Start with clean-living fundamentals to turn back time.
It’s an unavoidable fact that diet and exercise play a major role in your genetic expression and speed of aging. But just how significant are they? According to one study, they may be the keys to reversing aging.
This clinical trial directed participants to eat a very healthy diet, paired with a few supplements and moderate exercise. After eight weeks, they showed significant results in reversing aging. It’s a plan that any of us could adhere to, but you really must like vegetables. And a LOT of them.
The Rules
In this study, participants followed dietary guidelines that required consuming seven cups of vegetables daily, with a focus on green leafy veges and cruciferous veges (think broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts), as well as a daily beet, seeds, berries, and a little fruit, eggs and animal protein. They also took a probiotic and whole-foods supplement, along with sleeping a minimum of seven hours nightly, 30 minutes exercise daily, and a 12 hour fast. Personally, as a big vegetable lover, even I would find it challenging to consume that quantity of vegetables daily. Challenge on!
Most of the study's guidelines are the basic tenants of living a healthy lifestyle.
For the people in this trial, their efforts paid off. After just 8 weeks, they saw a reduction in triglycerides by about 25%, as well as a reduction in total and LDL cholesterol. They also saw signs of reversing aging. The study used a high-tech DNA test that gauges a person’s biological age, called the Horvath DNAmAge clock. Participants eating all those vegetables scored an average 3.23 years younger at the end of the program as compared to the control group who did not adjust their diet or lifestyle.
Maybe we really can turn back time?
If you think about these results, it’s a pretty impressive return for just 8 weeks effort. Imagine the results you could achieve following that protocol for decades!
The Take Home Message
Admittedly, it takes some planning and a lot of chewing to prep and consume seven cups of vegetables daily, but this program shows us that diet and exercise greatly influence the pace of aging. This research shows us that it's worth making any degree of effort to improve diet, and that striving for clean living can be help make aging easier.
Want to slow aging even more by adding nutritional supplements? See how to get started here!
citation:
Fitzgerald KN, Hodges R, Hanes D, Stack E, Cheishvili D, Szyf M, Henkel J, Twedt MW, Giannopoulou D, Herdell J, Logan S, Bradley R. Potential reversal of epigenetic age using a diet and lifestyle intervention: a pilot randomized clinical trial. Aging (Albany NY). 2021 Apr 12;13(7):9419-9432. doi: 10.18632/aging.202913
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