We included this Antiaging Diet page for all of us who don't have a dream of spending our "golden years" in doctors' waiting rooms. We should adapt this mostly proteins (meat, chicken, fish, eggs), vegetables and fruits reach anti aging diet into our Anti Aging Lifestyle rules, avoiding doctors’ visits as much as we can.
We are what we eat!
Not following the best researched antiaging diet containing Mediterranean diet menu – one of the most respected by longevity scientists will bring the following diseases much earlier than we expect:
* arthritis * difficulty to lose weight * osteoporosis * heart disease * high blood pressure * loss of skin tone, and * arthritis * even back pain and many more * increased inflammation.
We can’t explain why losing weight has become more difficult compared to when we were younger. This is often true for everyone, even for skinniest among us. And it isn't because we now are eating too much and exercising too little. In fact, many of us are eating less and exercising more than ever before.
Once we experience any of these problems, our body has already become older. It is time to adapt Antiaging Diet slowing down and allowing to take control of the process. This is one of the most powerful tools to stay in a good shape for the longest time.
It all means that we need to modify our lifestyle and our antiaging diet as a part of it. We don't have to live inside an aging body. Instead, one or more in a time, we can make easy, yet significant and effective changes that will literally turn back the clock and reverse the aging process.
Mediterranean diet is also considered being one of the best anti inflammatory diet. You can visit our Inflammation page to learn more.
In 1994, the Lancet reported the results of the Lyon Diet Heart Study, a study which was to evaluate the reason(s) for the low incidence of cardiovascular disease in the countries accustomed to the Mediterranean diet menu compared to countries of northern Europe and the United States.
The study was planned to continue for five years, but was terminated after only 27 months by its Scientific and Ethics Committee because of the striking benefits experienced in the experimental group, which consumed a diet known as the Mediterranean diet — an increase in vegetables and the monounsaturated fat olive oil.
Those who followed the diet experienced a 70% reduction in both fatal and non-fatal incidents of coronaryheart disease.
What is the Mediterranean Diet menu?
Most of us have heard or are familiar with a positive effect of Mediterranean diet menu on our health. We see it as the best researched antiaging diet known to science as of today.
The Mediterranean diet menu, simply described, is a diet focusing on -
* whole grains and * legumes * lean protein * fresh fruits and * vegetables, and * high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) * high in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) * high in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and * high in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)]
and
* low in carbohydrates * low in saturated fats (common in junk foods) and * low in omega-6 PUFAs (linoleic acid, common in most vegetable oils).
Omega-3s are found in various foods including concentrates of free fatty acids of fish oils –
* cold-water fish such as bluefish * cod * herring * mackerel * salmon and sardines * soybean oil (~7%) * Canola oil (~10%) and * flax seed oil (~50%).
Adapting the above components in our own mediterranean diet recipes would be a major improvement of our antiaging diet effort.
Even simpler stated this Mediterranean diet menu is characterized among other foods by fish, chicken and meet and also includes:
* omega-3 fatty acids * relatively large amounts of olive oil and * antioxidant-rich fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
Scientists have been subjecting various antiaging diet principles to many serious studies during last several decades. The Mediterranean diet earned very respectable place in these studies, due to its well known health related statistics in Mediterranean regions - much better than in our country (USA).
The traditional Mediterranean diet menu is usually associated with the olive-growing regions of the Mediterranean Sea. Monounsaturated fats from olive oil and omega-3 fatty acids from fish are the predominant fats in the Mediterranean diet. Saturated fat, which is far more common in the diets of North Americans, makes up a relatively small portion of the Mediterranean diet.
Mediterranean diet in health and longevity science
The largest related Antiaging Diet study was performed by European scientists. This was also one of the largest EPICs (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) studies ever, and it released key findings from nearly a decade of research. These findings provided convincing evidence that Mediterranean diet directly affects the life span.
One of the primary reasons for that is that this diet is found to be a very powerful anti inflammatory diet.
The statistics from more than 74,000 healthy seniors aged 60 years or older from nine European countries, participating in this eight-year long Antiaging Diet study of factors affecting the incidence of cancer and other chronic diseases were collected.
Biological, dietary, lifestyle, and environmental factors were examined in relation to overall health. Researchers assessed the impact on health and longevity of omega-3 essential fatty acids such as those found in fatty fish like salmon and mackerel, as well as of monounsaturated fats obtained almost exclusively from olive oil.
In essence, the data from this enormously important study shows that adherence to a Mediterranean-type antiaging diet can extend life. Individuals who improved their adherence to these diet rules scores by just two points on the 10-point scale increased their life expectancy by 7%.
As an example, a 60-year-old man who adhered to the diet by just 2 points of 10, could expect to live a year longer than a man of the same age who did not follow this antiaging diet. According to the researchers, “The reduction in mortality in relation to a dietary score was more striking than expected”.This didn’t even include improved quality of life considerations.
Mediterranean Diet and Heart health
In a further study, the EPIC's scientists found that the longevity-promoting effects of the Mediterranean diet menu were even more dramatic in adults with a coronary heart disease.
When individuals with an extensive coronary heart disease at the time of enrollment improved their adherence to the Mediterranean diet by just two points on the 10-point scale, they experienced a 27% lower rate of mortality and a 31% lower rate of cardiac death.
The most obvious reason for these benefits is that it is a very powerful anti inflammatory diet.
Researchers also found that up to 25% of the colorectal cancer incidence, about 15% of the breast cancer, and roughly 10% of the incidence of -
* prostate cancer * pancreatic cancer, and * endometrial cancers
could be prevented by replacing the typical Western diet - high in saturated fat and low in omega-3 fatty acids, phytonutrients, and antioxidants — with the Mediterranean diet menu.
A new study reported by the American Journal of Psychiatry spells out the elements of a Western diet pretty clearly: “Processed or fried foods, refined grains, sugary products, and beer.”.
Mediterranean diet and Psychiatric health
When researchers at the University of Melbourne compared psychiatric evaluations to dietary questionnaires submitted by more than 1,000 women, the results were clear: depression and anxiety disorders were far more common among women who indulged in a Western diet for at least 10 years.
In addition, risk of depression and anxiety was found to be lower in women who followed a diet rich in -
* vegetables * fruit * meat * fish, and * whole grains.
In order to gain a better understanding of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet menu or practically any healthy antiaging diet, comparing them with SOD – Standard American Diet, we need to also see a role which various types of fats are playing in relation to our health.
Oils and other components of the Mediterranean diet menu
Many of us see just “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” when thinking about Mediterranean diet. We see some research questioning a primary significance of this oil in the overall value of the Mediterranean diet menu.
So if we are not eating fruits and vegetables, we are not getting much of protection. If we are pouring olive oil on already bad diet – full of health "destroyers" like hamburgers and cheeseburgers – we are only making that diet worse, points out Dr. Vogel, co–author of the recently published related to the subject book.
“The beneficial components of the Mediterranean diet,” concluded Robert Vogel, MD, and his colleagues at the University of Maryland - School of Medicine, “appear to be antioxidant–rich foods, including vegetables, fruits, and their derivatives such as vinegar, and omega–3–rich fish…”
These foods, he continued, “appear to provide some protection against the direct impairment in endothelial (a single layer of smooth, thin cells that lines the heart, blood vessels, lymphatic, and serous cavities) function produced by high–fat foods, including olive oil.”.
If we understand, accept and follow this information on antiaging diet, it would avoid many unnecessary doctors’ visits for us.
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