The Single Most Important Factor to Adding Years to Your Life

There are plenty of things that can contribute to major health problems later in life — smoking, lack of exercise, alcohol use, you name it.

But a recent study shows that there is one thing above all the others that contributes most to an early death: poor diet.

How Poor Diet Contributes to Fewer Healthy Years

The study — part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) research effort that analyzes information on diseases and injuries — used data from adults ages 25 and older from 1990 to 2017.

Scientists studied 15 dietary factors for those 27 years to see how eating too much of one food and too little of another food contributed disease and death later in life.

The 15 dietary factors studied were diets low in:

Fruits
Vegetables
Legumes
Whole grains
Nuts and seeds
Milk
Calcium
Fiber
Omega-3 fatty acids (from seafood)
Polyunsaturated fats

… And diets high in:

Processed meat
Sugary beverages
Sodium
Trans-fatty acids
Red meat

Part of the study also involved researching how those diets interacted with other risk factors, including tobacco use, lack of exercise, alcohol consumption, obesity and high blood pressure.

Unfortunately, the study showed most of the population doesn’t eat enough of the first grouping of foods — and eats way too much of diets high in the second grouping of foods.

Processed meats were especially concerning, with the average person eating almost double the advised amount. The average person also ate 86 percent more sodium than is recommended. (The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams (mg) a day.)

Ultimately, the study found that the combined number of years of healthy living lost for the population stands at 255 million!

How Diet-to-Go Can Help You Shift Your Eating Habits

There is hope, though. Shifting your eating habits now will help you avoid becoming part of that statistic and possibly add years to your life.

The thing is, if you’ve never thought about adjusting your diet, it can be tough to know where to begin.

Luckily, a Diet-to-Go plan can teach you just that. Meals in one of the four different, chef-crafted menus are nutritious and calorie-controlled to help you eat right — and lose weight while you’re at it.*

Diet-to-Go menus:

Balance: Calorie-controlled and nutritionally balanced, plus heart-healthy — controlled for sodium, carbs, fat and cholesterol.

Balance-Diabetes: Perfect choice for pre-diabetes or diabetes — controls blood sugar naturally, plus heart-healthy — controlled for sodium, carbs, fat and cholesterol. (Even if you’re not diabetic, can help you lose those last few pounds.)

Keto-Carb30: Carb-restricted plan; replaces carbs with fat and has only 30 net carbs per day, on average. Keto friendly! (Adding fruit, bread, sugar or other carbohydrates is not recommended.)

Vegetarian: Calorie-controlled and nutritionally balanced, plus heart-healthy — controlled for sodium, 
carbs, fat and cholesterol. Protein sources include dairy, eggs, beans and some soy.

They’re super convenient, too. Meals are delivered right to your door anywhere in the continental U.S., or you can pick them up at a local health club partner in some cities. You can also substitute any that you don’t like, and you get to work with an entire team of dedicated health professionals to craft the plan that’s perfect for you and your lifestyle.

So what are you waiting for?

There’s no time like the present to change your life.

> Click here to get started.
 

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Author: Caitlin H
Diet-to-Go Community Manager

Caitlin is the Diet-to-Go community manager and an avid runner. She is passionate about engaging with others online and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. She believes moderation is key, and people will have the most weight loss success if they engage in common-sense healthy eating and fitness.