6 Eating Habits That Add Years to Your Life

Who doesn’t want the gift of extra years added to their life?

Especially if it’s something you can give yourself with just a few changes in eating habits.

In this post, I share 6 eating habits that increase life expectancy, according to a recent study done at the University of Bergen in Norway, led by Lars Fadnes. The study was published in PLOS Medicine in February 2022.

In the study, the researchers used data from another study, the Global Burden of Diseases study, to estimate the benefits of certain eating habits on life expectancy.

The results of the study showed that the earlier on in life you make the changes, the more years you can add to your life expectancy.

The researchers then created a tool to help you figure out how many potential years you can add to you life expectancy if you make the suggested changes.

If you’d like to give it a try, you can access the tool here. (It’s a bit involved, so may take you a few minutes to figure out.) Otherwise, let’s get to it.

Increase Your Intake of Legumes

Legumes include black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, all the beans. They also include chickpeas and green pees, lentils and peanuts.

They are incredibly nutritious and provide a high amount of fiber and protein. They also provide complex carbohydrates and B vitamins, along with minerals like iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, manganese, and phosphorous.

Since legumes are plants, they have no cholesterol and are low in fat. A low cholesterol diet has been linked with lower risk of heart disease.

I couldn’t find specific number of servings that are recommended, but if you increase your current consumption of them, you’re increasing your life expectancy, according to the researchers.

Luckily, legumes are not high-calorie foods, and if anything, can assist people trying to lose weight.

If you are trying to lose weight, be sure you know the Best Way to Track Your Weight Loss, otherwise you could be sabotaging your weight loss progress.

Increase Your Intake of Nuts

Nuts make a really great snack, especially if you’re on the go. Nuts have plenty of antioxidants as well as vitamin E, magnesium, and selenium.

These along with legumes were shown to have the highest increase in life expectancy in the study led by Fadnes. The only downside to nuts are that they are high in calories, so increase your intake if you can, but just be aware of the additional calories.

Nuts make a really great alternative snack to something like a small bag of potato chips, which are also high in calories. Nuts will keep you fuller for longer and provide nutrition, along with that increase in life expectancy.

Increase Your Intake of Whole Grains

If you love carbs, then you’re going to be so happy that whole grains are one of the eating habits that increases your life expectancy.

So whole grains are just that, whole, and not processed into flour. When they are processed into flour, they are refined grains.

Refined grains are NOT a food that you want to increase your intake of. Examples of foods that contain a refined grains are breads, cereals, baked goods, and pasta.

Whole grains on the other hand are one of the eating habits that increase life expectancy.

That’s mostly because they decrease your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity. This is partly due to the high amount of fiber found in them, as well as antioxidants.

What I recommend doing is replacing any refined grains you are eating with whole grains. So for example, replace things like pasta with quinoa or brown rice.

You can replace cereal with oats for breakfast. Here are 35 Clean Eating Ideas for Breakfast.

Increase Your Intake of Fish

If you don’t like fish, you can skip over this one, but if you do, then you’ll be glad to hear that your love of seafood is adding years to your life.

Fish are one of the eating habits that add years to your life because they are highly nutritious, containing high levels of “good quality” protein, Omega-3 fatty acids (linked to heart health), and many vitamins and minerals.

They are an important part of the Mediterranean diet, which has been regarded as one of the best diets (if not the best) to follow.

Current recommendations are to eat 2 servings of fish per week, but 3 is fine too.

Increase Your Intake of Vegetables

Of course we all know that vegetables are good for you, but you may not have realized just how much they can benefit your longevity.

Unfortunately, the amount of vegetables eaten by the average American has decreased substantially over the last century, typically being replaced by foods like pizza, pasta, and fried food.

Vegetables contain a high amount of fiber, small amount of protein, and complex carbohydrates. They contain a wide array of nutrients and are significantly low in calories, making them a great addition if your aim is to lose weight in the process.

Increase Your Intake of Fruit

People often believe that fruit is something you should eat sparingly secondary to the sugar. I’m going to clear this up for you. The sugars found in fruit are not like the sugars found in desserts.

The sugar in fruit is natural and necessary for body function, whereas the sugar found in desserts is refined and typically always high volume.

Fruit also comes with a high amount of fiber, which has its health benefits, and will oftentimes cause you to feel satisfied so you don’t overeat.

If you’d like a more detailed explanation of why fruit sugars are better for you than refined sugars, check out this great article by The Conversation.

So, start replacing some of those desserts and sodas with fruit, so you can satisfy your sweet tooth and add some years to your life in the process.

While you’re at it, take a look at this post to make sure you aren’t doing any of these: Are You Guilty of These 7 Worst Eating Habits? (They aren’t what you’d expect.)

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Final Notes

Having a diet completely made up of only these healthy foods is not the intent here. Creating eating habits that entail eating more of these foods each day is what you should shoot for.

Always meet yourself where you are. If you currently eat very few of the foods above, don’t try to change all of your eating habits at once. Start with just a few small changes, but the key is to start.

If you need help meal planning for some of these healthier eating habits, read this: Meal Planning for Better Eating Habits.