Wow! Amazing. There was an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2005 that demonstrated how you can reduce your chance of death by 50%! Why haven’t the pharmaceutical companies caught wind of this major breakthrough yet??? Knowing how to cut your chance of death in half cannot be held as a secret for long, can it??
However it isn’t any pill. It isn’t any magic potion. It is simple smart nutrition and lifestyle. Imagine that – smart nutrition can cut your risk of death in half! This study looked at all inclusive mortality of a 10 year period of people aged 70-90 years old in several European countries. What it found was that those who didn’t smoke, moderately exercised and ate a Mediterranean diet had less than 50% chance of dying over the 10 year period of the study.
What is the Mediterranean diet? Many healthy vegetables – cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale), onions, garlic, lean meats, small amounts of cheese, whole grains, beans, and small amounts of alcohol. It doesn’t contain the copious amounts of fried fatty foods, baked sugary foods or refined carbohydrates in the American diet. It also doesn’t contain high amount of the unstable polyunsaturated oils. The Mediterranean Diet use mostly olive oil which is a monounsaturated fat and contains a tremendous amount of beneficial phytochemicals.
OK that was a European study you say….so what about the American melting pot? How would we fare with the Mediterranean fare? A study just released answered that question. Similarly it was a 10 year study with over 214,000 mean and 166,000 women looking at all cause mortality and the Mediterranean diet. A decrease of 20% all-cause mortality was observed when subject ate a diet of vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, fish, meats, and moderate alcohol.
It seems to be a no brainer to eat this way unless you are not genetically programmed to eat this way. For example and an Inuit that that lives on whale blubber and meat would not be healthy on a Mediterranean diet. However for the majority of us of European decent and most likely Asian and African it would behoove us to eat a Mediterranean diet. Not only will we feel better on it, but there is at least a 20% chance of living longer. You can read the entire article here:All Cause Mortality in US Population on Mediterranean Diet
In Health,
George Mandler
Acupuncture, Nutrition & Herbal Medicine