthy life, you need to prevent or significantly delay the onset of these diseases.
Fortunately, lifestyle can play an important role in keeping these conditions at bay. There are several things you can do minimize risk.
First and foremost, it is essential not to smoke. If you are a smoker, your risk shoots way up and it’s possible none of the other lifestyle habits will make a difference.
Assuming you don’t smoke, here are 4 more powerful ways to avoid chronic illness:
1. Maintain a healthy body weight & good body composition
You want to maintain a BMI that is within the healthy range, but weight alone is not enough. It is important to also have good body composition, characterized by having a higher percentage of muscle and lower percentage of fat (visceral fat is especially problematic). The rest of this list will help you achieve this objective.
2. Eat real, whole foods, higher in protein and lower in carbs
Eat real, whole food and stay away from the packaged and processed stuff. Specifically avoid added sugar and refined grains — simply eliminating these 2 elements from your diet will significantly improve your health. That means you’ll be eating a relatively lower amount of carbs than the Standard American Diet. Consider following the 30/30 Diet to ensure you get enough protein to maintain lean muscle. I recommend eating at least 30 grams of protein at every meal and 15 grams of protein at each snack.
3. Exercise including both Aerobic and Resistance Training
Exercise 6–7 days a week. Do aerobic exercise on most of the days (e.g. running, cycling, swimming) and resistance/strength training at least 2 times per week. Complex activities like racket sports are especially great because they tax your mind and body at the same time. Exercise for at least 30 minutes per day, but health benefits increase as you get up to 90 minutes. 30 minutes is good, 60 or 90 minutes is better.
4. Practice Time-Restricted Eating
When your body is digesting food, it can’t do its other self-repair and maintenance functions. This means if you eat around the clock, your health will suffer. Practice time-restricted eating by confining all of your caloric intake within a specific time period. There is some evidence that earlier time windows are better than late, as it can be problematic to eat too close to bed. A good eating window might be 9am — 7pm, cutting off food 3 hours before a bedtime of 10pm. That means you would be fasting for 10 hours between dinner and breakfast, giving your body a chance to heal itself.
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Research indicates that genetics only account for 20-30% of lifespan, with lifestyle making up the other 70–80%.
By following these lifestyle choices, you will give yourself the best chance to avoid chronic disease, living both longer and better.