Longevity, Diets, and Exercise

We are strong advocates of living a healthy lifestyle. Sensible eating behavior and regular aerobic exercise are essential for longevity. There are no short cuts and we continue to dwell on this subject for many reasons. Most importantly, recent studies have shown that heart disease kills 1 in 3 Americans, and that 1/3 of Americans undertake no physical activity of any kind! Studies have also shown that lifestyle choices that could be changed or avoided account for up to 90% of the gene mutations that make cancerous tumors progress!

About “Diets”

When God created man, is this what He had in mind?

We have an aversion to the word “diet”, because it implies something temporary. “OK, I’m going on this diet for a month to lose 10 pounds.” Of course, after that time is up, no matter how much weight you’ve lost, when you resume your usual eating habits the weight will creep back.

A better approach is behavioral change, acknowledging the addictive nature of some foods. Small, incremental, permanent changes are much easier to maintain for a lifetime, yielding improved body composition, etc.

When you create a caloric deficit, your body’s biochemistry will yield weight loss. Superimposing some intermittent fasting can improve gut health too. If you skip eating altogether for a 24 hour period, your body uses up its short term energy source (glycogen), and switches to burning fat for energy (ketosis). The key is to eat correctly during the window of time that works for you.

The Importance of Lean Body Mass, Stability, Balance

Your “Lean Body Mass” (LBM) is the metabolically active part of you, consuming most of the energy, repairing daily wear and tear, protecting your skeletal structure and organs, pumping vital fluids and nutrients, etc. By far the largest portion of your LBM is muscle.

It’s what gives you a reason to eat. You want to preserve all of your lean muscle mass while also allowing time for its repair and rebuilding, so you must feed it, water it, exercise it, balance it, and rest it.

Counting calories is an easy way to track your eating habits. Daily calorie requirement for men is only 1500cal and only 1200cal for women! When you use one of the calorie-counting apps, you’ll be shocked how many calories you’re actually eating. By the way, 100cal is a 1 mile walk, so that coffee house latte (250cal) means you’ll need to walk 2.5 miles to offset even a little indulgence.

Exercise, for the sake of longevity!

Theoretically a man can wear the same pants size all his life.

Diets alone simply won’t keep your weight down in the long run. If you want to become and remain fit, trim, and healthy, you must exercise regularly and intensely, and integrate core work, balance, and stability training.

As we grow older, we tend to become more sedentary, which results in lost muscle and poor balance. If we were to put your arm in a cast for six weeks, you’d expect your muscles to shrink from disuse. Muscles all over your body react to lack of exercise the same way- they shrink.

As our muscles shrink with age, we have less and less high-energy, calorie-burning muscle mass. If we’re still eating the same number of calories, there’s an increasing tendency to store those excess calories as fat. As we grow heavier and more out of shape, it gets harder and harder to get motivated to exercise, and this becomes a spiral into obesity, lethargy and injury.

The only way to fight this loss of muscle mass is through regular resistance training, with weights, or with your own bodyweight. As an added bonus, strength training prevents disability and frailty, especially into your 70s and beyond. Also important are balance training and core work.

If the goal is longevity, a two pronged approach of daily exercise and intelligent eating decisions at every meal are the best path to take. We are happy to discuss more specifics with you at your physical exam.