There are so many factors that contribute to living a long healthy life. We’ve touched on the commonality of all centenarians previously, so you already know cutting out inflammation is the most sure-fire way to expand your lifespan. But what’s the actionable change you can make immediately that will give you the most bang for your buck? You may not want to hear it… Prepare yourself... The most sure-fire thing you can do is to cut out sugar. 😳 😳 😳
Really, is sugar that bad? A simple dessert after dinner can’t be that bad can it? Well, let’s consider this… Do you know what the most common anti-aging drug of choice is; the one anti-aging experts swear by? You’ve probably heard of it, Metformin. If you’re familiar with the drug, you probably know it’s prescribed to those with type 2 diabetes with the sole purpose of keeping blood sugar low.
Keep your blood sugar low: that is likely the most important thing you can do in order to keep your inflammation down and avoid chronic disease (1,2,3,4). Blood sugar spikes decrease insulin sensitivity to your muscle and your brain, along with causing neuroexcitation in the brain, and of course it increases storage of that unwanted body fat. These are all markers of an inflamed body, and they’ve all been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, alzheimer's, and the like.
Okay, but saying to cut out sugar is easy. Implementing, maybe not so much. What in the world can you replace your sugar with? Well, for starters, if you’re really craving that sweet taste, xylitol and stevia are good alternative natural sweeteners that don’t raise blood sugar. Despite what you’ve heard though, stay away from agave, as it’s pure fructose; so although it won’t spike your blood sugar, fructose (like the stuff high-fructose corn syrup comes from) is not a good alternative.
Try also adding in magnesium to your diet and/or daily vitamins as this tends to help with those hunger cravings. Carry around some organic dark chocolate for when you’re really in a pinch. And do your best to replace sweets and simple carbohydrates alike (white bread and pasta are essentially just sugar to your body) with healthy, satiating whole foods like organic vegetables with lots of organic virgin olive oil or grass-fed butter. Get lots of healthy fats in there to fill yourself up and provide your body with essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins.
Alright so if you want to live longer follow step 1: cut out the sugar from your diet. Give our suggestions a shot, let us know how it goes for you, and please also let us know other clever ways you came up with to cut out the sugar.