Longevity Debate/Debacle

So we established that three things can increase a person's life expectancy: genetics, activity and natural foods - lets explore those in greater detail.

1. Genetics
People like to blame a lot of things on genetics: to short, to fat, to hairy etc etc etc, and whether you like it or not, genetics does play into longevity, and a lot of how we live our lives and how we maintain our weight, also plays into how our genetic makeup is portrayed. We have all heard someone talk about so-and-so who can eat whatever he wants and not gain a pound and said they were 'genetically thin'. If you actually watched that person closely and took stock of their behaviors you would notice a very different picture of what was actually going on. While these people may appear to pick more foods that the general dieting population sees as 'forbidden' they don't tend to eat portions equivalent to their dieting counterparts, their portions are smaller, they enjoy what they are eating but then don't worry about what the next meal will be. Studies have shown that many of these people also have 'nervous ticks or twitches' while in the seated position. A constant moving or pumping leg is the most common, but some tap a finger, sway slightly in the chair, rub their fingers together etc. All of this unconscious movement can burn 500-600 calories/day and unknowingly to them, becomes an integral part of their weight maintenance. The question here is, do these people choose to make these movements or are they genetically or biochemically predisposed to make those movements?

2. Activity
Some people hate the word 'exercise' other people thrive on the endorphin rush that accompanies it. However you choose to move doesn't matter, its that you move which is important. Children have lots of energy and they should be allowed to move around and use up that energy, not sit inside and conduct stationary activities. Remember what the human body was made to do: hunt down and kill things slower and stupider then itself. It wasn't made to run 20 miles without stopping, so why bother try to make it? Just get out there and use your parts for 30-60 minutes/day in random intermittent activity or you are doomed to lose them. Succeeding at activity is all about creating a routine and sticking to it. You have to like either the activity itself or the routine, otherwise either option will fail you. For an example here is my routine M-Th to get myself to work:

• 4am: alarm goes off
• I hit the snooze button 1x (yes even I hit it - I hit it every morning its just part of the routine!)
• Pee and brush teeth
• Put on workout clothes
• Go downstairs, set up coffee - two scoops decaf, 1 scoop regular, 6 cups water - hit the start button
• Run outside if warm, if cold use elliptical, then stretches, pushups, squats, situps
• Pour mug of coffee to sip on while shower and get ready for work
• Before leaving house pack breakfast - homemade granola, almond milk or ricotta cheese or NF plain Greek yogurt (I will pick up blueberries and cinnamon in the hospital cafeteria)
• 6am leave for work

I do this every day - how boring am I? But this works for me. If I was to leave exercising to the end of the day, I would be to tired and not want to do it at all. I do it in the morning because it wakes me up and gives me energy for the day which makes me feel good! You have to make a schedule that works for you AND STICK TO IT!

3. 'Natural' Foods

So the paleo people are on the right track with their lists of which foods to eat and which to stay away from but they take it both to far and not far enough at the same time. They allow you to eat some meats, some fruits and some vegetables - their theory being that you eat what you would have been able to find in the early days of humanity; but they also want to limit the sugar intake and have control over the fat content of food which no Neanderthal was concerned with. That is where they take it to far. Where they don't take it far enough, is that much of the problem with the food source is is actually with the production of it. We spray chemicals on the plants, inject them into the animals, and then add more during processing and packaging. All those chemicals have an effect on your body: how it metabolizes food, absorbs nutrients, provides mental function, conducts cellular repair etc etc etc. Those chemicals can make you feel sluggish so you won't exercise and can harm your genetic makeup giving later generations the 'I have bad genes' excuse. So should you try to eat like you were a Neanderthal? Sure, it can't hurt, but just remember it would be very hard to do so. We don't have dinosaur meat and many of the primitive grasses and berries don't exist anymore. Rather, try to eat only what you could kill or pick off a plant. If you can't grow your food yourself, try to purchase it from a small farmer nearby, chances of him using chemicals to the magnitude of the big guys is slim (read: that doesn't mean he doesn't use them). Try not to buy food products which have been genetically modified (GMO). The change in the plant or animals' DNA makes it very hard for your body to process the food item properly. Is it the worst thing in the world for you to eat wheat? Definitely not, but try to find a wheat product that is non-GMO also, it will have minimal health risks compared to its commercially grown counterparts.

So what does all of this really mean? Well it depends on how you look at it. We want people to live a life full of QUALITY years and if they get a few extra years out of it that is awesome. It will be more time to enjoy their families and friends as long as all of those people follow the same lifestyle routine and can live the same length of time. If we could still ask Great-grandmother Rose, she would undoubtedly say that she doesn't regret living that long, that she got to spend a lot of quality time with the future of her family, but that in the end the pain of watching so many that were so close and so dear to you expire before you, is not worth the extra time. This may all seem contradictory, but in reality that is what health care is. We have the science and technology to keep people mechanically alive far past their appropriate expiration date, but is that what is really appropriate for the population as a whole? Just some 'fat to chew on' so to speak.