Healthy longevity requires both a healthy diet and exercise
To live a long and healthy life, free of disease, is a substantial achievement. Great health rarely “just happens.” It’s almost always a concerted effort by a person to prioritize their health and wellness by eating healthy foods and working out regularly. Unlikely does it only emphasize nutritious foods or only emphasize exercise regimens, by themselves, to stay fit.
Healthy eating and working out hand-in-hand is the best way to reach future milestone birthdays, “healthy as a horse.”
And now, a large, decade-long study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine of almost 350,000 people suggests the same exact thing. The researchers aimed to assess diet and exercise alongside mortality and lethal diseases. At the start of this study, medical data was collected from Britians (median age 57) considered healthy, defined as undiagnosed with cardiovascular disease, cancer, or chronic pain. Then, each study participant responded to questionnaires about their dietary and exercise habits, over the course of ten years. Their diet was analyzed for quality, and exercise habits were analyzed for total minutes spent walking and engaging in moderate physical activity, such as light bicycling or vigorous physical activity lasting more than 10 minutes.
Study results showed that participants with both high levels of physical activity along with choosing nutritious, quality foods had the lowest rates of mortality. And those who engaged in an exercise that made them break out in sweat were especially at low risk for heart disease.
Researchers found that for good health and longevity, both physical activity and healthy nutrition matter. To rely solely on working out yet eating an unhealthy diet OR eating a nutritious diet but skipping exercise did not optimize heart health the best. But when working out and healthy eating are combined daily, amazing cardiovascular health benefits can be achieved.
The results of this study are a good reminder that sensationalized headlines claiming that “eat whatever you want” as long as you buy certain exercise equipment, are misleading consumers. Or that simply eating healthy alone will cancel out not engaging in exercise is a deceptive way to lure consumers into believing you can do one without the other. True healthy longevity requires a balance daily of both good food choices and regular exercise. The two feats are like a marriage; they work better when done together.
Dr. David Samadi is the Director of Men’s Health and Urologic Oncology at St. Francis Hospital in Long Island. He’s a renowned and highly successful board certified Urologic Oncologist Expert and Robotic Surgeon in New York City, regarded as one of the leading prostate surgeons in the U.S., with a vast expertise in prostate cancer treatment and Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomy. Dr. Samadi is a medical contributor to NewsMax TV and is also the author of The Ultimate MANual, Dr. Samadi’s Guide to Men’s Health and Wellness, available online both on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Visit Dr. Samadi’s websites at robotic oncology and prostate cancer 911.