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It's common knowledge that a balanced diet helps you live longer. But today, science demonstrates that the regular consumption of healthy foods has a greater influence on health and longevity than does the simple reduction of unhealthy food consumption.
This conclusion stems from a study performed in Sweden in which the diets of 59,038 women participating in a program of mammography screening were monitored.
In this study, a large variety of common foods were subdivided into "healthy" foods (fruit, vegetables, cereals, whole grain bread, fish and low-fat dairy products) and foods that are generally considered to be the most dangerous for our health (red meat, refined carbohydrates, sugar and foods with a high percentage of saturated or hydrogenated fats). The authors of this work (Michels KB, Wolk A., A prospect study of variety of healthy foods and mortality in women; Int J Epidemiol 2002 Aug;31 (4):847-54) noted some interesting relationships between the regular presence in the diet of foods from the two groups and the longevity of the participants:
1.the women who followed a prevalently healthy diet had a relatively low mortality rate from cardiovascular pathologies compared to those who consumed fewer foods from the first group;
2.the women who regularly consumed foods from the second group had a higher rate of tumor pathologies compared to those who consumed a lesser amount of the same foods;
3.a less healthy diet (with a majority of foods from the second group) did not have a significant influence per se on mortality in general;
4.those women who had a daily intake of 9-17 healthy foods had a mortality rate (independent of the cause) that was 42% lower than that of women whose intake was inferior.
The last item of data is definitely the newest and most significant, especially if we consider the fact that every additional healthy food, if consumed on a daily basis, seems to lower the risk by 5%.
Overall, the study results seem to confirm that, compared to the abstention from less healthy foods (that is often accompanied by a sense of deprivation and prompted by the fear of illness), an active attitude, characterized by the regular consumption of healthy foods, has a much greater impact on health preservation.
After all, it is a matter of small steps, like choosing whole grain cereals for breakfast, eating a tangerine or an apple while watching television, munching on a carrot while preparing dinner and, why not, giving ourselves something raw, fresh and colorful before every meal...
The body is able to adapt and it would seem that it is also able to handle encounters with unhealthy substances as long as it has access to the resources necessary for defending itself.
Even the body thinks positively!
Francesca Speciani
Psychosomatic Counselor
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