Let’s all be honest with each other, we don’t want to think about getting old. We all want to think we can live forever and that age is just a number. We want to be care-free and live a life full  of energy and excitement. If we want this to be a reality, it’s going to take some time and effort. Now, most of our healthy habits are not difficult per say, but rather, they take consistency and dedication. Here’s what we need to know when looking to naturally fight the aging process.

Stay Active
This shouldn’t come as a big shock but, staying active is one of the best ways to naturally fight the aging process. In fact, a study conducted found that those who remained physically active as they aged were able to gain upwards of five years added to their life when compared to those who didn’t stay active¹.

It is recommended that we engage in 150 minutes of physical activity each week. For example, if you were to walk for 30 minutes five days a week, you would be at your 150-minute recommendation. That could be something as simple as taking a walk after dinner with your spouse, significant other, kids, or dog. Additionally, it doesn’t matter how you break up the minutes either. You can go for a 15-minute walk around the neighborhood in the morning and then another 15-minute walk over lunch five days a week and hit your numbers. The key is to simply keep moving and stay active regardless of our age.

When we move more, we are better able to maintain our weight and drastically reduce the risk of health issues. A study looking at weight loss and health risks showed that even something as small as a 5-10 percent drop in body weight is enough to help improve blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and cholesterol levels². Essentially our overall health.

One aspect that seems to diminish with age is muscle mass. Engaging in weight-bearing exercises as well as some form of resistance training is essential to maintain and keep your lean muscle mass. By doing so, you’re allowing your metabolism to stay healthy and continue burning calories even while at rest³. This essentially helps maintain a proper body weight and can further reduce the risk of health complications and illnesses due to having an excess of body fat. Those very same weight-bearing exercises also help strengthen bones to aid in preventing conditions such as osteoporosis.

Lastly, when it comes to staying active to fight the aging process, we need to look at the human brain. Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and other illnesses that deal with the brain are generally more common as we age. For that reason, it’s important to stay active and constantly be using and stimulating our brains. Research has shown that by engaging in regular aerobic exercise that we gain the ability to protect the brain and memory⁴. As they say, the mind is a terrible thing to waste, so lets make sure we are doing everything possible to protect its health.

Maintain a Healthy Diet
An important factor in our overall weight, health, and energy levels are the foods we consume on a daily basis. If you’ve ever taken notice, after some meals you feel energized and ready to tackle the day, while other times you feel like laying on the couch and taking a nap. The foods we eat can drastically shift our health and energy in one direction or the other. To fight the aging process, we’re going to want to put in a little time and effort in planning out our meals, knowing what is considered healthy and unhealthy, and ensure we are preparing the foods in the correct manner by steaming, baking, or grilling.

Maintain a diet that consists of lean protein sources such as chicken, turkey, fish, and egg whites. Consume fibrous vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, kale, asparagus, and salad greens. Add in some fruit for something sweet, such as apples, bananas, oranges, etc. Fruits contain antioxidants that are able to destroy combatant free radicals before they are able to kill or mutate cells in our body and make us sick. Take in healthy fat sources from items like fish, avacado, nuts, olive and coconut oil, as well as natural nut butters like peanut and almond.

By maintaining a healthy diet, we are better able to manage our weight as well as improve our cardiovascular health⁵. Additionally, a healthy diet that contains vitamin B12 can help improve memory and brain health. Foods high in B12 that you can pick up at the grocery store are fish, milk products, and lean meats.

One item to make sure you eliminate or drastically reduce is sugar. Sugar has the ability to raise glucose levels, spike insulin, bring upon diabetes as a long-term effect, speed up cancer cell growth, and many other unhealthy negative effects. Stay away from the pastries, desserts, cakes, ice cream, donuts, candy, and soda. Also, refrain from consuming fried foods as well as anything that has been refined.

Calcium coming from your diet also is necessary to help maintain strong bones for the same reasons as it’s important to engage in weight-bearing exercise to prevent osteoporosis. Those who do not take in enough calcium from their diet should consider implementing a calcium supplement. Additionally, many people find it convenient to supplement their nutrition with products such as protein bars and shakes. These are especially important to help provide the body with adequate protein and amino acids to promote overall health, lean muscle maintenance, and strength. Something like the Lean Body line of bars and shakes would be ideal. They are easy to take with you wherever you may go. For instance, the Lean Body RTD contains zero sugar and like the bars, are loaded with key vitamins and minerals as well as being gluten-free to support proper health which makes for the perfect snack between meals.

Beating Father Time
Eventually, Father Time will catch up with us, but it’s how we’ve positioned ourselves over time that will dictate to what degree he plays a role. If you utilize the strategies above, you’re already ahead of the game and place yourself in a proactive role when it comes to your health and longevity. If you haven’t had a chance to implement some of the suggestions above, we strongly advise you consider working on making that shift today.

If you want to take things one step further, consider signing up for the free Lean Body Transformation Program. It contains a helpful video workout program, a weekly meal plan, motivational strategies, and a step by step nutrition guide – all of which ties into the strategies listed above. As an incentive for you to kickstart the program and improve your health, Labrada is offering you an instant $15 gift card to use on anything at labrada.com. when you download the Lean Body Transformation PDF. Don’t wait, your health and longevity aren’t something we should delay.

Sources:
1. http://www.cfah.org/hbns/2012/exercise-can-extend-your-life-by-as-much-as-five-years
2. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/ob_gdlns.pdf
3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/metabolism/art-20046508
4. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110
5. https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/features/longevity-foods#1