Introduction
Most people think ageing is just genetics. But what if the biggest driver of how we age is what we repeatedly put on our plate? Listen up to find out what the difference is between lifespan and health span and how you can support yourself now, at your age, to ensure you have healthy years in your elder years.
A Health span isn’t about
living forever, it’s not about diet culture, weight loss. That’s what clogs up the airwaves – these things are not going to help us with our health span.
Healthspan is about
Ø energy
Ø cognition
Ø mobility
Ø metabolic health - How well your body creates, stores, and uses energy. How well it regulates blood sugar, responds to insulin, manages inflammageing, how well it uses fats and carbs for fuel.
Ø independence later in life
Why Nutrition Matters for Ageing
Is that what we eat in our younger adult years, and even what we eat in our teens and childhood years, and what our mother ate, can affect our elder years. We have no control over the past but what we do have is time now. Time to start making changes so that we live to that ripe old age healthily.
I certainly don’t want to live to 108 and not be healthy. Imagine living to 88, that’s your lifespan, and only being healthy for 68 of those years, that’s your healthspan.. That is not on my agenda.
Most diseases associated with ageing are strongly influenced by diet and lifestyle.
Ø chronic inflammation is a build up of inflammation over the years, of eating food that causes inflammation even in our younger adult years, eating saturated fats, too much food, sugar etc.
Ø blood sugar regulation- too much sugar, too many refined carbohydrates
Ø cardiovascular disease – too many saturated fats, too much ultra-processed foods, too many foods that aren’t whole foods
Ø dementia risk – there is a saying that goes – what damages the heart damages the brain – so poor diet can also lead to dementia
Ø obesity and frailty - not enough protein in younger years and not enough resistance exercise, not enough food and then too much food for obesity
Ø gut health - not enough diversity of food, not enough fermented foods and not enough fibre
Oh its feeling like doom and gloom right now.
Modern Diets
What is leading to people living longer and not being healthy:
Is access to good medical intervention but also access to
Ø ultra-processed foods
Ø convenience eating
Ø sugar overload
Ø constant snacking
Ø low-fibre diets
Ø eating engineered for dopamine - Modern food products are deliberately designed to overstimulate the brain’s reward system, making us want to keep eating even when we’re not physically hungry.
“Many people are simultaneously overfed and undernourished.”
The reason this has come about is
Ø food marketing
Ø emotional eating
Ø social media nutrition confusion ( people are attracted to fad diets)
Ø The biggest cause of osteoporosis and osteopenia is calorie restriction. This comes about from fad diets.
Ø and the big one – lack of real nutrition education
What Do the Longest-Lived Populations Eat?
There are many studies on longevity and people living into their 100’s.
Dan Buettner coined the phrase the blue zones after his extensive research. The areas that have the most centenarians.
These areas are:
Okinawa
Sardinia
Nicoya Peninsula
Ikaria
Loma Linda
The Loma Linda population are 7th day Adventists.
There have also been cohort studies on the 7th day Adventists and people following the Mediterranean diets and the Dash diet (dietary approaches to stop hypertension)
What they all have in common is
🌱 high intake of plants
🌱 legumes
🌱 vegetables
🌱 whole grains
🌱 nuts and seeds
🌱 moderate calorie intake
🌱 no processed food
🌱 locally (often home grown) organic food
🌱 The 7th day Adventists also have no alcohol and are vegetarian.
All areas are not necessarily vegan but are predominantly plant based – they have legumes and grains daily.
The blue zone areas also have in common socialisation, community participation and exercise.
Is Plant-Based Eating Better for Healthspan?
Plant based diets, when not processed and focused on wholefoods, consist of foods that have;
lower inflammation
lower in LDL cholesterol
better metabolic health outcomes
more fibre
healthier for the microbiome
lower calorie density
Then when you balance that with getting
Ø protein to prevent muscle wastage (sarcopenia) with age
Ø B12 for the brain
Ø iron to prevent pernicious anaemia
Ø omega-3s for the brain and immune system.
But not everyone knows what foods to eat in order to ensure they are getting enough of these essential nutrients .
“A vegan diet can absolutely support healthspan — but only if it’s intentional, and that is the same for any diet. You can’t just eat vegan spag bol or even regular spag bol every night and think you are going to get all the nutrients you need.
For example – lets look at protein again.
Protein, Muscle & Ageing
Ø sarcopenia, it can start from age 30, not getting enough protein and resistance exercise
Ø muscle strength is so important for longevity
Ø why older adults need more protein - Anabolic Resistance, as adults age their muscles become less responsive to protein, so more is needed.
Ø resistance training
One of the biggest predictors of healthy ageing is whether you still have strength and muscle later in life, as one of the most common issues for the elder population is falling.
Listen to podcast 2, 3 and 4 for info on protein.
Gut microbiome for ageing
Another thing that is important is the gut microbiome, and that deserves a whole podcast on its own, but I will just say, diversity of foods is so important for the gut microbiome, the gut microbiome is not just for a healthy gut but for all aspects of the body, including the immune system. That is why it is so important to be adding fermented foods and why I created the sauerkraut club.
Fibre is very important.
“You’re not just feeding yourself, you’re feeding trillions of microbes that may influence how you age.”
Your healthspan nutrition fundamentals. What to eat and do to stay healthy into your elder years.
🌱 whole foods
🌱 wide range of plant foods, fruit and veg, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds
🌱 enough protein
🌱 fibre rich foods
🌱 healthy fats
🌱 no ultra-processed food
🌱 maintain healthy body composition
🌱 consistency over perfection (try your best and keep on trying)
The best longevity diet is probably the one you can sustain for decades, while still enjoying your life.
And it is so good just to start now. Right now. That is why I have developed the Vegan Nutrition Course so you can learn all about nutrition and make informed food choices.
The nutrition course will run in May and November – it is a 6 month program and at the time of recording you can still join.
If you want to really empower yourself about what you need to be eating for a healthy you, and to have a really good healthspan into your elder years, then educating yourself with science backed information is the only way. It’s too confusing to listen to all the guff out there.
The program consists of 7 modules, each module with reading material, and then a 1.5 hour interactive tutorial. You also have access to me each weekday during the course, to ask nutritional questions.
The Vegan Nutrition Course is only $995 and everything in the course is downloadable.
Recipe
¼ cup tahini
1 tbsp miso
Juice ½ lemon
2 tbsp or more water
Mix together and eat on toast for added protein, iron and calcium.
FCT (Fun cooking Tip)
Have a scrap bowl right near you every time you cook and put your scraps straight into the bowl. It saves time at the end of the cooking adventure, and it also keeps your work space tidier.
Have a sensationally delicious week and please email me at info@veets.com.au if you want to discuss anything mentioned in this podcast.
With gratitude Veet
