Ageing is an inevitable part of life, but that does not mean that you must age quickly and with an ever-reducing quality of life. Quite the reverse! In fact, the evidence shows that people in the “third age” of life are at their happiest – so long as they remain in good health. Of course, no one wants to spend their later years in and out of hospitals and too weak or too sick to reap the joys of living.
Not many people know this, but age can be measured in two completely different ways: the passage of time (years) since birth OR the vitality of your entire organism and the vitality of your individual cells. Maintaining healthy cells is essential if you want to “live healthier for longer”
For example: we all know that smokers die younger…but why is that? Well by inhaling smoke you are damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs. Ultimately you are accelerating the ageing process from the inside out and it’s not just your lungs that are ageing prematurely….
In-fact studies have proven that smoking just 1 cigarette a day can double your risk of heart disease as well as triple your risk of premature death (death from ANY cause) compared to those who have never smoked.
Yet it was only about 40 or so years ago that smoking was marketed as healthful. People were encouraged to “smoke the brand your doctor smokes!” Smoking became increasingly popular. More and more people were doing it (including pregnant women and children). Eventually the authorities were forced to recognise the correlation between a seemingly endless list of health issues and smoking as the root cause.
This never-ending list of health problems and the resulting decline of an entire nation’s health eventually forced the UK government into taking action by legislating for the inclusion of deterrent advertising on cigarette packets to warn people of the dangers pf smoking (instead of the medical and celebrity endorsements that used to feature on the pack).
So why is everyone so concerned about smoking? Because ONLY ONE cigarette will damage your cells, damage your blood vessels, and can cause inflammation. Everyone knows that smoking causes lung cancer. But it also causes wrinkles, dental destruction, problems of the immune system, heart disease, impotence and much, much more… Simply put, smoking accelerates aging
Shockingly the same is true for ultra-processed food… and here in the UK over 55% of our calories come from junk foods.
Pretty much every negative health effect that we listed above also applies to regular consumption of ultra-processed food. In health terms it’s just as bad as smoking and arguably worse. Ever heard of the “French Paradox?” It’s nothing to do with Brexit! The French smoke more than we do and eat a lot more saturated fat. Yet they are healthier on average than we Brits, with an 18-months life-expectancy advantage. Why? Because they consume much less ultra-processed food.
Just like smoking, consuming ultra-processed foods is a dangerous and ultimately lethal addiction.
Much of the damage caused by addictive, ultra-processed food comes down to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond well to insulin and therefore can’t easily take up excess glucose from your blood. In a forlorn attempt to maintain blood sugar in the normal range, your pancreas secretes ever more insulin to force the excess glucose in the diet out of your bloodstream and into your cells.
Ultra-processed food contains an excess of carbs. When the carbs in junk foods are metabolised, they rapidly turn to sugar which, in turn leads to raised insulin and ultimately insulin resistance. We’ve all been told that it is the (saturated) fats that will bring about our demise. We were lied to. It’s simply NOT TRUE! – To learn more, click here!
For many of us ‘fat’ has scary, even life-threatening connotations! People religiously avoid fat (unless they’re looking to gain weight of course). But not all fats are bad news. For decades we’ve been told to avoid them, but this is not necessarily the case. Click here to find out more.
So, make no mistake: avoiding excess carbs alone will not save you. You must also stay away from seeds oils and other unhealthy fats that are also found in ultra-processed foods).
Junk foods contain a lot of sugar, processed carbs, and seed oils, or the “trifecta of evil” as we at ProLongevity like to call it. They should be regulated in exactly the same way as much as smoking, and for exactly the same reasons. We discussed this recently with world-leading expert Prof Robert Lustig, you can watch/listen this podcast here!
Vested Interests: But if there is a thorough crack down on the big food corporations (as we recommend) then the big pharmaceutical companies will also suffer. Why? Well while companies like McDonalds, Innocent Smoothies and Pizza Hut are damaging your body, causing inflammation and accelerating the aging process…
Meanwhile “Big Pharma” is standing on the side-lines waiting to pump you full of drugs that will only make you 10% better and their wallets 100% thicker!! Frustratingly the NHS continues with the “pill for every ill” approach while paying little more than lip-service to nutrition, sleep, and exercise. We’re supressing symptoms NOT addressing route causes.
Graham Phillips (our founder) has covered the unacceptable face of Big Pharma and Big Food, but we’ve never properly explained why we are so appalled by their behaviour. Click here discover why…
CONCLUSION: So now that you understand what can cause you to age faster than necessary, you will also understand how to “Live Healthy as you Age!”
- Do Not Smoke
- Eat Healthier
- Limit Alcohol
- Control your weight
- Know Your Family History
- Know Your Numbers
- Manage Stress
- Improve your Cholesterol (lipid) profile
- Get Regular Health Screenings
- Prioritise sleep
- Have a consultation with ‘The Pharmacist Who Gave Up Drugs’ who can coach you into a longer and healthier life using ‘precision nutrition’. ProLongevity takes your diet, exercise and sleep schedules into account and will improve all areas of your life, physically and mentally.
We want you to live a long, happy, and healthy life. So please remember that while some health issues are treatable, prevention is much more effective. If you take care of yourself today, you’ll reap the rewards over the next 10, 20 maybe 50 years!