How To Avoid Dying From Diseases
March 6, 2024
You don't want to die (obviously). But someday you will.
Hopefully, you'll just die in the night from old age on your 100th birthday.
Unfortunately, the reality is that chronic diseases pose a serious threat to that and are the most common causes of an undesirable and untimely death.
However, with a few foundational lifestyle choices, you can greatly reduce the risks of 3 of the most prevalent chronic killers:
- Cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke)
- Cancer
- Diabetes
How
You can't completely control your fate, but you can control your daily decisions about the foods you eat and the movements you make.
And fortunately, that's exactly what it takes to significantly reduce the risks of these diseases (and thus proactively avoid dying from one of them).
The better your foods and activities, the lower your risks of disease and death.
Your diet and exercise directly influence your weight, obesity, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin production/release, inflammation, and overall immune system and health.
These two everyday choices are your strongest leverage against these lethal diseases.
Advice
So what should we do?
Eating
First of all, "eating well" isn't actually that complicated. It's basically a matter of filling your meals with more whole foods and less processed foods.
More of this…
Focus on eating whole foods:
- Plant-based foods
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Seeds / Nuts
- Legumes
- Whole grains: oats, quinoa, brown rice, barley
- Animal-based foods
- Meat: fish/seafood, poultry, beef, pork
- Eggs
- Dairy: yogurt, milk, low-fat cheese
Stick to cooking methods like: steaming, boiling, sautéing/stir-frying (not deep frying), grilling, or roasting. (And when you need to, pick olive oil as your go-to fat.)
Less of that…
Limit/Avoid eating processed foods, sugary foods/drinks, refined/processed carbs, and unhealthy fats. (And please don't deep fry to cook.)
The term "processed" refers to any alteration of the food from its natural state — especially canning, milling, or adding ingredients such as preservatives, sugars, salts, fats, flavorings, or other additives.
"Refined carbs" usually refer to grains that have been processed, such as bread (especially white bread), pasta, pastries, cakes, cookies, crackers, and many cereals.
"Unhealthy fats" usually refer to saturated fats (which is found in fatty cuts of meat) and trans fats (which is found in fried foods and fast foods).
Rules of Thumb
It may be useful to keep some big, broad rules of thumb on hand to help guide routine decisions on picking "whole" vs "processed" foods:
- Plants: The more natural and less changes, the better. (In fact it's best if it looks like it was just harvested.)
- Grains: stick to (whole grain) oats, quinoa, brown rice, and barley.
- Avoid/limit the other grains. (And don't listen to those old food pyramid guides.)
- Meat: stick to lean cuts with less fat.
- DON'T eat much:
- Processed meat
- Fast food
- Fried food
- Sugary snacks
- Sugary drinks
Moving
Exercise seems intimidating and discussions about it can make you feel like you have to go to a gym every day to lift metal bars and weights.
But "moving well" is also not actually that complicated either.
If you can do an activity while walking or moving or otherwise using your muscles/body, then do it.
Strive for either about a half hour per day or one hour every other day.
Try to work your muscles, break a sweat, and get your heart pumping.
Put it Together
Altogether, aim to burn more calories than you consume.
Keep the relationship between how much you eat and how much you move in sync.
Maintain a balance between caloric intake and expenditure.
(If you are less active, eat less. If you eat more, be more active.)
Conclusion
(Hopefully now you've got a high=level understanding of the links between: Diet, Disease, and Death.)
The very best and most important things you can do to avoid death by disease (heart disease, cancer, diabetes) are:
- Eat healthy whole foods (unprocessed)
- Be active a few times per week (or day)